Getting Organized!

Organizing the Home Office

I love organization, but when it comes to my desk I'm not always great at keeping it up.  My desk at home needed some major help.  I had the old desk since I was in HIGH SCHOOL! <gasp>  At the time I'm sure I thought it was great, but 14 years after high school.....not so much not at all.  I've kept the desk in our spare bedroom where, thankfully, no one really had to see it.  But then we had our daughter and the spare bedroom became a nursery.  That meant that the desk had to come out into the open(our living room), no longer hidden from society.  I put off getting a new desk for a loooooong time.  Why?  Mostly because I didn't feel like spending the money on a new one when the old one was still functional - although incredibly small and ugly.   I HATED looking at that thing, and then my daughter discovered the cords that were crudely exposed behind/under it (nightmare!).  So, happy Black Friday to me - I got a NEW desk!!!! I found a good deal online and I'm very happy with my purchase.  It has lots of space and storage - just what I needed!

Organizing for Tpt/TN, Blog, and Life

Another organizational purchase I made recently was this Erin Condren Take Note! Notebook.  It is PERFECT for what I need.  I got it with a calendar and I'm using it to keep track of all of my project ideas for Tpt/TN, blogging, and of course family stuff.  After I've used it for a couple of months I will be giving it a review here on my blog and let you know how it's working for me.  I love looking at it. Can you guess why? ;)

Organizing for the Classroom

Binder cover from Under the Apple Tree.  Page inside the binder from Made for 1st Grade. 

Something that I did last year for my classroom was make these binders for each month.  I keep most of the seasonal things I use in them.  While I still keep a lot of things in a file cabinet, these binders have been a handy addition for keeping organized.  I found most of the binders I use on clearance at Walmart after their back to school sales.  Aren't the covers cute?!

Head on over to Blog Hoppin and see how other teacher bloggers are organizing for the new year.  Happy organizing!

Teacher Week: Now Teach! Organizing for Instruction

I wanted to share a quick organizing tip with you.  Here is how I organize my files.

I started these files my first year and they've evolved over the past 8 years.  When I first made the files I only had the HMR 7.1 labels.  That stands for Houghton Mifflin Reading Theme 7 Week 1, which is how the reading series we use is organized.  Since then I've added more to the tabs to find things easier.  Now they look like the picture above.  I've added that weeks spelling patterns, focus vowel, word families, grammar, or anything else introduced/taught during that week.  When I run across something and think, 'Hey, this is a great idea! I need to save a copy!' I head over to my files and can find where I want to save it easily.  I add to the files through out the year.  I try to keep everything in chronological order from the beginning of the year to the end.  I keep the current file at the front and when that week is over I put it in the back of the file cabinet and the 'new' current file is in the front.  I don't use everything in the files every year, but I like having an arsenal of strategies, ideas, and resources ready if I need it.  This system has worked great for me and these files are by far my most valued teaching item.  I hope this post has sparked an organizational idea for you.  If you'd like to read more organization tips, head over to Blog Hoppin' for their classroom organization linky party!