Create a classroom that’s functional and doesn’t require students to depend on the teacher for everything!
Here are the articles on adding labels, building independence, and setting up the classroom to work for you and your students.
Whether its organizing literacy centers, figuring out how to do alternative seating options or how to set up functional daily folders, then these classroom setup articles will guide you through thinking about how to best implement a setup that will work for you.
Here is a project that I saw pinned and brought to life using duct tape. I call it our “everything board” and it’s essentially our check-in and out system. We use it to take attendance, lunch count and I use it to keep track of students leaving the room. Here’s how to make one and…
Squeezing the life out of every bit of technology that I have in my classroom seems to be my goal over the past few years. Here’s how I organized my whole group teaching space when we finally got a document camera and projector. I’ll show you some photos of how I keep what’s most needed…
There’s so much to be said for offering choice in the classroom. Here is an additional way to offer choice to students using alternative seating in kindergarten. Yes, you can totally do this in kindergarten and it doesn’t matter when you start. I’ve started it on day one and also after the year was already…
I shared earlier this year on facebook how I’ve gone digital with all of my files. It’s been a game changer! Here’s the low down on how I did it and what I use my filing cabinets for now. If you like feeling organized, you’ll never want to look back. It’s a bit like going minimalist and…
Add a punch of color to your classroom with hanging lanterns. Here is how I hung paper lanterns in my kindergarten classroom to make a fun visual statement. Let me preface that I prefer function over pretty. If it’s something I have to redo each year, then it’s not smart enough for me to use…
Ready to organize your centers? Here’s my simple solution (and why it works) on how to organize centers in kindergarten. I’m not a craaazy organized person, although you may think differently if you’re a reader of mine. I love to be organized and I function better when I am organized… but you just can’t be…
Collecting papers in kindergarten doesn’t have to cause a headache. Here is my simple way that I collect papers in my classroom that really works. The papers. Oh, the papers. Sometimes it seems as if there is a never-ending influx of papers that sometimes makes a teacher feel like this… Can you relate? I really can’t stand…
You asked about how we have alternative seating setup and I’ve answered lots of alternative seating questions! One I haven’t covered was where to put all of the students’ things… you know, their stuff. Because we have pencil boxes, workbooks, writing notebooks or journals, etc. Here is how I went about storing and organizing student…
I’m a big fan of teaching responsibility in kindergarten. One big example: you won’t find me stuffing folders – my students are capable of doing that themselves. Want to know my secrets? I think there are a few things you can do to make a daily folder setup successful and easy for kindergartners (and their…
More than once I’ve been asked with my classroom of alternative seating options, “Where do your students do a whole group activity?” So let me share where and how we complete a whole group activity in kindergarten. Before I lay out what we do – and it’s really rather simple – let me remind you…
Before the last three weeks of school, I spent almost an entire weekend in my classroom… with a plan. The plan was to be brave, be bold and try something different. The last two years, I really hadn’t changed much in layout with my classroom because it was working well and in general, very smoothly….
Organize your classroom stash of books with a system that is easy to keep up. Here are the four things you can do to get a classroom library setup, organized, and add new books to so that your library will work for you. One of the most daunting tasks I’ve ever taken on in organizing…
Keeping track of specials and specials’ times proves to be tricky for me. To be honest, tracking time just really isn’t my thing. Yet, the rest of the world operates by a clock and I do crave the peace and quiet of prep times to recollect my thoughts, dig into a planning session or prep some…
Someone asked me how I roll out alternative seating at the beginning of the school year. Great question! Let me share my top tips on introducing and implementing alternative seating starting the first day of school. Let me also remind you that when I first started because I got rid of my teacher desk, that I…
Now, I’ve never had an administration member, parent or support person walk into my room and say astonishedly, “Your kids are under the tables!” But, they very well could. It may happen someday. Perhaps. Normally, when a person who doesn’t spend all day in our learning environment with us – may be surprised to walk…
Drills. It’s a part of classroom life. Being prepared makes teaching emergency procedures (like a lockdown drill) simplified to kinders. Here’s the “how to” so you can easily make a lockdown shade to cover a window on any of your interior walls that don’t have one. I’ll share why I use it, things to think…
It’s the night before school starts and the classroom is ready. What should a kindergarten teacher have ready for the first day of school? Here are some of the basic things I had prepared ahead of time for the first day of school. Here is how I lay out my stuff in order to roll…
If you have an easel in your classroom, it is a great for keeping teaching tools handy. But, it can quickly become cluttered and disorganized. Here’s how to set up your easel – behind, in front and underneath – so that it is functional and stays clear. Let’s look at each section and plan what…
Teacher organization comes in lots of shapes and sizes depending upon your classroom. Here’s an idea that probably will fit your classroom as it will help you with organizing teacher materials for each week and an entire quarter. This idea surely isn’t new and you may already be doing it! Where to put materials for…
Last year I had my palm tree to create a cozy reading area for my classroom. But, I noticed it was starting to look dead. The leaves were fading and the trunk had a few puncture wounds, so I decided it needed a face lift. The entire tent top came down and it got a…
It can be tricky to store bulky classroom curriculum when you’re trying to make your classroom look pretty or at least non-cluttered. Here’s how I used placemats – for a dollar a piece – to hide my giant science curriculum boxes to improve the look of my classroom using the empty space above my cupboards….
When I decided to go with a color scheme instead of a classroom theme, I started keeping my eyes out for my new, favorite colors everywhere. Well, what happened is that I found my exact shades in the form of duct tape. When I first purchased the duct tape, it was for the purpose of…
My last post about bringing color and function together in our multi-purpose magnetic board has led me to share about bringing in our bright color palette into other areas of the classroom… therefore creating a classroom color scheme. Now, I don’t confess to decorate over the top by any means. Just a disclaimer to make…
Teach students how to organize their daily folders in kindergarten using a bulletin board. It can be tricky to give keep on top of those gosh-darn flyers from the office, parent notes and daily papers. Plus, we know daily communication is important between parents and their child about the day’s events, and between parents and…