Classroom Organization Tips for Teachers and Students

Students don't just go to school to require academic excellence. Schools are also a large part of shaping behaviors and skills and this can be acquired through learning how to organize and tidy their own school work (and classroom) thus, learning healthy living habits for their future. In a busy world, organization is a large part of everyday life.

Learning how to organize helps to boost efficiency in students. What benefits will a child have if they learn how to organize within their classroom? How does it benefit teachers and students? Teaching healthy organization habits are beneficial in so many ways. Note: These tips are also applicable to parents at home! 😄

1. Planning Skills: Planning calendars, daily homework written on a whiteboard or personal student agenda's are a great way to learn how to plan or schedule at a very early age. If your school doesn't already provide each student their own personal agenda, you could simply print off a monthly calendar on a sheet of paper, which could be kept in their binder or school locker. Grab the link to a FREE monthly calendar HERE! They can organize assignment due dates, sporting events, etc.
2. Greater Reliability: Learning how to organize at a young age will help to establish trust. A well-organized leader will instill the will of reliability and leadership, and this will help them to win the trust of others more easily.
   
   
3. Better Life-Work (School) Balance: By the time students get to high school, they begin to learn the feeling of what it's like to be regularly stressed. Managing several different classes with several different teachers and their various expectations, studying for tests and exams, reading textbooks, writing papers....and working a part-time job after school. Nevermind their social life. It's tough! Learning how to organize and balance their work and other aspects of life, will lead to greater overall efficiency in the various things one may be involved in. 

1.  Get Everyone Involved: Students thrive when they all engage in an activity. You can make it fun by making it race. Whether it's picking up any garbage around the classroom or organization a bookshelf, most students are happy to help out. I usually reward my students with a bit of candy or chocolate after. It saves me a lot of time during my prep period or after school, plus it promotes a sense of pride within the room.
2.  Show Students How Easy It Is: If you can show students how easy it is to organize their own personal belongings and how much "JOY" (pardon my Marie Kondo quote) it will bring them when they realize they can actually find things in their lockers or binders, they might actually catch onto it. I designated a few minutes at the start of class one week for students to organize their binders and lockers. Not only did they make life easier for themselves by actually being able to FIND items they were looking for, but they also made more space for things that they might actually need. 

 3. Designate Specific Spots for Supplies: I don't know about you, but my supplies are always going missing. One way that helped most of my supplies to be returned was to simply designate a spot in the classroom, so students know exactly where everything is that they might be able to use. It might also be helpful to involve your students in the process of where the 'supply spot' should be, so again, they can take pride in returning the things that they use. If the items are not being returned, they are going to find out pretty quickly that they won't have the necessary supplies they need to help make their work stand out.

4. Use the Same Items: If you are lucky enough to have a laptop cart in your classroom or a set of textbooks, it makes everyone's life a lot easier if the same items are being used by the same students. In addition, this helps to hold students accountable for the things that they need. Designate numbers to the various items in your classroom and associate that number to a student (or group of students). This way, if things are not being put back properly or even damaged, you have a better idea of who it might have been.

What cleaning or organization tips do you have for your classroom? I would love to hear about your ideas! Share below in the comments section.