#SPEDCHATSATURDAY - Classroom Organization

     I'm excited to be apart of an awesome group of Special Educators hosting #SPEDCHATSATURDAY for the next few months. Today I'm sharing all about Classroom Organization. If you've followed my blog or social media, you know how much I love organization. Like, A LOT. I have too much to do in my teaching day than to be wasting time by searching around for something I need. I need to be able to grab something quickly and move on with my students.  Due to the fact that I literally have not stepped foot into my classroom since after summer school ended, I'll be sharing all sorts of classroom organization with you from previous years.  Today we're only talking about organizing materials. Paperwork is a whole other topic for another day. =)       When your classroom (office or work space) is organized, you can pretty much find anything quickly and easily. The most difficult part of getting organized is the TIME it takes to get your materials organized in a way that works for you. You'll need a space to sort all of your materials in order to group them. Where are you going to store your materials? Do you prefer binders? File drawers? Bins? What space do you have available? Be prepared. Getting organized means it has to get worse before it gets better.  For example, as you clean your supply cabinet, you need to pull EVERYTHING out of the cabinet. As you do that, group similar items that you know you can store together. Figure out an organization system that's right for you and your needs. My classroom certainly did not get this way overnight. When I have the time (and energy) I tackle another area of my classroom. I am really good at PURGING. And you need to be too! Take a good, hard look at the items your organizing. Is it even worth it to store the item? Will you REALLY use it in the future? Us teachers are really good at hoarding. We think that we will use that one item some day. Well guess what, we are not going to use it. Toss it. You totally have my permission.   

Nothing looks more organized than matching bins that are COLORED.... not clear. If you can find them, buy something colored or with a pattern. It will hide the contents. But don't forget to label the outside so you can quickly find what you are looking for. These giant bins from IKEA hold my seasonal books, center materials, and some random odds and ends that just don't fit in the closet.   Inside those bins, I simply printed the months at the top of some cardstock to sort my centers. Same with my books. I printed a divider for each season, topic, etc. It's not pretty, but it does the trick.   

 If you have clear containers, just line the front with some scrapbook paper to hide the contents.   Label the outside and you're good to go.

How about books? Your classroom library. Everyone likes to sort them a little differently. I have my leveled by reading level on top for the fiction and sorted by topic for non-fiction on the second shelf. The bins are from Lakeshore and are perfect for classroom libraries... they have held up really well. Although sorting your classroom library is a huge job, the students are more likely to find something that interests them, rather than one bookshelf with everything thrown in. I also have all of my classroom library titles saved in an Excel file. This way I can quickly find a book for a read aloud or specific topic. 

Our Guided Reading books are sorted by level in the IKEA magazine boxes. The students do not touch these boxes, which is why they actually have held up pretty well.  Last summer I took the time to organize all of my math manipulatives. That wasn't easy! I pulled everything out of the math cabinet and sorted it by topic. So all of my teaching ideas/materials for each topic are in the large bins (from Walmart) and actual manipulatives are in the smaller bins. Did it take time? Sure. But now I literally have everything I need right behind me when I teach math.

  For math centers, I use these Dollar store baskets with number labels hot glued to the front of the baskets.

Our Fairview Learning Centers are set up on another bookshelf with baskets and each student has their own box to put their materials in. I make all of my labels with packing tape for "lamination" and then hot glue them onto the baskets. Super easy.   

I also am a big fan of curtains. It makes your room look neat and tidy when the clutter is hidden. I don't have a lot of file cabinets, so I use crates to store a lot of my materials. Just make a label for the front, and you know exactly where to find what you need. 

