Classroom Makeover 2014-15

If you read my last post, you know that I am at a new school this year teaching 4th grade. When I walked into my new classroom, I had a few reactions--it's a little on the small side, so get rid of everything that is not necessary for students and PAINT!!! So, I spent quite a few days over the summer weeding out the former teacher's stuff, deciding what furniture I could get rid of, and then painting and decorating my walls. Here are a few before pictures:

The most hideous desk ever. It ended up the same color as my walls.

 

And here are the exciting results!

I'm trying a focus wall this year. These are themes, concepts, and skills that could
be found throughout many subject areas and concepts this quarter.

Reader's Workshop: Ready!

This area still needs a rug, but I have a really cute one on the way from amazon!

These awesome inspirational notes came from a Dollar Store Calendar! ($1 bulletin board, yes please!!)

Clutter Free Update (paper-stacking)

Hey all,

I just wanted to share some pictures from my "Clutter-Free" efforts and some awesome supplies I recently bought. I had a rough day two Tuesdays ago and it was a Tuesday with no after school staff meeting or other engagement...Guess what I did to relieve some stress---started cleaning out my desk. And it looked like: BAM! 

 

Look at that baby, shining in all it's glory! I even had time to wipe it down and clean off some dust. Those *cute* little flower trinkets are crafty gifts from some of my kiddos. And that spinning supply organizer is a little something I coveted all summer before I grabbed it from overstock.com.

In Week # 7's Challenge, the Clutter Free Classroom encourages us to work on our paper clutter. I like to convince myself that I don't have a paper problem. I saw her handy method for organizing and filing papers in the teacher bag--a file-folio with labeled sections, and I thought "I don't need that. It's ONE MORE THING to 'organize' me, and I don't really have a paper problem." Ahh-hemmmm. Begin DISTRICT COMMON ASSESSMENTS here...OPEN ENDED, lots of GREAT components, and ahhh-hemmmmmm...lots of paperwork. Not to mention, I also assign student work out of my own choosing and would like to think sometimes I have the time to read it, grade it, rubric it...all that jazz (are you reading my hint of toooooo-much paperwork, end of quarter sarcasm?)

 Not too bad, huh? (whimpering a little as  I type here :( If everything has a place, where is the place for this stuff? I feel like I have too many containers, too many shelves, what to do that will work? (and not cost more money?? and not take up more space??? This sounds like a clutter-free dilemma!)

 I call this pic "paper stacks".

 I call this pic "more paper stacks," still whimpering! And yes, I strategically placed the stapler there so that we could all see how tall this one-of-ten paper stack is. Needless to say, all of these paper stacks went in my bag on Friday as I headed off for a weekend of sifting, grading, and preparing report cards.

And, in walks my common sense. Yes, I do need a "filing folio" for all of my paperwork. Although paperwork (like everything in my education world it seems) EBBS and FLOWS throughout a quarter, I really need a method for handling my TO DO, TO READ, TO GRADE, TO FILE, TO COPY, TO HOLD ON TO piles. These just get stuck into my bag until I get a chance (read--evening-at-home-not exhausted-motivation) to sift through them--almost never. BUT, I do find that when I sift through the papers, I keep shuffling them to "I'll need that again later, I still want to hold on to that." These papers obviously need a labeled section so that I don't have to constantly sift a whole pile but will know where to start when I want something or want to clean out all the paper.

I was even thinking it might help to have one of these file folders at school to house stacks of papers that need to be returned to students or need to be corrected by students. Unfortunately, I don't have the classroom space for student mailboxes and don't really love the look of them, so I do need baskets or something for organizing student stuff. I think it is a sign of insanity that I constantly carry the same things from home to school and back and some weeks I go until the weekend before I actually open my bag. (You must be thinking I'm a terrible teacher!)

And, hence, at 5:45 on a Friday, I bust into my favorite designer store, Tarjay, to find the perfect file-folio. And, they had one that matches my home office--bonus awesomeness!

In other Tarjay perfection news, I found file boxes in the dollar spot for--you guessed it--1$ AND the design also matches my home office.

Excuse the not-so-pretty shelf. Those file boxes made me pull it out from the garage where it's been for a year now. I think I'm going to paint it a pretty coral to spice it up. (Those baskets came from the dollar store a few weeks ago.) Next, I just need to figure out what else to store in the file boxes and make some cute labels for them.

