If you know anything about me at all, you’ll probably know by now that I am 100% a type A personality. I always have been, I’ve been a perfectionist my entire life and organization is part of that. Don’t get me wrong, I do have messes, but I am sure to clean those up fairly promptly because disorder is not my friend.

My classroom is VERY organized (with a few rougher areas of course) but that’s the overall impression you’d get. I’ve walked into some very unorganized classrooms and it stresses me out.

Just because I like organizing doesn’t mean that’s everyone’s cup of tea, however, I do get lots of questions about organization. So let’s solve some of those problems, here are a few of my best organization tips for around your classroom!

Note: organization doesn’t mean pretty. Matching bins are not required. Labels on everything are not required.

Start with functionality first, then if it works for you, make it pretty later. I do have a lot of matching bins but they’ve been collected through the years, they weren’t like that for the first several years, I had some wild colours and big mixes of different things. I’ve used some of my classroom money over the years to get things I wanted and I’ve had to change some based on the built in shelving sizing but…don’t panic if you're not Pinterest worthy on day 1 or day 1000.

Below are some general shots of my most recent classroom (I’m in a portable). We’ll dive deeper into some of these areas later in the blog post. If you have any questions about something you see that I haven’t covered, please shoot me an email. You can find the contact in the top tool bar.

Monthly themed storage

The monthly bins are the scrapbook cases from Michaels.

Inside the bins I include thematic decor (if it’s small), calendar pieces, mot du jour cards for that month, incentive charts for that month, and thematic or seasonal word strips. While I don’t really do math/literacy games in my early finishers anymore, I do have some thematic ones in the bins.

I also have folders with master copies for things related to that month. For example, I have Terry Fox resources and Orange Shirt Day resources right in my September bin. I don’t include things like math or science.

Having a designated space for everything needed means that monthly change over goes so much faster. No more putting the calendar pieces in a separate place to the word strips and pulling out a bunch of bins. Just in and out in the same monthly bin.

Morning work & other tools

This rainbow cart houses my morning work for Monday-Thursday. On the day I need it, I take out the bin and place it on my supplies table for students to come collect.

It also hold dry erase pouches for our UFLI/Son-au-graphe work, frequent word charts (French and English), French sound charts and extra colouring.

Early finisher bins

Early finisher bins that are filled with activities are stored in this IKEA Trofast system. Each month there are 9 bins with activities to keep early finishers busy. I have moved to a game based early finisher system and it has been very well received compared to trying to get them to do more work with math or literacy centres.

Learn more about my early finisher bins HERE.

Since I rotate what’s in them, I store the extra stuff in a tote and the things in boxes (like Battleship) on a shelf.

Student supplies

At our school, parents pay a fee and teachers purchase class supplies. While it’s a lot of work to do the orders, I love this system because I can buy exactly what my students need and I always have leftover money that I use to buy materials for special projects.

I have tables, not desks, so having individual pencil cases always ends up as a pain. In my class everything is communal. Since there are no names, we’re not chasing students down to get supplies back to their home.

I have a storage shelf at the front of the room. Since I have 5 tables, they each get a bin of markers and pencil crayons. They also have access to highlighters, glue sticks, scissors, dry erase markers and erasers. Sitting above that I have a mini Sterlite drawer for pencils, erasers and pencil sharpeners. I do have a proper heavy duty sharpener but this is ideal when I don’t want them sharpening and making a bunch of noise.

All the additional supplies is stored in a cupboard and I pull this out as needed. New pencils, new erasers etc.

Note: Every year I have students who want to bring special items. Maybe a special pencil, their own markers etc. They are totally allowed, they just keep this in their personal bin.

Since I don’t have any desks in my class, we need somewhere to store our notebooks, duotangs and supplies. Each student has their own bin to keep everything in.

These are the IKEA Trofast bins. The unit was already in the school and is quite old so I don’t know where you’d find something like it. You could just use a few Trofast units to create enough slots for students.

The labels are available in a bunch of colours to match all my decor themes in my TPT store.

Designated places for student work & notices

I have two large tubs in front of my desk. One is for finished work and one is for unfinished work. Sometimes I collect work and store it elsewhere. This happens with journals or math books. If it’s something I can mark immediately, they come show me and then it gets put away in the appropriate duotang.

The only time unfinished work doesn’t go in the bin is when it’s something that the whole class is not done working on, such as a project or writing piece. In those instances, I collect their work and store it elsewhere. The unfinished bin is for those who didn’t finish in time and will need to work on it at another point. Learn more about my unfinished work system.

In between those two bins is a little basket called “Pour Madame” which is where students put any notes, forms, notices, money etc. that came from home.

Seasonal, teacher and professional books

My teacher books are stored behind my desk. These are seasonal books that get rotated in my student shelf, special read alouds (picture books and novels) and professional books.

These are not books that my students get to choose for silent reading unless they specifically request one to read, then it goes back in my cupboard when they’re finished.

This ensures easy access and that my more “special” books stay in good condition.

Student books

Note: below are some ways I have arranged my books based on the shelving in different classrooms (I don’t have this many bookshelves in one room!)

I have a few areas around my room with books for student use. First are my two bookshelves. The shelf on the left is for French books. The baskets are for picture books by series or theme, like Robert Munsch, Mo Willems, Pat le Chat and les animaux. Most of the time, my students aren’t ready for chapter books in French but I do have a few and some graphic novels on the bottom shelf. All the other French picture books are in my wooden display case.

