Fresh Start for 2016- {The Organized Teacher}

It is hard to believe it is already the LAST day of the first month of 2016!! I hope you've enjoyed all our organizational tips that we've shared this month! I know I've gotten TONS of great ideas to organize my classroom!

I wanted to share a tip on how to organize YOU! With teaching, comes a lot of paper. Too. Much. Paper. So, it's important to keep it all organized, otherwise your desk could end up looking like this!

A couple years ago I started using a binder to keep all of my very important papers, and it's really worked for me so far! I call it {The Organized Teacher} notebook and it has truly become a lifesaver!

My notebook goes everywhere with me. It travels to RTI meetings, team meetings, staff meetings. It's a great travel buddy! And, it's best friend is my Erin Condren Teacher Planner!

You know ALL those papers you get at the beginning of the year, and at staff meetings, and professional development trainings- they all go in my notebook. That way, anytime I need to find something I know exactly where to look! I also make sure to keep a copy of my class list, our schedule, and all my other important papers right at the front. 

Like I said earlier, this notebook is a great travel partner and goes with me to all my meetings. I have a separate section for meeting notes. I just put them all in one section- team, RTI, staff, PLT, all of them! It makes it easier for me to find anything I've written down if they are all in one place. I keep extra copies of each page all paperclipped together in this particular section. Easy to grab the page I need at different meetings!

Since I teach in a multi-age classroom, it's important that we remember which activities we do with our class each year so we don't repeat the same things the following year. I try to keep track of what we do using these planning pages!

One of my favorite sections is my Weekly Planning Lists sections! I just LOVE to-do lists. I usually write on one of these each week and end up paper-clipping it inside my teacher planner! But, all my extra pages can be easily found! And, it's nice to add onto them during team meetings or staff meetings if I need to! 

I also keep my grade book in my Organized Teacher notebook. This section has all my grades and a copy of my report card rubrics.

In order to separate each section, I just printed off the cover sheets on cardstock and laminated them! It made it super easy! And, they look pretty!

It really does have everything I need all in one place, and it's helped me stay super organized! I highly suggest using a notebook to help keep you organized!

For even more ideas from The Primary Peach, be sure to follow us on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook to catch all the latest news and updates!

Happy Teaching (and Organizing)!!!!

February Sharing Sunday

We are so glad you have joined us for another Sharing Sunday!  We have TONS of goodies and resources to make your teaching this February smooth and easy!


Check out all these links to see what our authors have come up with!

An InLinkz Link-up

Fresh Start for 2016: Organizing Task Cards

Hi! It's Terri from The Creative Apple Teaching Resources. Today I will be sharing one of my all-time favorites as far as organization goes.

How many of you love task cards but really hate the idea of keeping up with all of them? Let's just say that I try *really* hard to be an organized teacher. I've accumulated so many different things that I often times forget what great things I have. That is especially true for task cards!

Then once upon a time, I found some super cute basket at the Target Dollar Spot. What was I going to use these super cute baskets for? I had no idea, but I knew I needed them. Can you relate? I'm sure you can! While they were sitting on my shelf... I came up with the grand idea to create a storage area for my task cards.

So, I got busy measuring, creating, printing, laminating... and when I was done, it was the.best.thing.ever! They were super cute and easily fit all types of task cards.

Now when I am teaching a particular skill, I just go over to my task card basket and pull them out. The best thing is that even my 5th graders can find what they are looking for.

Now, I know Target no longer has these baskets, but I'm sure you can find something similar in size. You can go grab your free set from my TPT store here.

Happy Tasking!

For even more ideas from The Primary Peach, be sure to follow us on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook to catch all the latest news and updates!

Fresh Start for 2016: Border Hoarder

Are you a "Border Hoarder"?  The first step is acknowledging it!  I know it's hard.  I'm a sucker for bright colors and patterns like all good Elementary teachers are!  God gave us this passion for children, office supplies and adorable bulletin board border and TODAY we are going to solve the storage problems you are facing!  So let's Get a Fresh Start with Border!

Does this look familiar?  Yep, its a sad reality that we live in!  

We use a border and toss it in the closet, because no one has time to put it up and border just doesn't store neatly.

It's ok!  I promise we can organized this mess in no time!  If you are a real life hoarder (saver, collector of random items, gatherer of old things, etc), then you probably have a few old icing containers stacked on a shelf somewhere!  There's your solution my friend!  Roll that border up and shove it in an icing container!

Or perhaps you are like me...to clean I go around my house with a trashcan.  I save nothing and am probably considered by some wasteful.  So for my storage solution for my border, I went to Dollar Tree and bought a 6 pack of cheap upper wear storage bowls for $1 (How much is everything in Dollar Tree?).

Let's review...your border hoarder ways have to go to make you feel better about the 2016 organization resolution you set.  You can easily solve the border hoarder cycle by either pulling out the icing containers or heading to your local dollar store.  It's simple friends and the storage containers allow you to see the border without even opening the pack.

For even more ideas from The Primary Peach, be sure to follow us on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook to catch all the latest news and updates!

Fresh Start for 2016- Organizing Technology!

Hi there!  It's Amanda here, from Collaboration Cuties!!  I'm excited to bring you a tip to help you organize technology in your classroom!!

Do you ever feel like your technology needs to be a little more organized?  Are you left feeling like there are cords everywhere?  Tablets forgotten to be plugged in?  Or that you just don't have the space to keep everything plugged in and laying out?