The only classroom project I actually worked on this summer was organizing my new Fine Motor Center materials. I started doing Fine Motor Centers in February and needed a place to store all of the materials (and not in my garage in random bags brought home from school). I used the freebie monthly tags from Teaching Special Thinkers, printed in a smaller size. Michael's had their Iris Scrapbooking storage boxes for only $3.99 this summer and I couldn't pass them up. Now my materials won't be spread out all over the place and I can quickly find what I need. Clearly, that's the theme of this post. If you take the time to organize and label your materials, later on when you need something you'll be able to actually find it quickly. When someone walks into my room and asks to borrow something, I literally can tell them what cabinet, what shelf, what container. I know our time is precious and it seems like there are a lot of better things you could be doing with your time than sorting art supplies or math manipulatives. But in the long run, being organized makes you a much more efficient and effective teacher. What's the point of storing something if you can't find it when you need it?    Hopefully something I have shared here with you today will inspire you to organize just one cabinet or just one drawer. Tackle one little project at a time and pretty soon your classroom will be well organized. If you have an organizational tip or photos you'd like to share, please comment below. Or post them on social media with the hashtag #SpedChatSaturday. Feel free to use this template and join us in getting organized for the new year!  

Check out the upcoming topics hosted by various Special Education teachers on #SpedChatSaturday. Thank you to Ashley at The Behavior Bunch for organizing these awesome topics!  

FM Storage for the D/HH Classroom

Teaching in a multi-age classroom, that means a lot of students at a lot of grade levels. (Which is kinda why I have been MIA recently.) This school year I had 11 students. 8 of those students use FM technology in my class and in their mainstream general education classes. We happen to use Phonak Inspiro transmitters with Roger technology. (For those of you that are not familiar with FM systems, the teacher wears the microphone and the sound transmits directly to the student's hearing aid, no matter where the teacher is in the classroom. It minimizes background noise and makes a world of difference for my D/HH students.)  

To be honest, the cords for all the mics and all the loose audio boots/shoes gave me anxiety. The cords were always falling behind the book shelf and I just couldn't handle the mess and needed to find a solution.  

  Hello Michael's craft storage section! I found this little divided box with three drawers and was able to use a 50% off coupon. It's the perfect size for holding their transmiters and FM boots. I labeled each section with the student's name and even had a extra slot for audio computer cords.   

  My husband drilled holes in the drawers to allow for the charging cord to fit into each divided section. No more fishing for cords! I bought those tiny boxes at the Dollar Tree and no more audio shoes!  All of their equipment looks alike to me, so now it's easy to find the student's equipment and it's easy to plug in and charge for the night. I did buy some cord keepers from Amazon, but found I don't need to use them. The cords do not slip out of the holes in the back of the box.  

  The only draw back is the with the cords behind the drawers, they don't close all the way.... but I'm okay with that. It's better than what it looked like before!  

Center Storage

Do you get motivated to clean and organize in the spring? Well it's time to get your centers organized! Today I am sharing how I organize my seasonal and skill center materials.

Each day my students rotate during our Fairview rotation time. If the students are not working one to one with an adult, they are doing centers. I need to have a wide range of language arts centers from kindergarten to about the third grade level.  Each week I am putting out six centers for four different levels. Here's how I keep them all organized.

Seasonal Centers
Over the years I have accumulated a variety of seasonal centers. They range in skills from sight word write the room activities, ABC order to sentence building. Quite a few of them I have purchased from Amy Lemons. I just love her materials! I have these sorted by months in large Ikea tubs. I simply printed each month on a piece of cardstock to use as a divider. I also store the seasonal center materials at the front of the tub.

At the end of the month I pull down the tub, put away last month's centers and pull out what I can use for this month. I pull out the centers I will use and put them in the cabinet for easy access throughout the month.

These big tubs are stored on top of my storage cabinet.  I have a tub for August-December and then January-June. I organize my seasonal books the same way in these tubs. 

 


Skill Centers
Besides my seasonal centers, I have various language arts skill centers that are sorted in baskets. Years ago I made labels on little dividers to keep them organized. They sit on storage drawers right behind my Guided Reading table.

Due to the fact that I have my students for sometimes six years, I really have to keep adding to these centers all the time. I have started to keep track of when I use the center and with who simply by putting a post-it note on the front of the center envelope or folder with their name and date used.