The shelf on the right side is for my English books. Chapter books that are in series go in the blue baskets. The baskets have things like the “Who was” books, Geronimo Stilton, Flat Stanley, Junie B. Jones, Roald Dahl books and Magic Treehouse. The rest of the chapter books go underneath and are grouped by series too. These ones just don’t tend to have enough for a basket or wouldn’t fit in a basket. Next there are 2 wooden baskets. On the left is the Rainbow Fairy series (very popular with my kiddos) and books about animals (mostly National Geographic readers). On the bottom shelf in the white bins are all the English picture books.

My “livres en vedette” (featured books) crate is where my seasonal and holiday books go. These are available to students during the month and then get put away in my cupboard. I like to have this rotation as it adds excitement for new books that are only available for a limited time!

I also like to display books around my room. This draws attention to them, more so than just being in a basket or bin. Students tend to pick up books that are right in front of them.

Home reading books

My home reading books are on the shelf behind my desk. They are organized by level. Within each colour, I write the number they are in the series. This is so that it makes it way easier to find the book I’m looking for since I track which books students read.

There’s a lot to my system, read all about how I do individual reading in the blog post.

These green bins were a very exciting thrift find!

Teacher storage - resources, supplies, daily materials

Behind my desk is a Kallax shelf from IKEA. This is where my most used binders live so they’re within easy reach. I love the Staples binders because they’re durable and the rings are easy to open. Nearly all of them have come from thrift stores for a couple dollars each, rather than crazy prices at Staples. I also have 3 Sterilite drawers (for stickers and little supplies like magnetic strips, labels etc). I keep any books that I’ve taken out from the library here too so they’re always in one place.

My desk is very old but I love it! I had them to bring it to my school from cold storage (the place that old furniture goes to collect dust). I have my frequently used writing tools in jars, little bits like paper clips, elastics and push pins in the little green box and all my tools (staple remover, Allen key, screw driver…) and sticky notes in the white drawers. I keep a loud bell and my chime within easy reach as noise management/attention grabbers.

On top of the Kallax shelf is this Bankers Box organizer. I use it to store extra copies of things that I have prepped but haven’t yet put in their day bin or for things that we work on over a period such as a science booklet, project etc.

This Trofast with the days on it is where I store my daily materials. Copies, dice, art supplies etc. It keeps it all neat and tidy but gives a lot more space than putting things in file folders.

The black organizer is used for office paperwork I need to do, things to take back into the office and things to do/copy.

Art sample storage

I am a massive believer in art samples.

Making them not only helps you know how to teach others how to do it, but it allows you to display the sample and help you remember all your options year to year.

I put mine in these zippered pouches (Amazon) and they are grouped by theme. It would be a lot to have individual pouches for Remembrance Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Diwali and Day of the Dead so instead, all those go in one pouch for “fall holidays”. I have holidays, seasons and then some more random ones. These pouches are also excellent for keeping any stencils or masters that may need to be copied for the project.

Art supplies

Which art supplies you keep in your room will largely depend on how much art you do, if you have an art room and how much space you can dedicate.

I have two areas, the bins that are more available to students and the things that aren’t available to them.

On the left I have bins with things like fancy scissors, paint pens, crayons, rulers, googley eyes, Sharpies…

On the right are things I keep in my cupboard including paint, brushes, foil, hot glue, items for special projects…

One thing you may not see here is paper. This is because I don’t keep

I don’t keep much paper in my class. I like this smaller Banker Box organizer. I have card stock, computer weight paper, lined paper, coloured card stock and regular weight,.

I don’t really keep construction paper in my class. I just go get some from the art room when I need it. If you’d like to keep it in your room, I would suggest something like this for ease of organization and access.

Art extra bits (paper, cardboard, tissue…)

Since so many art projects require some teacher prep ahead of time to cut strips of paper, bits of tissue or cut chunks of cardboard, it would be a shame to throw them away. Instead, I save them for next year. To remember which project they go with, I just put a sticky with the bag so that when it’s time to do that project, I can go look at my bin of extras and see if I already have some ready. It probably won’t be enough for the whole project but it means less prepping for me, so it’s worth it!

Portfolios

I use these hanging file folders to store art projects, special writing samples, any assessments and projects. Inside the hanging folder is a large piece of cardstock that’s folded in two. In September, students decorate their folder.

For conferences we need to show a portfolio of work so I take what’s in there, add a few other things like their journal and any work they’re proud of to share with parents.

*Crate available at Michaels.

Playing cards (for use in math)

These little containers are from Dollar Tree and often come in a pack of 3. They’re easy for kids to open and close. No fiddling with or losing elastics. The cards fit perfectly inside.

You’ll notice there’s a letter H on these cards. Each one in that deck has an H so that if it ends up on the floor, we know exactly which deck to put it back with. Each deck has a different letter or number.

Vocabulary tools for writing

My students have access to a variety of picture lexicons. As second language learners, half the battle of writing is the vocabulary. I use a mix from Mme Andrea, For French Immersion and some I’ve made myself. I organize them by theme and students are responsible for putting them back into the correct folder. Sometimes they get mixed up, but generally they do a pretty good job of keeping it organized.

*Bin and folders available at Michaels.

More designated places for things…

Headphones for ipads - students are welcome to bring their own or they can borrow one of my pairs for the year. They then keep them in their bin (to the right)
Teacher info - I keep a big calendar behind my desk to write all the dates we have to keep track of. I also put things like support or ELL schedules, phone codes for admin and support
Library books (we only go once per week) and art mats
Math supplies - cards, dice, magnetic money, hundreds charts, number lines etc.
Homework folders - I don’t send homework on a normal basis but students may be required to take something home if it’s not getting done while at school or if they request something to take while away. The folder is just laminated. I would suggest just buying the poly plastic folders instead since the laminating is peeling a bit on these (but…use what you have!)
Student mailboxes - Another Bankers Box. Each student has a box where things like notices or work to go home go. They can then put that into their agenda pouch.