Welcome to our first Classroom Organization Challenge. Keeping organized is always a challenge for any teacher. Over the next four weeks we will be challenging ourselves to conquer the clutter and get our classrooms in tip top shape. Get Prepared We will be beginning the challenge on Thursday January 12th. If you want to get the ball rolling ahead of time print out the free schedule and note section. Begin by stocking up on trash bags and boxes to get this party going. Find a partner. Everything is better when shared with a friend. Ask a teacher friend at your school that would like to take the challenge with you, to conquer the clutter together. I'm teaming up with two other Pre-K teacher bloggers to bring you the classroom organization challenge. If you have a blog, please join us and invite your readers too! Share your progress. Need some extra encouragement to keep going? We will be participating together so, share your photos before, during and after. If you're on Instagram, our challenge hashtag is #2017tptprekchallenge. If you’re sharing on social media, tag us so we can see your accomplishments. @teachingpreschoolers @prekpartner @funinecse We will also be sharing on Facebook so join the conversation and share your progress along the way. Joined late? It's never too late to start your decluttering journey. Just hop in and begin, you won't be sorry. Don't want to miss out! Get each day deliver to your inbox by subscribing to my blog here. Print out the 4-week schedule and note page below and add it to your planner. Each week you will get a to do list/check list to follow along. Schedule note page Week 1 To do list and some extras 2017 Pre-K Teacher Organization Challenge Schedule Week 1: How to Organize Your Teacher Desk or Workstation area on 1/12/2017 Week 2: How to Organize Compute (Digital Files) on 1/19/2017 Week 3: How to Organize Children’s Portfolios on 1/26/2017 Week 4: How to Organize Your Small Groups 2/2/2017
Now that you are up for the challenge, you’ll be putting in longer hours, But You can prepare ahead of time some simple meals that can be cooking while you are organizing. A win win for you and your family. Rest up I will see you next week.
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Jars are an inexpensive way to store items and we all have them lying around. Ok maybe not lying around but we do have them in the recycle bin. Today I’m going to show you how to turn that trash into something beautiful to store items in. Step One: How to remove labels from jars with ease. My secret weapon for remove jars is… Mayonnaise Spread it on the jar and let sit overnight. Once mayonnaise has sat on jar just rub label off with a paper towel and wash with soap and water. Now that you have all your labels removed, it’s time to make them beautiful. Materials that you will need:
Step Two: Color Tint Jars Pour mod podge into the bottom of each jar with color stain of choice. Mix together well. You don’t want it to be marble like in appearance or your jars will look streaked. Tip jars sideways and slowly roll jar coating the sides of the jar. Slowly move the mixture until you have fully coated the inside of the jar to the rim. Drain any extra mixture into another jar if you are coloring more than one jar, or drain the extra into something that can be thrown away. Tip the jar upside down in a paper bowl and let it drain completely for about an hour or two. After you have let them drain tip them up right and air dry. This will take about 24 hour depending on the weather. Now that the jars are dry, decorate the edge with some shimmery twine and colorful tags for labels. Stay tuned to see how I will be using these beauties to organize my teachers desk.
Thursday January 12th, I will be teaming up with two other Pre-K teacher bloggers to bring you a classroom organization challenge that you won’t want to miss. We will be decluttering key areas of our classroom to help us save time and relive some of that unneeded stress that goes with running a classroom. Day ThreeToday we are going to talk about toys. Teachers are natural collectors, and after a few years your classroom can get filled with too much stuff. Remember that young children can be overstimulated by all of the materials in the classroom, which can lead to some very frustrated and unhappy children. An unorganized classroom can also lead to laziness and lack of concern for the materials provided. Lastly and probably the most important is an unorganized classroom gives the impression to parents, community and administration that you might be a nice and well-loved teacher, but you are not a very professional one. A well-organized classroom tells children and parents that you care. It sets the mood of those entering right from the start, and it tells people that you are a professional that cares about those living in the environment. You are probably asking yourself right about now, where do I start? De-cluttering is the first essential step to transform your learning environment to one that invites learning. Step One- Grab three large plastic tubs. Label each one trash, recycling and donation. I like to place my tubs on a dolly (ask the janitor) this way I can move smoothly through my classroom as I de-clutter each area.
Step Two- Put on some fun and fabulous music. This will help you get in the grove and enjoy the process of de-cluttering. Step Three- Dance around your classroom and discard any materials that are broken, have missing pieces or they just don’t get used. Now go to your storage area and do the same thing, but in your storage area I want you to get rid of anything that you have not used in the last year or two. If you have not used it in that long chances are you will never use it again, and it is just taking up valuable space. Step Four- This is probably the most important step, and that is to remember that it is going to get worse before it gets better. Step Five- Make an inventory list of everything that you are keeping. Keep this list with you so that when you are out and about and see storage containers on sale or you see all of those fabulous containers in the dollar section of target you can find the best containers for the job.
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Want to take on more than just one learning center?Stay organized and motivated with the Classroom Design Workbook. Grab it Here.
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Welcome!I'm Tami Sanders creator of Learning and Teaching with Preschoolers, a blog to help teachers create magical moments for the young. Follow MeArchives
August 2023
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