Sometimes I feel like this:

Do you?

I was in another teacher's room this year, and I saw a super smart idea.  You know, one of those ideas where you think...why didn't I think of that?  It's so simple, but smart!!

You can use a file folder holder to store your technology!!!

All of those pesky cords are plugged in and there is a powerstrip on the floor!  Now, it's taking up a lot less space!  The laptops JUST fit in this one.  The one that I saw in the classroom I'm stealing this idea from was a wire one and would probably hold up better than my plastic one, but the plastic one still works, and it's CHEAP!!  :O)

These are regular sized iPads and they fit perfectly!!!  And the cords are hardly noticeable!!!

Maybe this idea could work for you?  Maybe it's not a new idea, but just new to me!  :O)  But, I thought it was worth a share!

 I love all of these ideas that have been shared here on The Primary Peach!  If you've missed any, be sure to check this blog!  There's a new tip shared every day in this blog series!

For even MORE ideas from The Primary Peach, be sure to follow us on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook!

Fresh Start for 2016: Organizing for Indoor Recess

Hi everyone! I hope you have been getting back into the swing of things in 2016 and we've given you a few great tips to get you organized this new year.

My topic is going to be indoor recess. I don't know about where you live but here in Atlanta, it's getting cold. I grew up in Florida and to me....it's FREEZING! So, we have to stay inside when it gets below a certain temp or if the wind chill makes it just downright unbearable.

I have to have two classes in my room during recess, so the key is to be ready! Here's an idea I have to make it easy and organized, plus fun for the students.

I love to do movement activities like Go Noodle or Adventures to Fitness but with two classes having enough area to move is hard. And honestly, my kids just want to play. There, I said it PLAY! They need time to talk and hang out with their friends a little and play games.

So my solution was this amazing cart from IKEA:

I don't know about you but I do not have a shelf for keeping games because all my shelves are taken up by books or Literacy/Math Centers so this was what I came up with and it works so well.

I collected games from my own kids at home, got some to be donated, and bought a few things.
Here is a list of what I have in my cart: (disclaimer: When I went to IKEA they were all out of that adorable blue so I had to settle for plain old cream color, I plan on painting it soon.)

Card games:
WAR
UNO
Old Maid
Go Fish
Crazy 8's
playing cards

Games:
Scrabble
Boggle
Apples to Apples
Life
Connect Four
Mancala


One thing I did to keep things together is put all the card games in plastic containers from the Dollar Store. I made labels for you to help you out with your recess cart. Just click the picture:

For even more ideas from The Primary Peach, be sure to follow us on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook to catch all the latest news and updates!

    

Fresh Start in 2016: Organizing Weekly Papers

Hi guys!  It's Ashley from Just Reed!

One of the smartest things I did to save my sanity this year was to create some daily drawers for organizing printables!  Every Friday I make sure all papers for the following week are ready and in their proper drawers.  Then the next week, I just open a drawer and take that day's work out!  So simple, yet sanity saving!

 

These containers can be found {HERE}!

 

Easy Peasy...and FREE...because I'm giving the labels to you! 

Download them HERE:

For even MORE ideas from The Primary Peach, be sure to follow us on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook!

 

Fresh Start in 2016: Organizing Your Classroom Library with Goodreads

The mess, the disaster, the thing I avoid...my classroom library.  Between the reading conferences, guided reading groups, and managing independent reading I don’t have the energy left to make sure all of my books are neat and organized.  

A few weeks ago I was managing my notifications on my phone and I found an app that I totally forgot I used - Goodreads.  

If you haven’t seen this app/website before you HAVE to go check it out.  If you have used Goodreads before, go back and check it out!

I realized that this was the solution to my classroom library problem.  In the past I had used this for creating lists of what I read, was currently reading, and had already read, but guess what!  You can make your own bookshelves.  

So here is what I did:

Step 1: Take an afternoon (actually a few afternoons)  and organize my books.  Until this project was finished I put an under construction sign on the library and pulled some of my students favorite books and created a book basket for them to use.

Step 2: Create a bookshelf in Goodreads for each category (animals, sports, favorite authors, etc.)

Step 3: Add the title of each book (You can enter the title by typing it in OR you can use the scan app on your iPhone to scan the barcode of the book!) in that category on the Goodreads bookshelf.  The added bonus, you can rate any of the books you have personally read in that category.  (I read a lot and fast and many times I forget the books I have read.  This is a quick reminder that I have read the book and if I wrote a review it makes it easier to remember.)

Note:  If you have a book you haven’t read be sure to click “want to read” and then the shelf.  If you just click the shelf it will assume you have already read the book.

Step 4: Hire Classroom Librarians.  I printed out the list for each basket.  Once a week I have the classroom librarian check a few baskets to make sure they are accurate and date the books.  This is usually a 15 minute assignment.  

Step 5: Explain to the class the organization.  Once I explained what I had done to the library I found that most of the student bought into the new system.  More and more I observed students straightening and thinking before they placed the book in “just any old place.”

After getting this organized I realized that the mess and clutter and bookshelf disarray had disappeared and I could run my reading conferences and guided reading groups without the worry of a disorganized classroom library.  

What are ways you have used to keep your classroom library in order?  

For even more ideas from The Primary Peach, be sure to follow us on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook to catch all the latest news and updates!