Back to School Blog Hop: Classroom Organization

Hey everyone, I am teaming up with 50 great teachersprenuers to bring you tried and true classroom management and organizational strategies that work in our classroom.  Please make sure that you hop to each participating blog!  We are also hosting a giveaway.  Enter to win one of two great prizes.  We are giving away the chance to win a $50.00 TpT Gift Card and a classroom resource from over 30 teacher authors.  Good luck and happy blog hopping!

My post today is going to focus on organizational ideas for your classroom.  I am a middle school math teacher and at times struggle on how to organize all of my supplies, task cards, centers, and worksheets/Teacher Pay Teacher purchases.  I wanted my organization this year to be accessible to my students, especially when we have math free time or Friday Funday.  I also wanted to make sure that my classroom was neat and organized for anyone that walked in.  So here are some strategies that I have found worked throughout the year and ones that I am implementing this year.  

Absent Bin

The absent bin is in a location of my room that NEVER changes!  I use this as a way for students to collect their absent work.  After taking attendance at the beginning of the class, I have one person in the class fill out an absent sheet describing the things we did in class and stating the homework or important quiz, test, or project dates.  That student also collects any worksheets, grades, or papers for that students and place them in the absent student's file folder at the end of the class.  When the student returns back to school, they know the first thing they need to do is check the absent bin and talk to the person who filled out their absent sheet for the notes or a small explanation of what happened in class.  It is a great way to make students responsible for their work when absent and keeps them from coming up to me asking me what they missed (I seriously hate that!).

Here is a link to my TPT Store in which you can find my absent bin and editable absent sheets!

Absent Bin TPT Link

Student Supply Cart

This amazing supply cart I utilize for my student supplies.  The absent bin is usually found on this cart along with a stapler, tape dispenser, and hole puncher.  I then label the various bins with things like lined paper, graph paper, construction paper, glue sticks, scissors, rulers, markers, colored pencils, etc.  It is a great way to organize the student supplies and they students always know where to go for supplies they might have forgotten at home or do not have.

Center Cart

In addition to my student supply chart, I also have a center cart.  This cart breaks down the topics that I teach throughout the year.  It is a great place for me to organize my center items and is a great resource for my students as well.  In each bin I not only have center papers, but also card games, dice games, and review games.  When it comes to Friday Funday or when we have free time, I have my students pull out the skill we are working on, or one they need to improve on, and choose various games or activities from that bin.  It is also a great way for me to organize all my station papers that I might purchase or create from Teacher Pay Teachers.

Task Card Holder

This past year I used task cards heavily in my classroom.  I would have the students use various games or activities when utilizing the task cards.  What I found to be difficult was were to put the task cards after utilizing them in my lesson.  Of course I just did not want to throw them out.  By the end of the year, I had one counter that was stacked high with task cards.  I was so happy to find these amazing card holders at Michael's this summer.  They fit task cards perfectly and give my students and myself access to the cards.  I plan on putting these task cards near or on top of my Centers Cart.  I plan to allow my students to use the Task Cards also as a review on Friday Funday or when we have free math time.  I am also thinking of allowing struggling students sign out task cards for the weekend or before a test.  I would allow them to take the whole plastic case home so they would not bend the laminated cards.  (I am still unsure of this idea at the time.)

Teacher Binder

Last year I slowly started over Christmas break separating my worksheets from my TPT purchases and creations.  This past summer I took the time to organize my items together in binders that are color coordinated.  Therefore, when I am looking for an activity to do with my students, I know to pull out my TPT binder.  When I want extra reinforcement for a specific skill or concept, I know to pull out my worksheet binders.  I think what is going to help me most this year is that I labeled each binder and wrote specifically the topics that were found inside.  In previous years I organized my worksheets based of grade level or just with general topics like algebra, geometry, pre-algebra.  I found myself spending too much time looking through various binders for a specific worksheet.  I am so excited for all my binders to find their place on my teacher bookshelf!




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Five For Friday

Hey everyone!  

Okay so I used to participate in the Five for Friday by Doodle Bugs Teaching more last year but have not really had time this year with changing schools again (for the third time in three years).  So even though I have not linked up all summer, here it goes!

