Project Organization Phase 13: Notebooks

If you are like me, you buy a bunch of .10 notebooks before each school year.  I have about 5 spiral notebooks at each building and just grab one on my way to meetings.  The problem is I don't have 1 notebook for RtI, 1 for CSE, 1 for staff meetings and so on so all of the information is mixed together.  To find notes, I would have to look through 10 notebooks.  Remember, organization...

Project Organization Phase 12: Centers

I know many special education teachers who do not have centers.  What I mean by centers is small group games that have clear instructions attached to them.  The games focus on specific skills.  I am building my collection of centers by creating the fcrr.org games and file folder games.  The problem is organizing them.  There are HUNDREDS of games on fcrr.org, if not thousands! ...

Project Organization Phase 11: Class Library

There are a thousand websites out there that will help you organize your classroom library.  Most resource room teachers are in a tiny room and have a fairly small library to choose from.  I have a few group sets of books which I keep together on one bookshelf.  These are books that I use with whole groups and they are usually off limits for students to read on their own (in case I...

Project Organization Phase 10: Teacher Books

This is a pretty simple area but it's something that we haven't talked about yet.  My goal is to cover every area of your room.  First, gather all your teacher books.  Next, clear a spot for them.  They should be kept together so if you need to use one as a reference or to make copies you only have to look in 1 spot.  Once you have a space ready for your books, play with...

Follow Up Board

I was reading other blogs for some crafty classroom decorations and I came across a menu board.  It was pretty and decorated with different scrapbooking paper and embellishments.  I loved the concept and I'm thinking about making one.  It gave me the idea to make a Follow Up board for each building, kind of like the menu board.  Anything I need to follow up on gets written...

Project Organization Phase 9: Manipulatives and Art Supplies

Math manipulatives can be full of tiny pieces.  I bought a small 3 drawer rolling cart from Target to house my math supplies.  One drawer is for games and flashcards.  One drawer is for counters.  One drawer is for other manipulatives like clocks, snap cubes, fraction tiles, and place value blocks.  I bought dried beans and pasta to use as counters.  I dumped those into...

Project Organization Phase 8: Current Student Work

Congratulations!  You have organized areas of your room that are for you.  Now we are going to switch our focus to organization for your students.  Each of my groups has a white magazine file box (I call them "Cubbies").  Each student has a numbered folder (all the same color - I used yellow at one building and green at another - yellow and green are my districts colors). ...

Project Organization Phase 7: Future Work

This is an area I struggled with.  If you are like me, as you teach a lesson you see a skill that your students REALLY lack.  You copy some worksheets to help build that skill along with 100 other things and it all lands on your desk.  The piles begin again!  This is my biggest downfall with organization.  It took a while but I think I've figured it out.  In a previous...