What's New?

Hey there! I know it's been WAY too long! Life has been a bit crazy for me since school started. Trying to balance teaching, being a mom to two busy little girls, creating and blogging.... wow! But I thought I'd try to get over here more often and share what we are up to in the classroom. I have so much to share!

Today I am excited to share that I FINALLY finished up all of the Dolch Word File Folder Activities! This was a major project that took me a lot longer than I anticipated! But they are done and up on TpT.

Not only that, but they are finally assembled, laminated and being used in my classroom! They are the perfect task for my students. We are using the Dolch words for spelling each week, so these are a great resource to practice each of their words.

As many of you know, I teach a multi-grade classroom. Well, six grades to be exact. It's crazy and I don't even know how I do it on most days. But some how we make it work. These File Folder Activities are working out well since I can just pull the words that each student is working on. But as I was using the full set last week I realized I needed a way to quickly find the words I was looking for. So I have added some dividers to separate the grade levels. Check out that little freebie up on TpT for your Dolch Sight Word activities.

Take Home Folders

Last year was the first year I used daily Take Home Folders. I've used homework folders in the past, but not a real organization/communication tool for school to home.

Last summer I picked up this set from Clutter-Free Classroom during a flash freebie. It perfectly matched my classroom theme, so I went with it. Overall, the daily folders worked out great! I bought the thick and sturdy plastic folders from Office Depot, and they held up all year. I checked them out at Walmart this year, but of course, the quality is not as good. So I paid a bit extra again at Office Depot but know they will last. Also, I used my Xyron Creative Station to adhere all of the pieces to the folder. I use the permanent adhesive and it holds up all year.

Last year I also added a plastic pocket divider to store the student's daily behavior calendar. This behavior calendar really worked out well and held the students accountable each day. At the end of the day they colored that day's square with where ever they were on the behavior clip chart. If they had a yellow or below, I made a note in the square as to why. Each night the parents initial that day's square so they can see how their student was doing at school. I had two students on classroom behavior support plans, so this was ideal in terms of communicating with home and with documenting behavior in the classroom. At the end of the month, when I replaced the calendars, I would save the old calendar and could refer back to it when needed. That's a keeper for sure this year!

Next is a page protector that holds the lunch menu on one side and the school calendar on the backside. It's very handy for the students and parents.

Last year there was also a page protector for lunch money or fieldtrip money. This was rarely used, so this year I stuck to just one page protector.

Also, there were home to school communication sheets you can add to the folder. My student's parents typically just call the classroom and I found no one ever wrote in here. So this year I also took those out.

So here are my super simple Daily Take Home Folders. Important notes home, information and homework go in the front cover. At the end of the week when we empty mail boxes, those papers go in the back cover.

These are super simple to assemble and keep the students organized all year. The students take them out first thing in the morning. I collect them and then return them at the end of the day. Knock on wood.... no one lost one last year. Let's hope for the same thing this year as well!

Monday Made It- July 14th

This summer is flying by! Why does the school year drag while the summer flies? Since it's pretty early in the summer, I haven't really focused on school yet. But I was able to get one little project done. So I am linking up with 4th Grade Frolics for her Monday Made It series.

I have been struggling with storing my iPads at school. I only have two of them and usually they are stacked up on the computer desk and end up under a pile of paperwork. The cords are everywhere. I'm pretty limited where I can store them because of outlets and those darn short cords. These plastic drawers are the perfect solution to my problem. I can store the first two iPads in the drawers. The last drawer I plan on creating a few QR code activities for fast finishers.

I had my husband drill holes in the back of the drawers so the cords can plug into the iPads and charge while they are in the drawer. Now my students won't have to go hunting for the iPads under a pile of papers! Quick and easy solution for iPad storage.

Student Progress Notebooks

A while back I talked about sharing my student progress notebooks with you. Oh my! The beginning of the year was a whirlwind! We've been back three weeks and this weekend is the first one where I have felt a sense of calm and am not worried about Monday. I left yesterday afternoon with my plans done, centers set up, and homework ready. I wish I could be that prepared every Friday!