ONE:

My new teacher orientation begins next week followed by whole school orientation the following week.  Therefore, I have been trying to get everything that I need for class ready.  I have already started looking at lesson planning my first week of school (which is less than a month away).  I worked on creating a new lesson plan set-up and experimented with several different things.  I would be curious to see what other middle school teachers do for their lesson plans?  I prefer to just do them on the computer than write them in because with snow days and spur of the moment assemblies, I hate rewriting out plans.  I find it so much easier to copy and paste.  So this is what I currently came up with. 

I find it easier to read when I have the days of the week as my columns so that I do not have to look on two pages to see what my lessons are for the week.  I usually have my classes going down the side.  What I added this year (which I added late to mine last year) is the weekly notes section.  It is an area that I use to write down any school social events and usually I put any tests or quizzes on there so that I know to inform the students and when to make them in advance.  

TWO:

The second thing that I have done this week is created a sample of the project that I am going to have my students complete the first two weeks back to school.  I know a project due a week into school starting, what a mean teacher!!  Hey it involves math, learning about my students, and will be a great thing to display for back to school night which is the third week of school.  Check out this personalized Back to School Dodecaehdron.  

So of course it is a 12-sided polygon (for those non-math teachers) and each side has the students say something about them.  Things include facts about me, goals for the year, summer vacation memories, strengths, family, etc.  I must say that I did enjoy creating it, but gluing it all together was very difficult (even for me), so I am going to make one more and see if I can come up with a short cut on how my students can put the pieces together easier.  

THREE:

In the beginning of the summer, I spent much time organizing my binders and color coordinating them.  As I was beginning to look through my boxes (which fill my front porch), I stumbled upon file folders that contained worksheets, tests, and TpT products from the fourth quarter. Of course, I could not begin the school year without filing them into the correct binders.  I spent last night (with a movie and wine of course) filing all the important paperwork into their designated binders.  It was a lot easier since all my binders are now organized to find the binders and sections much quicker.  I only have one more binder to complete and that is my ISN/Foldable binder which contains all the original foldable templates and examples of each foldable.  

FOUR:

As the summer ends, my car needs to be prepped for the school year.  Of course my inspection is always due at the end of the summer.  Last time I got my oil changed, they told me that the tread on my tires looked low and to get them checked.  I went to SAMs Club to get my tires rotated and looked at and of course I had to get new ones.  When replacing my tires, SAMs Club was so nice to break my tire stem valve and wanted me to fix it.  Seriously, you broke it, you fix it!  After arguing with the sales associate and the manager, they finally told me that they would reimburse me, but that I would still have to fine a mechanic to fix it.  So I told them to put the spare on and off I went trying to find one that was open and had my part.  Firestone to the rescue!  After getting the stem fixed and going back to SAMs Club to get reimbursed, they made me wait 30 minutes until the manager was off her break to give me my money back.  Let me tell you, I was beyond furious after spending 6 hours of my day dealing with the mistake SAMs Club made.  See if I am a customer there anymore.  After a long, upsetting day, I decided I needed ice cream and headed to my favorite place to indulge in a bowl of Teaberry and Butter Brittle while watching the sunset.  

FIVE:

Lastly, after dealing with my car issue and spending three hours on the phone the next day dealing with doctors about getting a physical done before school starts, I was surprised to arrive at my friends house to see a beautiful bouquet of flowers.  I am watching his cat while he is away coaching at a baseball tournament.  Earlier in the week, he helped me deal with my car issue, and was there to listen to me vent about the medical issue as well.  The flowers were his way of saying thank you for taking care of his cat and a way to brighten up my week.  In the end I can tell you that my last week of summer vacation was beyond stressful.  I am hoping that my weekend is at least enjoyable before classes/orientation starts up on Monday.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend as we move into one of the most busiest months as teachers, August.  

Monday Made It

Hey Everyone!  

I am a little late linking up to 4th Grade Frolics for the Monday Made It!  I did not have much time this week creating things for my classroom because for once I was spending with the family.  So here is what I got done this week!

 As you see in my previous post, I created a starter bundle for an interactive student notebook.   Over the five years of utilizing the ISN in my math notebook, I have experimented with the proper setup, rubrics, and organizational strategies.  This product gives teachers the best starting materials to get their Interactive student notebook together.  The ISN Starter Bundle contains a total of seven main items that come in both color and black and white.  These items include: notebook setup, table of contents, teacher evaluation rubric, peer evaluation rubric, student grade sheet, student reflection form, and teacher planner.   All the pages are designed to best meet the needs of the students, while assisting the teacher to perfectly setup the ISN.  This bundle can be geared towards any grade and any subject since it is used just to get your ISN started.  If there are any questions, suggestions, or requests for a different color, please feel free to contact me!

