On Your Mark, Get Set, Go! Are You Prepared For Your Day?

Teachers have a lot of stuff and it can be really tough to organize and manage all that STUFF! Often times the opportunity to use an item passes by because you either forgot you had it or you couldn’t find it when you needed it.

Bring your “stuff” out of hiding and put it in plain sight where it won’t get overlooked and most importantly your students will reap the benefits. Simple tips will help you get organized for the day, the week and possibly the month.

Cafeteria Trays

Yep, you read that right…cafeteria trays. Round up 5 or 6 trays and use them to organize items you need for the major activities during your day. These are for short term prep. Every day you will be emptying them and then refilling them for the next day. One tray might have a story you intend to read with a puppet, one tray might have a sample of a craft the kids will be making, etc.) The idea is that you house all the ingredients you need for the day on the trays and then you stack them in a central location so they are ready to roll when you need them.

Zip-Lock Baggies/Clothespins/Clothesline

String a clothesline in a visible location that you access many times throughout the day. Clip large (the largest you can find) Zip-Lock Baggies onto the line with clothespins. I suggest 30 baggies or more. Anytime you run across something you want to use for a particular theme/holiday/subject, chuck it in one of the baggies where you will be sure not to forget about it. The idea is to keep the items in plain sight and not buried in a closet or desk drawer where they will forgotten.

For example, you might have a baggie with the book Pete the Cat in it because you know you want to use that book soon. Maybe in your travels you run across a really cool catalog of guitars so you pick it up and add it to the “Pete” baggie. When the time comes to share the “Pete” book, you won’t be hunting all over the place for the things you have that you know would be great tie-ins. The idea is to always have many baggies going. It’s like a visible file cabinet of STUFF. This is a long range type of prep.

Basket

Greet you students each morning with a basket in your hand for them toss all notes, permission slips, lunch money etc. in as they come in the door. Having all the “bookkeeping” items placed in one location will prepare you to make it through the “secretarial” part of your day without having to chase down missing items that were laid down in random locations.

There is no magical way to get prepared. Find a couple tricks that solve your biggest organizational problems and then stick with it until it becomes a habit. A few minutes of prep time saves you from wasting precious moments during your day.

Rebecca Eckenrode

Early Education Teacher / Classloom Blog Writer

Join thousands of teachers using Classloom.
Open a group for your class invite parents or students and start sharing! Create your own parent portal.
Sign up now for free! www.classloom.com

Originally published at blog.classloom.com on March 1, 2016.