Organizing for Instruction - Blog Hoppin' Linky

Here are some snapshots of how I organize things in my classroom to access them quickly.  It makes instruction a lot smoother when I can find the things I need!  :)

I promise this is organized, even though it might not look like it.  I spent an entire day going through my files and pitching what I don't need/use and trying to make sense of what I wanted to keep.

The drawer right below it has all of my Reading Street files, organized by story.  I keep everything in there that I would need for the week.  Word Work, fluency checks, Decodable Readers, etc.

I place all of my materials in these drawers for each day during the week.  I made the labels my very first year of teaching, so I really need to go back through and relabel them!

The never-ending pencil battle starts here.  When students break a pencil it goes in the blue bucket.  They grab one from the purple bucket.  At the end of the day, my pencil sharpener sharpens all the "Not Sharp" pencils and places them all into the "Sharpened" bucket!

Each child has their own homework folder.  I check it every day when they put it in the "Folder" bucket.  Then my "Mailbox Helper" puts them in mailboxes.

Each child has their own mailbox.  This year I'm trying the binder clip idea!  I'm a huge fan so far!  I used my label maker to put their names on stickers and attach them to the clips.

During Daily 5, I have all sorts of options for the students to choose from.  I have copies of different types of writing paper in each drawer, a new journal entry each week in the flat, blue bin, and wordless picture books in the blue bin on the right for them to write their own words to the stories.

On the left side are all my Word Work activities for the week.  On the right are my Monthly Math Centers.  It's so helpful to keep them organized!

I have these huge drawers for organizing my math materials.  Each unit has a drawer and I keep homework, test copies, game templates, and other supplemental resources needed for each unit.  It makes it so easy to find what I need!

These three drawers house all of my little math materials, such as playing cards, rulers, clocks, tape measures, dice, and playing chips.

I have these bins that I got from Oriental Trading a few years ago.  I keep books that I use for specific lessons that are mine only.  I like to keep these separate from the student books so they're easier to find and stay in better condition.

I keep my anchor charts clipped together on the back of my easel for easy access.

For "Listen to Reading," I keep books in the red bin, iPads in the green bin, and their headphones in baggies in the blue basket.  It's all right there for them to be able to find and get started!