View My Product HERE

 

I joined in on the Task Card train and went to Michael's to get the task card holder!  I then went to target to get the adhesive square label pockets.  I had a great time searching, printing, laminating, cutting, and arranging my task cards into categories to place in my new bin.  I am still working hard on finding or creating task cards for all the skill concepts that I will be teaching this year.  I am very tempted to buy another task card holder from Michael's and another set of label pockets from target thinking that I will need them later on in the year!  

I am excited to read up on what everyone else has done this past week!

Monday Made It

Hey everyone!  So I must say that I have been busy at work trying to change my classroom theme, and get everything for my new school year.  I was just recently hired at the inner city charter school.  I am so excited for this new adventure, but extremely nervous as well.  

I am linking up with 4th Grade Frolics for Monday Made It.

Since I am moving to a new school, I thought what better way to start my new year than with a new classroom theme.  I am making a small change to my bright blue and black chevron theme classroom to add lime green, bright blue, and black chevron.  Here are some of the new changes!

The first thing that I did to update my new classroom theme was to change my teacher toolbox.  I was so excited to get rid of some of the bins that I really did not use that often and create missing ones for things that I would constantly put in my desk.  I loved the new lime green and bright blue chevron backgrounds with the large print that pops off the toolbox.  It makes it so much easier to read and find!  I am thinking of creating one of these for my students to use and place it in the student corner with all of their supplies.  Any teachers use student toolboxes and does it work?

I then took my lovely file folder bins and updated these to go more with the classroom theme.  I got rid of the black chevron and added more color and changed the font to get the new look on the right.  I had to create a sixth grade bin this year since I will be teaching sixth and seventh grade math.  I use these bins for student work (portfolio) and it allows them to place all their graded work in an area that they are able to find if they want to take quizzes or tests home to study.  My students enjoy having their own personal spot with all their work.   

 The next thing I wanted to do was add more spunk to the overly used white board and cork board.  I use the cork board near my desk so that I can tack up my schedule, the student's schedule, and any other important things that I need to know about for that week.  The whiteboard I place near the front of the room and write all the objectives on it for the day.  As you can see the white board gets used heavily and needed to be cleaned up a bit.  Since I was repairing both of these items, I thought I would give them more color.  I simply took bright blue duck tape and taped the edges of them.  I had to make sure not to have any bubbles and that the tape was straight, but they were fixed up in no time.  I took some nail polish remover to my white board and instantly it was all white again.  I cannot wait to see what my new students say about the Michigan Football magnet!  As always, I will make sure to keep track of their record  right between my two magnets!

GO BLUE!

This was by far one of the most exhausting thing that I have done so far to get my classroom ready.  I sat down with all my binders and all my paperwork and wanted to make sure that I figured out some type of system so that my binders, unit plans, and tpt purchases were organized.  I hated the fact that I had things in different color binders.  I sat down and looked at what I had the most of and what colored binders would fit the items the best.  I ened up with all of my tpt products in the white binders and all my worksheets in the blue binders.  I then created other activities and my teacher binder in green and pink binders.  I still need to go through the rest of my worksheets and papers for the last month of school and file them correctly in the binders, but I can save that for a rainy day.  I found keeping my worksheets and tpt items separate to be easier than putting together everything by unit or skill.  I tend to use my tpt items as review or math centers.  Since I was working with center things, I decided that I had to come up with a way to organize my centers.  

I took this amazing rolling cart that I had in my classroom, which I really had no purpose for, and separated it into center categories.  By the end of the school year last year, I was putting my laminated centers, task cards, and I Have, Who Has games into random draws.  I feel so much better having things in bins.  I am going to work on creating file folders to place the different laminated games in.  I already placed the I Have, Who Has, and sorting cards into zip lock bags. I am really looking for ways that other teachers organize their center games, task cards, and flash cards.  I want to make sure that my students have access to it in case we have a free day or a game day or if they want to spend time after school reviewing using one of the centers.  What other ways do you organize center games and pieces?

I hope everyone has a wonderful week and I am excited to see what I create over this week.  I know I already have a huge to-do-list with preparing for my new school!