Have you embarked on the Clutter-Free journey? If not, you should hop on over and catch up on the challenges! (I myself need to catch up on a few :)

2013 Clutter Free Classroom Challenge!

2013's Week 2 challenge for the clutter free classroom is to "share your plans," including generating a list of "non-negotiable rules." I started working on a Clutter Free Classroom in May of 2012. You can see some old, SCARY photos of my messy classroom. I am happy to say that some of these problem areas were improved tremendously last year, but now that I am over half a year away from that work, I know that I can go through the same process again and make even more improvements. (PS-If you want to check out any of my Clutter Free Classroom Posts, it's one of my labels, so they are easy to find.)

I LOVE the clutter-free classroom challenge because it BEGS us to STOP, take a look around, notice the pile-age and get to work on our environment.

A lot of my plan may look familiar, circa May 2012. 

Plan and Strategies:

* Have one goal/problem area to target each week. If I don't get it done that week, don't get upset. Move forward to the next week. (I am ALWAYS too ambitious with my to-do list :( )
* Work, work, work! Start small. Use music to make the process more enjoyable and time the work.
* When my ability to get rid of stuff starts to dwindle--stop for the day. (Ever notice the longer you work to get rid of stuff, the more you start to hold on to? Maybe I should be on an episode of hoarders...:))
* As I am working, continue to make lists of tasks that students can help with before the bell rings and after school

Rules for what I must get rid of:

(1)-If it has dust bunnies on it, LET IT GO. (Ha ha, makes me laugh. "Of course I will use this next year." Yeah right!)
(2)-If I know I can access it in my personal computer files or online (since we update things all the time anyway, I rarely just pull worksheets out of my folders and make copies anymore, so why hang on to the copies?).   


Old Rules from Last Year that I No Longer Need: (Success!!)
- it's not mine, it has to go (I have a tendency to hoard professional materials from the library in fear that when I need them, someone else will have checked them out...no more!)
-Get rid of it If I don't have a plan for using it (this will be tough! Don't we love to hold on to things, just in case...)
-Get rid of it If it doesn't fit into my grade-level (this will be tough since I have looped, but I'm sure there are things that just don't fit in either 4th or 5th grade curriculum.)
-If I have NEVER used the resource in my teaching career and don't foresee it being useful next year. 
 
What I Accomplished Last Year:
1)-Taking control of the mess on my desk: create a functional space for upcoming lessons (worksheets, materials, etc.) closer to my desk but separate so that it does not take over my desk  (This space is mostly functional, but could use some work.)
2)-Reduced file cabinets and get rid of one (Check! Now I'm going to work on doing it again and reducing the one that's left even more :) )
3)-Purged professional materials that I know I'm not using (Let's do this one AGAIN! Still have plenty on my shelves that I have not touched this year.)
4)-De-clutter wall space (This happened!)
5)-Reduce unnecessary picture books from my collection (My first strategy for this is to sort my books into two piles---I've EVER read it to a class and I've NEVER read it to a class. If I can see myself reading a NEVER book to my class next year, I can keep it. If not, I will be sending a gift of great books down to a lower-grades classroom.) (Got it down to one shelf, and made some donations to the lower grades' teachers!)

Lastly, I love the clutter-free classroom's rules to remember:

1) You can't organize clutter. (This reminds me not to buy a ton of things to ORGANIZE what I have, but to get rid of things that I do not need and buy organizational items when I know exactly what I need.)
2) Your trash is {quite possibly} another person's treasure. (If other teachers came into my room and said "Hey, I could use that," I would have no problem giving it away. So, when I was de-cluttering, instead of moving materials into our mailbox room, I sent an email with the resources I was trying to get rid of. They were taken up within the hour and I was pleased to be giving up something someone else might use.)
3) There is no value in an object that isn't being used. (This is harsh, isn't it? I think it means we have to get rid of gifts kids have given us and other cutesy things that are just sitting around with no purpose.)   

If you want to start organizing your classroom, don't forget to head on over to the clutterfreeclassroom blog  for awesome tips and inspiration. And, blog up and join the LINKY party (at anytime, no real time limit. Jump into the organizing fun!:)

INSPIRED: Writing Goals Bulletin Board

Have you been following The Clutter Free Classroom's INSPIRED series? I am so excited to see the big reveal!

