After Many Requests

March 9, 2012

I’ve had many requests to share about how I organize my Treasures materials with all the games and pieces. Since we had a teacher workday on Tuesday, I took some pictures of how I am organizing everything.
The Target dollar spot is really helping me with my organization  I found these pocket folders in the dollar spot in several colors so I bought a few. I am going to use the small one to organize my vocabulary cards, high frequency word cards, and standards correlations for each story. Each week goes in a different pocket.
The larger one is for games and game pieces that go along with the week. All the game pieces that I’ve laminated and cut out go in the pockets for the story.

I had this perfect organizer that I got a few years ago. The large and small pocket folders fit perfectly in the spaces. We only have 6 units in the Treasures series so I’m using the other spaces for math and unit resources.
I put all of my big charts and activities in a laundry hamper. They usually fit perfectly in here and are pretty easy to find. I used to store them in a cabinet but I had a hard time finding what I needed. This is working well. 

I keep the hamper right beside my large rolling cart that I use for carpet time. If I need something fast, it’s right there.

I also found these teal fabric cubes at Target in the dollar spot. I grouped all my resource manuals together so it would be easier to find them. I plan on going through them and sorting them but I haven’t gotten to that yet.

I have a notebook of resources that I use often. I place these pages in the clear page protectors so I can just copy them through the plastic and put them back in the notebook. We use Scoot all the time in my class so this one gets lots of use.

I organize everything for each day in this organizer from Lakeshore. It is quite handy and helps me find things easily. You could do the same thing with the plastic tubs from Target that are $2.50 each. That would be much cheaper than this item.
I have a bulletin board that helps me organize the Daily 5. We actually only have time to do 3 choices plus Meet with Teacher.  My schedule has had to change many times this year due to kids being pulled out for groups. Our state has a new law starting next year that students who don’t pass the TCAP in 3rd grade must be held back if there is no history of interventions. So my group now will be the first ones that affects so we are working hard to make sure that doesn’t happen. I have over 2 hours when someone is out of my room.

 On the pages with the animals, I have removable Post-it notes for each reading group. If I move someone out of the group, it’s easy to change the names in each group.

On our Daily 5 board, the choices and group names are attached with Velcro so it is removable. I know that Daily 5 is all about choice but my kiddos this year just couldn’t handle choosing. I was spending too much time redirecting when I should have been doing reading groups so we went to a uniform choice for their reading group. They still have an element of choice in what they choose to read and write. I also have AR as part of the rotations because we don’t have any other time to do it during the day. This way, they all aren’t trying to take a test at the same time.

I organize my reading group materials in the $2.50 bins from Target. My kiddos use these for their book boxes and I had a few extra that I could use for reading groups. This way, if I am out, it is easy for the sub to find materials for the groups and I don’t misplace the books or their papers.
 I hope this helps! I would be glad to answer any other questions that you may have.

On another note, I was one of the winners of Christina Bainbridge’s 1500 follower giveaway and I got this great Ocean themed pack from her. It is adorable and will be really handy next year. You can check it out by clicking on the image below.

Also, don’t forget to enter my linky party about end of the year writing ideas. I would love to see what you do and how to organize your students’ writing. Have a great night!

16 Comments on “After Many Requests

  1. Thanks for sharing! I love to see how teachers organize their room 🙂 I've also hit the Dollar Spot, as well as Dollar Tree for organization materials (esp. since Target switches over now and then). I LOVE using book boxes (original ones were from Really Good Stuff, then when I need to add, I hit Target now!) for my students and found, when my grade level duplos units that it's a great way to organize the papers and keep them from stacking up everywhere! 🙂

    I really like your idea about using the fabric bins for teacher books/resources. Very cute and it looks very nice as well! Thanks again! 🙂

  2. Thank you so much for sharing your organization! I'm in my second year of teaching and I'm working on getting everything just right! I'm sure I'll still be doing this 10 years from now 🙂 I did want to ask you, how do you use Treasures with Daily Five? I REALLY want to implement small guided reading groups next year (because my school currently doesn't and I'm very eager to get it going) but I'm a little fuzzy on how to do implement it with Treasures 🙂 Thanks for all of your help!

    1. Hey Briawna! I just started using the Daily 5 this year so it's still a work in progress. For the Daily 5, we only do work on writing and read to self. I tried to do read to someone but my kids this year couldn't handle it. I was constantly breaking up fights. Anyway, I have 4 reading groups. During the time when I meet with them, the other kids are doing one of the rotations. I spend about 15-20 minutes with each group so that gives the other kids plenty of time to get things done. Feel free to email me with any more questions or for more clarification.
      swimmingintosecond@att.net

  3. Thanks for the organizational tips. I keep changing my methods and hope to "get it right" someday! We have Treasures too but a MUCH older version, I guess because nothing correlates with your units. 🙁 I have hanging file folders for each story. I also have a similar system for each day of the week, but use those stackable side-loading letter trays.

  4. LOVE your blog! I am new to blogging. How did you get the cute title at the top of your blog? I have been trying to do something like this, but I am unsure.
    Check out my blog if you want. Like I said I am new…only 3 posts new. 🙂
    Spoutinabout2nd.blogspot.com

  5. Great ideas!! I am always looking for ways to organize my centers and projects. I plan on implementing Daily 5 next year, so I'm taking note of all ideas I can get my hands on!! Love your blog, so cute! I am your newest follower!!

    Corinna

  6. I have those same organizers from Target for my Treasures spelling and vocabulary cards! 🙂 Great minds think alike, I guess!

    Thanks for sharing your ideas! I can always use more organization tips!

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