September Currently

Wow, three posts in a weekend ... no wonder it is so warm outside today!  :)
I forgot with all that is going on at my new school and my mother's birthday yesterday to link up for the September currently.  Therefore, I am linking up with Farley from Oh' Boy 4th Grade now.  Later is better than never! :)

Listening:

I am currently listening to my playlist while I create some new TPT products.  My favorite song of this summer is Back It Up by Prince Royce.  It is just a song with a great beat and one that I cannot get out of my head.  

Loving:

I am absolutely in love with the smell of my room.  Yesterday I decided to unpack all of my fall items because the weather was so cool.  I also want to unpack all my fall stuff before I get so busy with school and family birthdays coming up.  So for the last two days I have been burning fall, harvest, and pumpkin candles.  Between football starting and these smells, I am anticipating fall more than ever.  Duh its my favorite season, why wouldn't I?

Thinking:

I have loved that my first two weeks of school are four day weeks.  I wish every week was this way.  I hate odd numbers (and of course going to school 5 days drive me crazy).  Four days is just enough for me, the students, and my sleep schedule!  I am enjoying this last four day week until we get caught up in five day weeks until Thanksgiving/Christmas break time.  

Wanting:

Due to my anticipation of fall, I am wanting the weather to match my feelings.  Our 94 degree weather today really bums me out.  I am craving jeans, hoodies, and cool 50-60 degree days again!  

Needing:

I have been working so hard today with my TPT and creating my Birthday Sale banners that I have not had time to eat lunch.  My tummy is rumbling but I do not want to ruin my dinner appetite!  I smell dinner on the grill now and its making me even more hungry!  

3 Goals:

1. I want to stay up to date on my teacher ISN.  I am creating one for each class so if someone is absent they can check the one that I am staying up to date with.  

2. I want to make sure that I stay up-to-date with my TPT creations.  I am beyond excited that my store is expanding along with my sales.  I am hoping to triple my sales from my first year.  

3. I want to make sure that I stay up with my blogging.  I know that last year at this time I stopped blogging and did not start up until school ended again.  I want to try and blog about my ISN notebook and things that are working and not working.

I hope everyone had a relaxing Labor Day and have a great week back!  

Update!!

Last week was extremely busy!  I signed all final paperwork at my new school, was able to spend time in my classroom, get my teaching manuals, participated in my first TPT Meet-up, and took my boyfriend on his first camping trip.  Once back from camping, I had time to work on things that I learned from my TPT Meet-up.  This is all new to me and I want to make sure that I create my own images.  I had to do lots of research on how to redesign my website through other blog posts and YouTube videos.  

The first thing I did was create a new button.  

I wanted something large, easy to read, simple but makes a statement.  I wanted to make sure that I stayed with my colors of gray, blue, and yellow!  I tried to choose fonts that were statement fonts and were large enough to read.  One change I made was changing from three students to three owls.  I mean, how cute!!  :) 

Once I created my button, I knew I instantly wanted to update my TPT Page.  Of course it is still a work in progress, but I began by creating a new TPT banner and side banner.  I then took that work into redesigning my blog.  I wanted to create a header that had links to my various sites (TPT, Instagram, Pinterest) and to my various pages.  I also wanted to create a navigation bar that was included in my header.  After much research, I was able to complete this.  I am still unsure how to create a header and about me section with clearer options and am open to how this is possible.  

TPT Meet-Up

This past Thursday, I had the privilege to meet up with about a dozen other teachers from around the area at TJ Rockwells.  These people are amazing individuals that each brought their own flare to teaching, blogging, and TPT to the table.  Our afternoon included lots of laughs, great food, honest sharing, and amazing conversation that allows us all to grow in what we do.  A huge thank you to Becky and Greg from The Class Couple for organizing this meet up and Go Noodle & TPT for all the lovely goodies!  

Molly from Sassy Sub was one of the amazing teachers that I met at this meet.  

I am linking up with her for this fun Summer Recap Party.  I hate that summer is coming to an end.  Therefore, I am going to recap three major things that happened to me this past summer.  