After seeing the Writing Goals Bulletin board, I knew I had to make my own. I am trying really hard this year to make my bulletin boards extra useful. It was hard to get going at first, but now that I'm rolling, I need more bulletin board and wall space! To make my statements (for conventions, grammar, etc), I looked through the common core standards all the way down to 1st grade and created "I can statements." The one on the board says "Use end sentence punctuation." I placed the rest in a slipcover and attached it to the board so that I don't lose them. I want to post each one as I talk about them in writer's workshop. Then, I am going to have students look at their writing samples from last year to decide which two statements they need to prioritize as personal goals and post their name beside of those two goals. I'm going to also place the cards in order of importance (end sentence punctuation and paragraphing will go first--can you believe some 5th graders still want to add paragraphs and punctuation after writing their whole piece...?!) I hope that having this board up (with another card beside of each statement) with student names attached to the goals will help them build independence. I love the "Without a reminder from my teacher" part :)

If you would like this file, I have uploaded it FREE on TPT.

A little progress update--Clutter Free Classroom

In Week 3's challenge of the clutter free classroom, we begin purging.

The first suggestion is to pick one area of the room to start in and move clockwise. My ADD self is going to have trouble with this, and I might just break this rule for a while...actually I already have!?!?! This week, I started with two of my biggies that I knew how to get going on--my storage cabinet and my file cabinets. Neither of these are finished, but I have made a little progress in the little amount of time I was able to spend on them this week.

Here are the after shots:
Storage Cabinet: Notice the areas that have not yet been dealt with. It was time for the kiddos that were helping me to leave and time for me to go home :) but this leaves us something to work on this week.

I had a few aha moments while organizing my games and puzzles. Why do I need the boxes for chess and check boards? So, we put the game pieces into ziploc bags that are now stored in the shoe organizer and put the game boards neatly on the bottom shelf. I had the same aha with my United States puzzles, so we took those pieces and put them into ziploc bags. Now, my kiddos RARELY use these, maybe once a year, but they are so necessary towards the end of the year when we have down-time (after EOG's, after field day, when they are just too restless to follow directions).

Nice! I cut that baby in half, and I didn't even think it was possible.

So that's my progress for two short afternoons of work---a nearly organized cabinet and ONE organized file drawer. I also cleared out one entire drawer of my other file cabinet that I am aiming to get rid of...I didn't take a picture for you, but close your eyes and just imagine a metal filing cabinet, drawer open, and NOTHING INSIDE! :) Bliss!

Week 2's challenge for the clutter free classroom is to "set the stage for escorting all of the unwanted stuff out the door." "Develop a plan for De-cluttering" and "Compose a list of non-negotiable rules."  

Set the stage:
I grabbed copy boxes for "need to sort/think about," "freebies," and "recycling."

Plan:
* Work, work, work! Start small, using music to make the process more enjoyable and time the work.
* As I am working and purging, create a list of tasks students can help with when arriving early.
* When my ability to get rid of stuff starts to dwindle--stop for the day. (Ever notice the longer you work to get rid of stuff, the more you start to hold on to? Maybe I should be on an episode of hoarders...:))

Rules for what I must get rid of:
-If it's not mine, it has to go (I have a tendency to hoard professional materials from the library in fear that when I need them, someone else will have checked them out...no more!)
-If I don't have a plan for using it (this will be tough! Don't we love to hold on to things, just in case...)
-If it doesn't fit into my grade-level (this will be tough since I am looping, but I'm sure there are things that just don't fit in either 4th or 5th grade curriculum.)
-If I have NEVER used the resource in my teaching career and don't foresee it being useful next year. 
-If I know I can access it in my personal computer files or online (since we update things all the time anyway, I rarely just make copies of a worksheet or resource I have made for students, so why hang on to the copies?).

Goals:
-Take control of the mess on my desk: create a functional space for upcoming lessons (worksheets, materials, etc.) closer to my desk but separate so that it does not take over my desk
-Reduce file cabinets and get rid of one
-Purge professional materials that I know I'm not using
-De-clutter wall space (I am considering the lovely idea of visually pleasing black backgrounds for my bulletin boards)
-Reduce unnecessary picturebooks from my collection (My first strategy for this is to sort my books into two piles---I've EVER read it to a class and I've NEVER read it to a class. If I can see myself reading a NEVER book to my class next year, I can keep it. If not, I will be sending a gift of great books down to a lower-grades classroom.)

