Classroom organization. You either love it or hate it! No matter your feelings on organization, I think we can all agree that it’s important for your classroom to have some sort of flow and method to it so students can focus on learning. Part of classroom organization is how your room is organized and how your materials are organized.
Before you set up your classroom, you want to ask yourself some questions about how exactly your room will be organized. Ask yourself these questions below and you’ll take control of your classroom organization.
Questions to Ask Yourself Before Starting Classroom Organization
What areas or sections do you want to include in your room? Will you have a writing center? Technology area? Space just for free play items?
In order for your room to make sense to kids, spaces have to have a common theme. For example, students know that when they need to get a book, they need to go to the library. What other sections will you have in your room?
Some ideas:
- Writing Center
- Word Work Center
- Math Manipulatives
- Puzzles
- Science Exploration
- Listening Center
- STEM/STEAM
- Cultural Center
- Free Play – Toys
- Meet with Teacher Area (for small groups)
- Teacher Area – desk/supplies
Where will your supplies go? Will you have your teacher supplies somewhere separate from student supplies? What will the supplies go in?
Now that you know what sections of the room you’ll have, you need to decide where supplies are going. A lot of classrooms have a beautiful, large storage closet. Not mine. I had to get creative with how I was going to store supplies. These DIY crate seats are a perfect hidden storage option.
When you figure out where you are going to store your items, decide how you will store them. I felt the most organized when I had all of my storage materials for each subject together.
Some ideas:
- Keep art supplies together
- Supplies for when you get a new student
- Science materials
- Extra math manipulatives (that aren’t already in your math section)
- Extra student supplies – crayons, glue, pencils etc.
- Teacher supplies
- Keep all curriculum together – easier when you sit down to plan
Where will student supplies go? Will they have a pencil box? A community box that the whole table uses? A chair pouch?
For the supplies that students will use on a daily basis – where will they go? I’ve tried a few different options but my very favorite was using a chair pouch with individual student supplies that went in a pencil box inside their chair bags. The chair bags also held their folders and any workbooks.
I tried the community box in my classroom and although it is convenient to just load up one box for each table, it caused more fights between kindergarteners and they just could never keep it clean. When you use a chair pouch, even the messier students know where their supplies are. Ha!
Will students be at desks? Or tables? Or will you use flexible seating?
Part of deciding where student supplies will go will depend on where your students will be located. Do you have desks in your classroom? Tables? Will you use flexible seating?
My students sit at tables in groups of 3 or 4 or at the carpet in assigned rug squares. I found that this was the best way for kindergarteners to stay focused and for me to manage them. However, I never tried flexible seating, but know a lot of teachers have had success with this. If you have tried flexible seating in kindergarten and love it, share below!
Take Control of Classroom Organization
In order to have organization, you need to figure out exactly how you want your room to be organized. Ask yourself these questions and you’ll have a better idea at how you want your room organized.
- What sections/areas will you have in your room?
- Where will extra supplies go? What is your storage like?
- Where will student supplies go?
- Will students be at tables? Desks? Will you use flexible seating?
If you answer these questions before you begin your classroom set up, you’ll have an easier time as you’ll know exactly how you want your room.