Vacation Trips

This past summer, I was blessed to enjoy my vacation weeks with my amazing boyfriend.  We went to several different places, and still have two more weekends of fun lined up.  We began our summer with a week trip to Cape Coral Florida.  This was my first time going to the Gulf side of Florida.  We enjoyed days of jet skiing, kayaking, beach laying, fourth of July bash with a concert from Chase Rice, and a trip to Miami to visit his father.  This past weekend I took Joe on his first camping trip.  It was quite an amazing time.  We hiked 12 miles our first day there.  Other fascinating camping events included getting lost in the woods, Joe cross the river on a tree trunk, hearing a bear in the woods, and bear spotting in our campsite.  In the weeks to come we have some day trips planned to Music Fest, a weekend trip to Rochester NY, and a trip to Baltimore, MD.  

TPT Meet-Up

This summer I participated in my first TPT meet-up.  It was something I always wanted to do since I started creating projects for my TPT Store.  I was very nervous and scared at first to meet up with random teachers and exchange ideas.  However, after halfway through it, I felt comfortable discussing my ideas and products with others.  I learned so much to help improve my store and blog.  During our meet, I set a goal of improving my store, products, and being consistent in product making.  I am hoping that I can achieve this goal with the motivation from this meet-up!

Blog/TPT Update

As you see, I have updated my blog and redesigned the header and side column.  I am not completed yet and hope to work on it throughout the school year with my boyfriend is away on the weekend at baseball tournaments.  

August Currently

Hey everyone!  

Sorry for being a little late with the August Currently.  I spent the weekend away at my old college watching my boyfriend win gold in the Keystone State Games in baseball.  

Congrats Babe on a fantastic win!!

I am linking up with my friend Farley from Oh' Boy 4th Grade for the August Currently.  

Listening:

This whole summer I have been getting back into country music.  I find myself listening to country during the summer months.  It must be that light country swag that gives me that summer, relaxing feel.  This current song from Jana Kramer is absolutely addicting to listen to.  

  

Loving:

I am loving this beautiful weather outside.  This summer in PA has been very different this past year.  We started our summer off with tons of rain and storms.  We experienced a tornado and lots of flooding.  The past two weeks we went from wet days to hot, sticky, and dry.  The past several weeks we have been experiencing a heat wave with days feeling like triple digits.  Today is a beautiful summer day.  A cool breeze with sun.  The humidity is not too bad which makes it a perfect day for laying out.  Something I really have not done that much this summer.  I do need to tan up a bit before school starts.  

Thinking:

Each morning I wake up, I keep thinking that the first day of school is getting closer and closer.  This year I transferred to a new school within the same diocese.  There is so much I need to learn and do.  We are not allowed to enter our classroom until mid-August.  This has been driving me crazy because I am very OCD about everything and usually have my classroom set up by now.  I have been trying to take lots of time at home to make all the things to make my room perfect this year.  However, I am not sure what my schedule is, what exactly I am teaching, what textbook I will be using.  It is so hard to prepare for the year when I feel like I am so behind.  Now that we are in August, we start school in three weeks and I have not set foot in my room yet!  YIKES!!  

Wanting:

I am wanting some more time for vacation trips with my love.  I am so glad that we have things planned every weekend in August to celebrate our last month together before things start to get crazy at my new school.  This past weekend he coached the Junior Division at the Keystone State Games for baseball.  He was gone most of the week and I decided to go out to see his medal game.  I was happy for the game to be at my old college.  Nothing like stepping foot on your old undergrad campus.  The memories came rushing back.  I was able to then show him and his assistant coaches what the night life was like back when I was a student there.  This upcoming weekend we have a camping trip planned since I have not been able to camp yet and not sure if I will be able to this fall due to his baseball schedule.  The next weekend we are going up to Rochester, NY to hang out with his old college roommate.  I have never been to Rochester and am excited to go up.  On our way up we are going to stop at the Finger Lakes and tour some of the wineries.  A dream come true for me.  I always wanted to go up there!  Our last weekend we will be celebrating our 6 month anniversary.  We have been wanting to go to one of our favorite breweries, Du Claw, which is located in Maryland.  We plan on going down to the Baltimore Aquarium for the day, stop at the Brewery, and then enjoy a night out on the town before heading home.  I cannot believe that we have been dating for 6 months.  The summer just flew by with him.  Our last weekend before school starts will be a relaxing one with wine, dinner with our families, relaxation, and end with a day at the spa.  

Needing:

I am starting to panic that I have not yet been in my classroom to set up.  I am in need of getting in there and start setting up.  I also want to meet my new team so that I can learn the procedures and rules of the school.  Waiting all this time is beginning to drive me CRAZY!!  I hope my principal calls this week telling me that I can start setting up.  My parents would also like me to get rid of all my school stuff off the front porch.  It has been all cluttered during the transition.  

