Label, Label, Label

 

Ahhh...organization! I love it, I need it to function, and I obsess over it.   When I was in elementary school every Saturday morning when I woke up I would run downstairs and grab the bottle of Windex, Pledge, a broom, and whatever else I thought I needed.  I'd return to my room, crank up some Spice Girls or Hanson and clean my room.  This was no quick surface cleaning job...no, every week I would clean out my desk drawers, dust the slightly creepy porcelain dolls on my shelf, and

organize my scrunchi collection R.O.Y.G.B.I.V. style.  Totally normal for an eight-year-old, right!?!?

 

Anyway flash forward out of the 90's and into my classroom, which I like to think is pretty well organized.  BUT I still have my secret hiding clutter spaces that drive me crazy!!! One tool I love to use are labels.  Oh how I love them! Every container in my room has a label, and if you can spy them on the picture above I love to label the spaces on the shelves where things need to be returned.

 

Now, I'm the kind of person who, if you pick up something off my desk and then put it back down, I will casually walk over and touch the same object to return it back to it's proper 45 degree angle.  I know what you're thinking, "FUH-REEEEK!" Let me tell you, it's exhausting being this neurotic, and is not a choice :)

 

So, to help keep my room nice and tidy I love to label everything and explain proper procedures to my class as to how important it is to put things back in their proper place.  Not only does this help keep me sane, but it really does minimize on disruptions during the day.  Students know where to find the supplies and learning tools they need, and can begin their work quickly.  I'm proud to say that this past year there were very few instances where I had to ask where some miscellaneous item was!

 

Thanks for reading my rant on organization and be sure to check out Ladybug's Teacher Files & Fun in Room 4B for more great organization ideas!