We're getting today started with a guest post from one of my very best friends, Lauren, who is a fifth grade math teacher in my district and she's sharing some tips and tricks for organizing a departmentalized classroom.
Fun fact, Lauren and I went to college together and she was the maid of honor at my wedding. :) I hope that you make her feel at home and visit her blog soon!
Hello! I am excited to be able to share a few of my new
favorite teacher resources with you here at Fourth and Ten!
As a fifth grade math teacher in a departmentalized setting,
I teach three blocks of students throughout the day, which usually adds up to
around eighty-five students. Learning names at the beginning of the year can
make my head swim, not to mention the PAPERWORK that comes with managing those
kiddos!
One major way to alleviate some stress of paperwork is to
lean on student responsibility procedures. This can be started in the early
grades with turning in paperwork to specific bins, etc. My former third graders
were the perfect age to start taking on more responsibility with classroom
organization!
Now teaching fifth graders, I have my students take
responsibility for turning in their paperwork to specific bins labeled and
colored for their “block,” or class. They also have student numbers which they
write next to their names on each of their assignments. I still swear by the
multi-colored bins from the dollar section of the Target entrance, but I
noticed that I used them for multiple things around the classroom. I needed a
specific, unique set of bins. This year I found something even cuter than my
Target bins!
IKEA KUSINER Box
$7.99/3-Pack
These bins are perfect for my three block classes, and I
will be using them this year for students to turn in assignments. After an assignment
is turned in, I organize the stack of papers in numerical order by student
number, for easy grading.
While I was on my IKEA binge, I also picked up these fun
bins:
IKEA KUSINER Storage Basket
4.99/3-Pack
These cute wire pop-up baskets will come in handy for our
ongoing projects and self-made math manipulatives that we are constantly
creating in class! It is such a pain for students to be searching through three
classes of baggies or envelopes for their own names! These will prove to make a
former long search quick and painless!
IKEA KUSINER Wall Baskets-Corner
$4.99
This set of hanging baskets looks great on the wall of our
classroom! I plan to use it for returned papers that need to be filed into our
mailbox system. This will make it easier for me or a helper to pull a specific
student group of papers and return them quickly to their owner! It would also
be a great option for light manipulative storage.
I loved these options from the children’s section of IKEA
here in Cincinnati, but there are many other options for affordable storage in
your classroom (cardboard boxes and cute duct tape, anyone?).
I love to read up on new organizing trends and old standby
tips at the beginning of each school year. I find that it puts me on the right
track for the school year, especially since organization doesn’t come naturally
to this teacher. J
TeacherVision, Inspiring Teachers, and The Clutter-FreeClassroom all have some inspiring tips for organizing your classroom
and yourself for the school year.
…And what about your personal life? Check out one of my
favorite websites: Simple Organized Living. Amazing!
I hope you will have time to check out my little blog over
at TastesLikePaste. I have links to some fun resources I have created for the classroom!
Best Wishes for an Enjoyable School Year!
-Lauren from TastesLikePaste
Thanks again, Lauren for sharing your tips for success in organizing a departmentalized classroom! :)
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