B2S RAK:

My B2S RAK is a small gift bag/basket for my new team members.  I want to make sure that I make a great impression.  A small basket/bag filled with post-it notes, pens, pencils, and stress reliever chocolates is always a great way to start.  I believe highly on a good team, and want to establish one at my new school.  

Happy & Healthy - Lunch

Hey everyone!!  Marion from Mentoring in the Middle are coming together again with a look at healthy lunches!  Does what you pack for lunch need an update?  Want to try something new?  Link up with your go-to lunch to bring to school and see if you find a recipe or two to try!

My favorite lunch is the Mandarin Orange Asian Chicken Salad.  This yummy lunch has a little bit of everything: fruit, vegetables, protein, and a small amount of carbs.  This is an easy lunch to make and you can alter to best meet your needs. 

Now it's time to share your favorite healthy lunches with us and link up below!

Made It Monday - July 20, 2015

Hey everyone!  As I get another week closer to school starting, I am starting to worry if I will be ready.  I am not allowed to move into my new classroom until two weeks until school starts.  This worries me because I would be going into my old school now to set up.  I am very OCD about my things and worry that a week and a half will not be enough time to get organized and used to the new school.  This past weekend I was able to pick up all my things from my old school.  This meant that I was able to work more on my bins and organizing my binders.

I am linking up with Tara from 4th Grade Frolics for my second Made It Monday!  

Please make sure to stop by her site and link up with the party to share all your products!

Here is an image of all my products for this week!  As you can see, I was busy fixing up old things and creating new things!  Please make sure to check my TPT for all my new products.  Please feel free to message me if you would like something customized for your classroom!

Teacher Toolbox

So I wanted to revamp my teacher toolbox so that it would match my new classroom theme.  Before my toolbox was a dark navy blue with blue and maize labels (for Michigan of course).  I decided to try this spray paint thing (which I never did before).  So I was stupid enough to try it out on the hottest, most humid day that we have had in PA all summer.  So I painted it to my classroom theme and then decided to create my own labels.  As you see, I am still unsure as to what I want the last big bin to be.  I have researched and many people have pencils, pens, expo markers, but I cannot fit my markers, pens, or pencils in the bin without turning them diagonally.  Besides, I have my cute pen holder for all my adorable flair and colored pens.  So I am up to suggestions as to what else I

 can put in that last bin.  I do have the following things so far:
-Post-It Notes & Post It Tags (the small ones)
-White Out
-Fine Tip Sharpies
-Highlighters
-Charging Chords (my ipad/iphone)
-Glue Sticks                    - Thumb Tacks
-Scotch Tape                  - Staples
-Paper clips (small, large, x-large, fancy)
-Binder clips (small, medium, large)
-Rubber bands                - Staple Remover
-Brass Brads                   - Change (coins)
On top of my teacher bin I have my desk calendar that I created last week along with my correcting pen holder which I created by taking a black short vase and wrapped it with ribbon.

Please make sure to check out my TPT Store for the teacher tool box labels.  Again, I am willing to change them to meet the needs of your classroom theme!

 Welcome Banner

I got this great idea from NOT JANE when she created her lovely welcome banner from target.  I was looking for the chevron and blue theme for the longest time.  I could not find anything on TPT or pinterest so I created my own.  I laminated the banner and then punched holes in the banner to connect each piece to create my final master piece.  I absolutely love it and cannot wait to hang it from my door as the students come in!  This was a simple make that took only an hour to create, laminate, cut, and construct!  

Homeroom Bin

This is a bin that I have been using the past four years, but it needed a huge makeover.  I decided to spray paint it black because I did not want to have too much blue in my room.  It used to be a very dirty white.  My spray paint was able to cover all the dirt.  I then created several labels that match the rest of the labels that I am using throughout my classroom.  My homeroom has been using this as a way to organize their papers instead of bringing everything to my desk.  They place their office notes, papers, letters in the designated bin.  All lunch orders go in it's own bin and any notes or things that need to be turned into me goes in my bin.  This is easier than having 100 different things on my desk.  It also allows me to check off who did or did not turn things on.  Of course I enforce the "put your name on everything" in the beginning of the year.  I just found this to be an easy way for me to organize myself in the morning and keep papers off my desk!

