Classroom Organization Ideas

Have I mentioned that I am addicted to Pinterest? I have been getting all kinds of ideas from fellow teachers' boards. Here is one idea I saw on there - using a Lazy Susan turn table with buckets for supplies. I decided to use this idea for my art center. My art center was always so messy after my little ones were hard at work creating - and the mess drove me crazy! :) So, I got this idea from Pinterest and here it is:

I had each student bring a 3-ring binder to keep at school at the beginning of the year. I use these as scrapbooks for their school year. Any "Super Star" work, photos, etc goes in their scrapbook and they will have a ready-made memory book for when they graduate kindergarten! 

 My school uses these phoneme posters each week and I found this chart hanger in a spare room. I have found that this is a MUCH easier way to store my posters.  I can flip through them easily and they are out of the way. In years before, the posters would be in the way on the floor or on the board held by magnets. This keeps them together and the whole thing can be moved to any spot in the classroom. 

Yet another Pinterest idea - using a dish drying rack to store writing center supplies. I got the rack for about $8 at Walmart and the white boards fit perfectly! The rack fits just right on the shelf (and again it cuts down on the mess in the center!).

This hangs near the door to the classroom. It is purely decoration. We don't have a real need for hall passes in kindergarten!

 Our class rules are the 4 Be's. 

 We hang this outside the classroom door when we have perfect attendance! This way anyone walking by can see that we have everyone present that day!

 Martian Fingers! I purchased these from Oriental Trading Co. and they make my guided reading groups so much fun!

 My assistant I have found over the years that having small group time (guided reading, testing, etc) works best during centers time. We each have a group, so only half the class is in centers at a time. This helps with noise; and we rotate, so the students in groups Monday get to play Tuesday, etc. with "free" centers on Fridays, meaning everyone gets to play in centers on Fridays. 

Color Days

At the beginning of every year, we spend about two weeks learning colors. We do this with our Color Days. We send home a paper letting families know what colors we are learning about on what days: 

On the following days wear the color indicated as we learn all about colors!

Tuesday, Sept. 6 -- Blue
Wednesday, Sept 7 -- Green
Thursday, Sept 8 -- Red
Friday, Spet 9 -- Orange

Monday, Sept 12 --Purple
Tuesday, Sept 13 -- Yellow
Wednesday, Sept 14 -- Pink
Thursday, Sept 15 -- Brown
Friday, Sept 16 -- Black

Monday, Sept 19 -- White
Tuesday, Spet 20 -- Favorite Color

It's really neat to see 100 + kids all wearing the same color playing on the playground! 

Next year I am going to use Pete the Cat to assist me in teaching the colors!

Here are a few things I plan to use:  (You can click on the picture or the link below)

Pete the Cat Emergent Reader

Teachers Pay Teachers is a FANTASTIC site with TONS of ideas: Here are the Pete the Cat ideas

 

My Pinterest Board: 

Pete the Cat

Classroom Set up

I love my classroom this year so I thought I would share my layout and the thought process. 

This is my teacher area. I hold my guided reading groups and other small groups here. Everything I need is on the red shelf behind the table. The small cabinet to the right holds Mailbox magazines and math workbooks, etc. I also keep some testing supplies in there for easy access. The placement is perfect: I can see the door and all the tables and it is also right next to the carpet area so my plans are easy-access! (I keep my notebook with my plans on that right hand corner.) 

My lesson plan book: 

The book, Day-by-Day Kindergarten Plans, is from The Mailbox, is AMAZING, and can be bought Here.

 

 The front of my lesson plan notebook has our grade level's Long Term Plans.

The rest of the notebook holds my weekly plans.
You can grab My Lesson Plan Template here.

These are my centers:

Dramatic Play (Housekeeping, as the kids call it). we set it up near the classroom kitchen and it also acts as a barrier between the room and the bathroom, which is nice.

This is the listening center which is right beside the reading center. I have also added some Leap Frog Leappads to this center, which the kids LOVE. They have a difficult time with cassette tapes, I need to upgrade my listening library to CDs! :)

Here is the view from the doorway. You can see the calendar on the back of the cubbies shelf. It works well there for Calendar Time in the mornings when students are sitting on the rug. I have enough jobs for every student this year and one of those jobs is "Calendar Helper." 

Here is our word wall. It's right at the front of the classroom where everyone can see it from their seats. Underneath the word wall are the puzzles and blocks centers. I keep them covered so there are no distractions during "carpet times."

 This is my writing center (I am in the process of changing some things around via Pinterest ideas, I will update as soon as that is complete.) There are white boards and markers; stamps, stamp pads, and paper; pencils, crayons, and colored pencils. I also keep students' journals and Everyday Math  workbooks in those colored bins (from Really Good Stuff). They are labeled by table number and students are responsible for getting their books or journals and returning them to the correct bin. 

This is what I use to organize my week. There is a pocket for each day of the week and I also keep an "Absent" folder (that's the one with polka dots) and an "Extra Work" folder or two. This hangs on the side of our huge (unattractive) AC unit, which is right beside the teacher table. Easy access and really self-explanatory for a sub!

You can get one of these nifty file organizer pocket charts at amazon.com for $14.99 (a little cheaper than a teacher store!)!