Today we’re going to cover the next installment in my organization series by talking about how to keep your community supplies neat. This is one of the most common areas within your classroom that needs a system! Sharing supplies can be messy, but it doesn’t have to be. Keep reading to check out some tips and ideas for organizing your community supplies.
Tap here to learn about the importance of getting your teacher’s desk organized. I shared some valuable organization tips to help you do that. In addition to the teacher’s desk, let’s talk about organizing student supplies!
Organization Tips for Pencils
Pencils are likely the most used school supply in your classroom. They’re used all day, every day, so a system is detrimental to keeping them orderly. In my classroom, we use communal pencils. I utilize three different cups located beside the pencil sharpener to keep my pencils sorted.
I need to stop to say that pencil sharpening only happens at two points during our school day: once in the morning and once in the afternoon. We don’t have any disruptions with the pencil sharpener because we have a designated time for pencil sharpening. Students know this and they don’t ask to sharpen them any other time.
The first of my three cups is for broken pencils. Students place broken pencils in the “broken” cup as pencils break. Then they place them in the “dirty” cup after they’ve been sharpened. By doing this, we know to wipe it with a Clorox wipe. Once the pencil has been sanitized, we place it in the “clean” cup. Students know they can come and grab a pencil from this cup any time.
Wanna take a quick peek at my favorite classroom supplies? Check out this Amazon List!
Organization Tips for Crayons
Kids are always missing a color from their individual crayon boxes. That’s why I organize my crayons by color. I have a container for each individual color: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, pink, black, white, brown, gray, and tan. We use twelve different clear containers to store these crayons in.
You may be wondering why I do this.
Doing this helps because when I tell students they need a particular color of crayon, they can just grab it. If I say, you’re going to need a red crayon, there’s no more digging. In other words, you’ll save so much more time since students are able to quickly find their colors.
Organization Tips for Glue Sticks
My glue sticks live in one big bucket. We use glue sticks in my class all the time and we go through them like crazy! I love keeping them in a big bucket because students know exactly where to go to get them. At last, when the glue sticks run out of glue, students know to throw them away. Our big bucket of glue usually lasts us for the whole year!
These are a few of my favorite hacks, and I’d love to show you my bundle of back-to-school resources. It has resources with helpful hacks for managing conferences, student behavior, and more!
Looking for other ways to get organized?
If there’s one thing I hate, it’s a dirty student desk! Messy desks made me crazy, so I started creating a diagram to show my students how to organize their desks. At last, a diagram gives students a road map for how to keep their desks clean by following a system.
In conclusion, keeping community supplies organized creates one less step to help students transition in less time. Now you have more time to teach and your students are more organized. It’s a win-win.
Wait! Want to know how I get all these things?
I’m not a big spender, and I don’t recommend you spend all your hard-earned cash either. In other words, don’t go buying all these supplies by yourself. I put together this list of tips for list building. It’ll show you how to build your wishlist, and share it in ways where you’ll actually raise funds for the supplies you want and need for your classroom!
Click here to get your FREE Amazon Wishlist Building Guide!
One more thing, you may notice that all the bins and baskets I’m recommending are clear. This is KEY for our classroom because we’re able to see what’s inside without having to pull it out. In addition to that, we can also scan throughout the room to assess our supply level. I highly recommend clear containers for you too!
Stay tuned for the next part of the organization tips series which focuses on organizing your STEM supplies.
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