6 Tips for Packing Up Your Classroom

You are seeing summer in the horizon, but there is so much to get done before you’re able to walk off into the sun set.
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Well I’m here today to give you some tips and tricks on packing up your classroom.
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Packing up my classroom is always stressful to me.​

​How are you supposed to pack up your classroom while you’re still teaching a group of little ones?

Over the years, I have come up with ways that help me not to stress out over do this dirty deed.
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Here are some tips and tricks to help you when it comes to packing up your classroom.
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Start Early

​Start packing up a little at a time.  I like to start a month before the end of the school year.  Start by packing up items that you no longer need any more.  Then move onto items that the children are no longer interested in.  Taking a basket or two off the learning center shelves at a time.  The children won’t notice and you are able to place those few baskets back in the storage closet or cabinet without create a huge mess.
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Take Pictures

Before you start moving things around and pilling things up make sure you take some pictures.  Taking pictures will help you set your room back up or if you are planning on making some changes it will help with that too.  There is nothing more frustrating than coming back in August only to forget where you had things.
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Packing Boxes 

​I never have enough room in my storage cabinet or storage closet for all the items in the learning center shelves.  So that means packing boxes and closing centers down.  Start with centers that you know your children can live without.  Place the containers right down in the box and stack them on top of one another.  This will save you time in August you won’t need to sort and place items in containers. 
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Organize Center Labels

As you remove labels from shelving save them.  If they are worn out take a picture of the items before placing them in the boxes. This will make relabeling a snap in August.
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One Last Scrub

Give items one last scrub before you put them away.  The children can help with this part.  Turn the sensory table into a toy washing activity.  They like helping, after all it’s their classroom too.   
Don’t for get to give the shelves one last scrub before you go too. 
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Homework for Summer

Pack up your home to school bag on last time.  As you are cleaning up place items that you know you want with you over summer.  Items I like to pack are professional development books, lesson plan book and curriculum guides.

But

You can’t take home more than what will fit in your school bag. 
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It’s summer after all.
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