Teacher Week - Why Wednesday

Today's link up for Blog Hoppin's Teacher Week is WHY - all about organization!! Like every teacher, I know that setting yourself up for a great year means setting yourself up to be organized. Here's a peek into how I keep myself organized in my classroom!

The center of my teacher-organization world is the cubby behind my desk. There's an upper half and a lower half. Here's the upper half.

There's actually another shelf above that stores my binders - curriculum standards, student data files, testing materials, etc. Bo-ring!

Anywhoodles. This is the main part. There's my Trusty Teacher Toolbox, various markers and folders, pencils like crazy (the neon ones are mine, the glitter ones are fancy pencils for my kiddos, only to be used for fancy writing! They only come out on special writing occasions.) and my sticker box. More on the white set of drawers in a minute.

I would lose my head without this toolbox. Lose my head, I tell you! I chose not to put labels on the drawers, because I like to see everything in them. 

I've had various different versions of this over the years, and I like this one best. Three drawers. Things to Copy. Things to File. Things to Prep. Easy peasy. I like to try and use the first 5 - 10 minutes of my specials to deal with the stuff in here. That way, the stuff doesn't get too overwhelming!

This is where all the copies go. Once it's copied, it goes into a drawer for it's particular day of the week. (There's also a drawer labeled "Next Week" for when I'm REALLY ahead of myself! :oP)

When I file things, they go in my file cabinet. My reading files are filed by unit, but math/science/social studies/religion are all filed by skill. I have a few theme folders too for holidays, etc. I keep my centers and activities in here, stored with all their components, in plastic baggies and labeled. I go to start Unit 3.4, I pull out the centers for that unit on Monday morning and I'm golden.

Although I'm starting a new reading series this year, so this system could be thrown way off. We'll see!

Now, this is the bottom half of my teacher cubby. It's dedicated to my planning.

Teacher's manuals and master copy booklets go in the blue bin labeled "manuals." The green "planning" basket holds all the current Teacher Editions of the books I need - it's currently housing Unit 1 for reading, the first half of our math book, our religion book, and penmanship. To the left of the blue manuals bin sit the other teacher editions that I'm not currently using.

Bottom shelf - baggies in the white bin (easy access), all my cardstock in a file box, (filed by color) and the blue basket with the "Teaching trade texts" in it - various different books that I like to teach with and have at my fingertips, like The Amazing Pop Up Grammar Book! 

This bottom half of my teacher cubby helps my planning time A LOT. Everything I need is at my fingertips, and I don't have to go looking for it.

The top half keeps my messes at bay and helps me have all my materials on hand at all times - I don't have to tell you how much easier it makes life in a classroom!!

I can't wait to see what everyone else has in store for Why Wednesday!! :o) Thanks for stopping by!