So here they are. My Student Progress Notebooks for each student in my Special Day Class. This is where I keep all of my data on students, work samples, and parent communication. They sit right behind my desk for easy access. Data tracking is one of the most difficult things to find time to do. I try and make things easy so it will get done.

Inside the binder I keep the following information: Communication Contacts, Audiological information, IEP goal data sheets, Parent communication log sheets, information from the mainstream classroom, Misc., and then Work Samples in the back.

Page 1- Communication Contacts. Often times our students have lots of different people working with them. Everyone from their private audiologist to CCS caseworkers. This is a handy reference page that makes life easier when I need to make a phone call.

 

Page2- Audiological information. It's nice to have it handy in one little spot for easy reference. It also helps to make sure I am up to date on the most current information.

Section 1- Data sheets to track student progress toward IEP goals. I've used several different forms over the years. I just developed this one over the summer that I think will be easier to use this year. It has one IEP goal per page, but has space for 13 weeks worth of data. We are on Trimester reporting, so this will be easy to go back and look at data when it's progress report time. If you'd like to try out the IEP data tracking sheet you can download it here from Google Docs.

Section 2- Parent Communication Logs. I got these from the Clutter-Free Classroom last summer during a Flash Freebie. (I can't find them on TpT, sorry.)

Section 3- Mainstream. I put any communication from the mainstream teachers into this section. This could also include paperwork the mainstream teachers give me like their grading rubrics.

Section 4- Miscellaneous. Anything that doesn't fit in any of the other sections.

Section 5- Work Samples. This is where I store all of the student's work I need to keep to document progress. This includes assessment results, our story retells, and their DRA folders.

Hopefully my Student Progress Notebooks have inspired you to document and to keep your student's data organized. Because in Special Education, if it isn't documented, it didn't happen. If any of these forms (Communication Contacts, Audiological Info, IEP Goal Data form) could be helpful to you feel free to download and use them. You can find the forms here on Google Docs.

Have a great weekend!

Centers Storage

Two weeks before I go back to work! The summer has flown by. But thanks to Monday Made It, I've got some cute stuff to use in my classroom this year!

I don't know about you, but I really struggle with how to store and organize my centers when they are not in use. I have three different types of center storage. My seasonal centers are stored in tubs up on top of one of my cupboards. Then I have baskets with grammar/language arts centers of laminated manila envelopes. I also have basic centers and activities that are not in permanent manila envelopes. Things like spelling activities, sight word stamping, etc. This is what I use most often. This is what that bunch looked like right out of my cupboard.

Because I use Ziploc bags, they tend to slide and collapse when not in use. I can't find what I'm looking for and it's one big jumbled mess! My type A heart hates opening the cupboard these are stored in! So my mission this summer was to figure out a way to store them and organize them so they are easy to find when I want to use a specific center.

First, I needed a way for the bags to stand up in a basket when not in use and not fold in half. I printed this cute chevron composition book clip art with the name of the center on cardstock. I attached them to the front with contact paper. That gave the bags enough strength to not fold over. I was able to reuse most of my bags from before by using a Magic Eraser to take off the Sharpie marker that was on the bags as center labels.

Then I sorted each of the centers. I have 1st-6th grade students, so I have a wide variety of abilities. My centers are differentiated to target all of their needs. I had to categorize each of the centers so they will be easy to find later. I used chip board for dividers that I covered with scrapbook paper and added a label to the top. This helps give the bags some more stability in the tub.

Once they were sorted I put the primary and intermediate levels into black dish tubs from Walmart. My husband made me wooden 'book ends' if you will, for the back of the tubs to keep the bags upright. At some point these tubs will be full, but for now there is room to grow.

Now my centers are organized and ready for a new year. Plus, I won't dread opening up that cupboard any more! I'd love to see how you've organized your centers when they are not in use.