It’s important to ensure your classroom is set up with a classroom cabinet organization routine because your cabinets are the backbone of your classroom. If those aren’t organized, you are going to have a hard time maintaining classroom organization.
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I am a firm believer that an organized classroom is key to teaching effectively and creating a space for engaging learning. But being organized starts from the inside out…And when I say inside…I mean inside your classroom cabinets!
The Classroom Organization Guidebook has 5 pages full of cabinet organization details. Check it out if you want more help organizing your cabinets and other important areas in your classroom.
Why Organized Classroom Cabinets?
An effective classroom NEEDS to be organized! A disorganized classroom CAN communicate a lack of preparation and also contributes to the struggle students have to stay focused.
An organized classroom CAN communicate diligence, preparedness, and passion.
Makeover your classroom. Makeover your teaching!
Now, I am not naive enough to realize that they aren’t GREAT teachers out there who are messy and disorganized. But as a general rule, I think it is important that we create organized classrooms to communicate preparedness to our administrators, parents, and most importantly our students.
My advice when working with new teachers who are setting up a classroom is to start with your classroom cabinets. Which kind of seems backward, but cleaning up your cabinets allows everything to have a home so when you work on organizing your classroom, you have a place for everything to go.
Want to Improve Organization?
If improving Organization is something you want to work on, I highly recommend you check out the PowerSheets collection- a goal setting journal to help you set and ACHIEVE goals!
5 Ways to Achieve Classroom Cabinet Organization
Let’s talk about 5 things you can do to organize your classroom cabinets. (OR, if you’d rather watch/listen…then head to that link right there ^^^ to watch my video. And be prepared, my head is cut out for part of the video…. #newvlogger)
1. Empty out cabinets- You can do this in one of two ways.
My recommendation would be to spend a day taking EVERYTHING out of your cabinets and grouping all your junk stuff by like items. Have you read The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up??? That’s basically her method.
The other option would be to go cabinet by cabinet emptying out.
OH! And guys….you have to throw stuff away, OKAY?!? Haven’t used it in a year? Toss it! It’ll be okay..promise!
2. Baskets, baskets, and MORE baskets (and labels)
Friends…you need bins, baskets, tubs, cardboard boxes. ANYTHING that is a box and can hold stuff. This way you have a home for everything. Then just slap a label on it! Now you can easily find what you are looking for. (And because these are in your cabinets, they can be cheap! Ask teachers on campus to give you their old amazon boxes, slap a sticky note label on there and call it a day! It does NOT have to be cute!)
My Amazon shop has a ton of bins, baskets, and organizers I recommend to use in your classroom cabinet organization endeavors.
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3. Group items by like things
Remember how I talked in step 1 about grouping by like things? Do that for your cabinets, too. You can watch this two-minute video about how I group my cabinets.
4. From now on, put things away immediately!
Now that everything has a home, you HAVE to hold yourself accountable to putting things away immediately. This is the easy part because you have boxes and labels and you just have to drop it in.
5. No cabinets? Find spaces!
We are teachers, which means we are super creative. So get creative with storing things. If you don’t have a lot of cabinets and have to store on top of cabinets or out in the open, I would suggest getting lots of pretty bins (cute ones at the dollar store, target, walmart, hobby lobby (hello 40% off coupon!) and put stuff in there and then out on display. A pretty bin makes everything seem so much more cohesive!
Organize your classroom (and your cabinets) so you can focus on what really matters at work- teaching your kids the best lessons you can! By taking away the clutter and stress of a disorganized classroom, you can prioritize creating and delivering the best teaching possible.
Get the Classroom Organization Guidebook which helps you organize 20+ areas in your classroom. You get over 40 pages of support, pictures of real classrooms, action steps, lists, and recommended organizational products.
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Until next time,
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