Some Summer Organization

It has been WAY too long!  It has been great to have summer to relax and rejuvenate.  The highlight of the summer was definitely getting engaged to my best friend!  The big day is in December!  Now that I am headed back to work in a few days my mind is on school and I thought I would share a couple organizational ideas from this summer.

My hundreds, tens, and ones blocks used to be in a huge bucket and I would divvy them out each time we needed to use them in math.  In second grade we use these often (addition, subtraction, place value, double and triple digit addition and subtraction) and I decided that I wanted an easier way to pass these out.  Tupperware containers proved to be my perfect solution.  Now I will be able to easily pass out the Tupperware containers when we need to use the hundreds, tens, and ones blocks.  Not only that, but the students will be able to put pack them up and put them away easily. 

My students have pencil boxes in their desks with the things we use on a daily basis, including crayons for when they need to color.  For some projects however colored pencils are better and the students get excited about using markers every once in a while.  Since we don't use colored pencils and markers every day (or even close to every day), I created a basket with colored pencils and pencil sharpeners and a cup with markers for each table group.  When we need colored pencils or markers someone from each table group will be able to go get them (I like having in the cubbies pictured above because the kids can reach them and therefore get them and put them away).

Those are a couple of my organization projects from this summer.  It is nice to be teaching second grade for the fourth year! I can focus a little more on organization and other things that may help the year to run a little more smoothly. 

Good luck to all you teachers out there with the beginning of your school years!