Again, check out my TPT Store for all my label products.  Of course if you need any of them to be altered to your classroom theme, I will gladly do so!

Teacher Cart Organization

I started using this last year when I spotted this gem at SAMS club.  As you can see, I am extremely organized!  I like to plan for the week and make copies early so that I do not have to fight people for it.  In each of these bins I have a file folder for each class I teach.  In those folders are all the handouts that I need for the week.  This way I can go to the correct day, class, and just hand out the papers that I need.  It is also a great way for subs to come in and find things very easily.  I used to have small address labels on this for the different days of the week, but decided since I was making custom labels to create some for this cart as well.  I did add the bin "next week" to to my cart this year.  One goal I have is to try and prepare for the following week as early as I can.  If I know of worksheets, papers, or projects that I want to do the next week, I can put that material in that bin so it will be easy to find.  I am still unsure how to use the last four bins.  Again, I am up to suggestions.  I was thinking of copy and file, but I have a different organization style for things like that.  I have a hanging file cabinet folder for each class that I need to file so when I have time (once a month), I file them into their correct binders.  The only thing I can think of is to create bins for things that I am in charge of (Student Council, 8th Grade Graduation, 8th Grade Trip).  The only problem to this is that I have binders with all of these things.  So, SUGGESTIONS?

Teacher & TPT Binders

Since I was able to get into my old classroom, I was able to pick up all my binders filled with all my tests, quizzes, worksheets, and TPT products.  I really wanted to sit down this summer and figure out how to organize all my work.  Over the weekend, I posted a question on my Instagram asking how everyone organizes their TPT products.  I decided that since I am teaching leveled classes that it might be a good idea to organize them based on topics.  I laid out all my products based on topics and decided to put them into binders based on large units (6th grade material, pre-algebra, algebra, geometry, my own foldables & I Have, Who Has game).  I am working on an additional binder that has holiday TPT products in.  Then I wanted to sit down and organize my teacher binder.

 My teacher binder has all the essentials that I need throughout the school year.  I used clear protective sleeves and post it note dividers.  My first section is my weekly planner.  I plan on keeping this in a clear protective sleeve because then I can use white board markers to write on it, and erase it each week.  This will allow me to stay organized.  This worksheet includes the following things:

-To Do Check List
-Don't Forget Section
-Meetings
-Next Week
-Misc

I think each section is needed to help me through the school year.  With being in a new school, I need to make sure that I stay up-to-date on all the things going on.

The next section of my binder is the monthly calendar.  I found this to work last year.  I then copy the school calendar and have them facing each other.  It allows me to compare what is happening at home with events that are going on in school.  Being highly involved in school and community means that I need to make sure that I manage my calendar.  So my calendar is ready for the whole school year!  August to June!

 After the calendar would be a spot for my lesson plans.  I place my lesson plans in the clear protective sleeves.  I do this because if I need another day for a lesson, I can use a white board marker to draw arrows or write in my lesson plans.

Following my lesson plans are my meeting notes paper.  I use these for monthly faculty meetings and weekly middle school team meetings.  It allows me to place the date at the top and includes the following:
-Notes
-Action Items (things going on that week)
-Dates to Remember
-Misc.

Being team leader, I then take these notes to create a Google doc. of what happened at the meeting for all teachers.

 After the meeting log is my parent contact log.  I love this section of my binder.  It allows me to keep record of all parent contact.  My school is very strict with making sure that we record all parent contact in case we need them for reference.  This log includes the following:
-Student's name
-Parent I contacted
- Way I contacted them
-Date
-Notes section to write down what we discussed

It is an organized way to keep parent contact log in case my principal ever needs it or a parent does not remember what we discussed last time we met.  It helps with parent conferences as well.  So I can help direct my conversations with the parents.

The last section of my teacher binder is my usernames and passwords.  This section is new to me.  Last year, I had so many passwords, usernames, and emails to remember that I would tend to forget what the username or password was to various websites.  This year I am going to try and improve that by keeping track of all this information.  Other team teachers have similar things and found it so useful.  I would ask them the password to the teacher iPad or the students iPads and they would be able to quickly tell me this information by looking at their username and password section of their binder.  Since I am starting at a new school, I thought it would best to include this since I am going to need to learn new emails, passwords, usernames, and use new websites.

I was worried about putting this in my binder, but this binder stays on a safe place behind my desk so that students will not get into it.