organizing teacher materials for the week and quarter

This idea surely isn't new and you may already be doing it! In my teacher space I have a place that holds materials for the days to come for the current week.

I printed the days of the week in colors that I liked and cut them to fit on the front of a magazine file. I like the clean and simple look, but had to have a pop of color and fun font. I lay the magazine files down on their backs to make the things I store (books, papers, reminders) more easily accessible and are visible when the holders are at this angle.

I did laminate the paper before gluing it onto the front, so that way I can wipe it down (my teacher space does collect a lot of dust from being so close to the window and my computer) as needed.

And since I will print off things like our math prompts or gather materials ahead of time, I have an additional set of files below my teacher space that helps me keep stuff organized for the weeks to come in the quarter. These are also laid down on their side to make the best use of space and fit everything except really tall picture books.

The labels were taped down in front of the files, so I can easily see them while sitting in my chair and looking down. This system of keeping materials organized a head of time works for me, but I will admit since the weekly files below are new to me this year, I am still finding myself spending time thinking, "Now where would I have put that...?" until I sheepishly remember my new system.

More Organization
How to Make Planning Work for You
Prepping for a Sub
Organizing Guided Reading Materials

Do you like using a system like this to help you keep materials organized, or are you more of a drawer person? Okay, its totally cool if you're a pile person too! We all think and work differently!

If you like what I do here on KindergartenWorks, then be sure to subscribe today. I look forward to sharing ideas with you weekly.
- Leslie

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kindergarten small group reading materials

Underneath my teacher space is where I have relocated my guided reading group materials. Right now the top shelf is designated for materials that we use on an everyday basis...

...the types of things that I'd use with any and every group. Do these look familiar? I use pencil caddies to contain the items so that I can move the entire basket to my table, or I can easily just grab. Since each caddy has 3 compartments, it can organize quite a bit for me. I keep a tub of playdough, bag of dice, bag of counters, pencils, blank half-sheet 5 page booklets, reading strategy checklists.

I also use those cute boxes that you see in the Target dollar spot to hold our pointers. I keep a variety or pointers, magnifying glass sticks and carabiner flashlights to help keep things fresh. Sometimes offering students a choice makes a big difference.

I have one caddy designated just for our white boards (seen with purple backs). The three compartments hold the boards, markers and erasers (baby sock/washcloths from the Dollar Tree).

And this year I decided to maximize the space and use the handles of each caddy to hold my "Don't even think about interrrupting me" bracelet collection. This year I was able to add to it with some fantastic slap bracelets from Target and the Dollar Tree.

Nearby I keep a basket for each group that contains materials that are just for them, and holds materials that we use over multiple days... I'll include some links below to ideas I've used or adapted for my own class this year. Just a few of the tools I keep nearby for guided reading and pulling small groups during our reading/literacy centers.

More Guided Reading

> Organizing a guided reading space
> Organizing a guided reading binder
> Small group reading story
> Using a ring instead of a bracelet

My favorite free small group materials:

What are some of your favorite tools to keep nearby? If you like what I do here on KindergartenWorks, then be sure to subscribe today. I look forward to sharing ideas with you weekly.
- Leslie

*Free downloadable Thank You Gift included when you subscribe via email or RSS.

pictures in circles

Getting students to be independent in the morning normally kicks in much quicker for my students than our getting our folders ready to go home procedures. I'm often wondering if its because they are s.p.e.n.t by the time the afternoon rolls around, or if the multi-step process really just does take that much more focus.

I'm sure its the latter, but with lots of patience, it pays off over the entire year when they are getting folders packed, coloring their choices and collecting their belongings without much assistance from me at all. Anyway, I am trying to incorporate more simplistic visuals than I have in the past to cue students as to what comes next in the multi-step times such as these. Here is what I have come up with...

We have three pictures up for our morning routine and have shortly added the fourth {sharpening pencils} the third week of school.

They check to see if their parents included any mail in their folders, and put it in my mailbox. Then they put their folders away, while carrying their backpacks and then take them to the closet. They make their lunch choice and sharpen pencils if needed.

And we have four steps in getting ready to go home.

Students get their folders, get all papers to go home {put them in the appropriate category}, color their level of choices and then get their folder checked. I am training my folder checkers right now and that helps make the process go much quicker for all of us! We are also getting our things ready before our last activity of the day, so that way we can end on the more calm notes of the sweet music we call the school day. {As opposed to the hectic, "Whose lunch box is this?" that could normally be the last thing a student hears before leaving our classroom door each day.}

{Bulletin Board Icons}

More Responsibility

> Download icons for free

> Where can I find student behavior calendars like pictured above?

> More on re.spon.si.bil.it.y

So, these are my pictures in circles. What do you like to use to help your packing up procedures go smoothly?
If you like what I do here on KindergartenWorks, then be sure to subscribe today. I look forward to sharing ideas with you weekly.
- Leslie

*Free downloadable Thank You Gift included when you subscribe via email or RSS.

lesson plan bracelet

So, during the first week of school, I cut the days from my planning binder into a strip and wear it around my wrist like a bracelet! I do! Ser.i.ous.ly!

We change activities so frequently and there is no "routine" yet, obviously, so I need it to make sure I hit all of the procedural things like a gazillion times. This is my solution. 

My previous student teacher from two years ago used the bracelet factor for something similar when she wanted to keep better track of how many verbal warnings she gave out - she just made herself a paper bracelet to mark tallies on and voila - simple solution!

More on Lesson Plans

Planning Differentiated Math Lessons
How to Make Planning Work for You

How could a bracelet make your life easier?
If you like what I do here on KindergartenWorks, then be sure to subscribe today. I look forward to sharing ideas with you weekly.
- Leslie

*Free downloadable Thank You Gift included when you subscribe via email or RSS.

responsibility in the classroom

Building responsibility in the classroom is something major that I value. I expect students to grow in responsibility very quickly for routine classroom things, but I try to be very intentional about how I scaffold the routine things to make them appropriate for kinders.

When my students are getting ready for the school day and getting ready to go home, they use labels in their folders to help them know where things go. I know that many schools use binders or folders with acronyms, which seem like great systems! Mine is pretty simple and has four parts. I use a large bulletin board to model every day where papers go as needed, but very quickly students begin to think for themselves where papers go and what "kind" of paper things look like.

Though there are four parts to their folder, there are three labeled parts. So, by using three pictures on my large modeling board and having the same pictures in their folder, students can quickly take on responsibility for their own items.

We really had to practice not holding our folders upside down (since all of our hard work falls out and then we have to redo the entire thing), but as of week four, things have really begun to get smooth. There really is something to building a habit and having that habit in place for at least 20 days! I also created a "social story" type of book that shows me in photos doing each part of their daily routine of getting ready to go home.

Reading this the first two weeks of school was about 15 times more effective than me modeling it for 20 days in a row and having students model it too.

{Click the image to go to the folder labels}

More on Responsibility in the Classroom

Social story idea to build classroom routines

Using student calendars to build responsibility

If you can take photos of your students now doing the right thing, you can use it for next year and you'll be thankful you did!
If you like what I do here on KindergartenWorks, then be sure to subscribe today. I look forward to sharing ideas with you weekly.
- Leslie

*Free downloadable Thank You Gift included when you subscribe via email or RSS.

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If you like what I do here on KindergartenWorks, then be sure to subscribe today. I look forward to sharing ideas with you weekly.
- Leslie

*Free downloadable Thank You Gift included when you subscribe via email or RSS.