It is Friday and time for me to share one of my favorite things.
People are constantly telling me how organized I am and I turn around and look behind me trying to find who they could possibly be talking to. I am not organized; they can't be talking to me. Because of my lack of organization and general tendency towards chaos, I love anything that helps me organize everything for school. I have lots of organizers. My mom picked up a great scrapbook organizer cart at a garage sale and it is 8 1/2 x 11 which is perfect for storing flashcards (we have tons of them), readers, etc . . . My sweet Mom (in-law) got us these amazing bookshelves with canvas storage bins in them. They are perfect for storing some of our fun building toys and art supplies. Still, with the multitude of organizers and storage I've acquired for our classroom materials, my all-time favorite is the All-Purpose Teacher Organizer from Lakeshore Learning.
It can be used lots of different ways, but what I like to do is to pull a week's worth of lessons for each student (that would be four different grade levels at this point). I then decide what each student is able to do independently, what they can work together on, and what we can do as a whole class. I add to the file box for each day the flashcards, worksheets, and reading material needed for each day. I plan out my teaching time according to each day's bin. It is a wonderful help in my planning each week. I try to take a Friday evening or a Saturday to plan out my school week and gather the extra materials I'll use each day. The system could easily be adapted with whatever you have on hand. Just planning and preparing for each day before it arrives helps the school day to flow smoothly. I have found that the better prepared I am, the better the entire day will be.
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