Lastly, I love the clutter-free classroom's rules to remember:

• You can't organize clutter. (This reminds not to buy a ton of things to ORGANIZE what I have, but to get rid of things that I do not need and focus on organization later.) 
• The less you have, the less you need to manage.
• Your trash is {quite possibly} another person's treasure. (If other teachers came into my room and said "Hey, I could use that," I would have no problem giving it away. So, this week, instead of moving materials into our mailbox room, I sent an email with the resources I was trying to get rid of--very simple--some word study folders and a book report newspaper set. Both were taken up within the hour and I was pleased to be giving up something someone else might use.
• There is no value in an object that isn't being used. (This is harsh, isn't it? I think it means we have to get rid of gifts kids have given us and other cutesy things that are just sitting around with no purpose.)

  If you want to start organizing your classroom, don't forget to head on over to the clutterfreeclassroom blog  for awesome tips and inspiration.

Clutter-Free Classroom Challenge--taking the plunge!

Yes! I am accepting the challenge to make my classroom clutter free and I am so excited! The challenge started in January thanks to the Clutter Free Classroom blog and I just found it last weekend. I spent an hour or two reading through all of the weekly challenges to try to catch myself up. Then, I spent this week trying to organize, and more importantly PURGE the clutter.

Challenge 1 is to take pictures of your classroom and clutter. I mostly focused on my clutter since the classroom is a little bare anyway since we took down all instructional materials to ready ourselves for EOG's. Here goes my classroom clutter---this was so embarrassing that I had to peruse a few other blogs to see other classroom clutter before I was brave enough to share my own!

Check out that mess! The  top especially bugs me and I would like to add that lots of things became unorganized in this cabinet when I was out for a day and the kids had "indoor" recess. The games and puzzles are all over the place. Look at all those extra baskets from years of picking them up at the dollar store unnecessarily---I get excited about brightly colored plastic organizers, how about you?

My desk. I would love to say this is atypical, but that would be a LIE! I try to clean and shuffle things around daily but I always have stuff I don't want to forget about on my desk because otherwise---I'll forget about it. I also use my desk to hold copies of things we will need tomorrow or in the next few days...not a good system I will have to admit. I am often laying my keyboard over the top of a small stack of papers. This has got to change!!!

My handy dandy file cabinet. Doesn't this look organized? My first year of teaching, I was so crazy about file folders that I color coded them by subject--orange for literacy, blue for math, red for social studies, and green for science. This file cabinet holds 4 drawers all as full as this one! I used to go to my file cabinet every time we started a new unit in math and I used it to hold literacy stuff (like novel guides) that I didn't want to toss. This year, I probably opened my file cabinets for resources all of 5 times! So, I know this file cabinet is full of wasted space AND I have another one that is full of professional resources, multiple copy packets that I can use from year to year, etc. that I plan to condense to one file cabinet.

Yuck! Except for my beautiful teacher appreciation flowers :) I detest my nonfiction book area. I don't think it is functional for the kids and I'm not sure what to do about it. One of my biggest "clutter" issues is all of the books I have. They span 5 large shelves across my room. I wish a book thief would visit and take some off of my hands because I absolutely do not know how to purge books.

This is my shelf where I put other copies that we will need in the future. I tried to use this to keep the extra copies off of my desk, but my memory is starting to go more and more lately and sometimes if it is not on my desk, I completely forget to do that one part of my plans.  The bottom contains our whiteboards and markers. The middle holds old copies that I am still hanging on to (can you hear the guilt?) The top part contains stuff we are actually using, except for the little pinkish shelf and the white plastic organizer---I can't for the life of me think of what all those papers are in those and I know that's a problem!

Crazy amount of professional materials, binders, and picture books. And to the side, a plastic set of drawers that began as an organizer for small group reading materials--copies, guided reading books, etc. Haven't opened that but a few times this year too.

So now you've seen my mess. Care to share yours? Link up with the clutter free classroom's challenge or check out the linky parties and see other teachers' clutter and progress. :) This challenge has MOST DEFINITELY inspired me to get to crackin' :)