Now Teach! I love me some organization!

Ok guys, I'm super excited because I eat, sleep and breath organization.  Seriously, my mom always knew when I was stressed growing up because I'd be awake organizing and cleaning (OCD much?!?!) But seriously, organizing is something you can control.  So when your day in the classroom seems chaotic, rest assured your instructional materials are not. It truly is calming.

I am by nature neat and organized, but my true love and need for organization in the classroom came from Shafer. She was like the Mr. Miyagi of classroom organization.

Now, I will say, there are things that I slip up on, get sloppy with, and forget about.  Typically, these are the things that during the school year are just too much to tackle and they get labeled "that will be my summer project." This year, that happened to be my LA and Math game bins.

So, here are some things that keep me sane throughout the year....

1. GO BUY A LABEL MAKER...enough said.

2. Get your binder on!  Have a binder for everything....I'm serious, its a game changer.  I am soooo excited to get to school and print and stock my binders for the year with all the Common Core goodies I need.  

3. Bins and Labeling! I have an obsession with organizational bins, anything that's a cute color that can hold something, I buy.  Its a problem. But seriously, bins and labels! 

 4. Keep your desktop neat and tidy...nothing gives me hives more than a desktop that has things not in folders. eeeek!  It breeds anxiety.

You can't see it very well, but I have a folder for each subject, a TPT folder, a school year folder and a "to print" folder (this is my favorite).  When I know I need to print something, as I'm planning the night before, I drag and drop to this folder so in the morning I don't forget to print!

5. Milk crates, zip locks and hanging file folders. This was my summer project and I'm so excited to use them this year!  This is a trick of the trade I learned from Shafer....it's so simple, but so amazing!

Print, laminate and organize all of your games/activities and store them in big ol' Ziplocks.  Then, label (with above said label maker) the bags with what unit or theme the game/activity is from.  Now, in your milk crate, label and organize hanging file folders for each theme, subject, or unit.  Stick your labeled Ziplocks in their designated spot, and holy moly its a life changer.

EXTRA EXTRA! And guys I finally jumped on board with this last year....get your kiddos organized DAY 1!  Set the example and give them incentives.  I was skeptical, but this so works!  There are tons of amazing ones of these on TPT.  I created my own last year that worked with my class.  Check out the post where I introduce here.  Also, for teacher week, grab it for free below!

Link up and rock out this Teacher Week.  Tomorrow is my first day back to work. I have to be a geek and say I am soooo excited!  My mom took off work and her, J and I will be setting up tomorrow. All of the summer printing, labeling and laminating will finally be put to work tomorrow!