One thing that gets me through the last weeks of the school year is looking ahead. Instead of counting down the days – I start planning for the next school year with my 10 end-of-year classroom organization tips!
These are the 10 things I do right now that will help me get a jumpstart on next year and possibly give me the title of “Most Organized Teacher“!
Table of Contents
1. Clean and Organize
Enlist the help of your responsible students to clean and organize your cabinets and drawers. You will be surprised at how enthusiastic they will be to help! Plus, it makes them feel so useful and important! This is a great time to use organization tools to help contain everything next year. Dollar stores and Target Dollar Spot are great places to find dividers for your drawers and cabinets.
2. Centers
My centers tend to get pretty worn out and unorganized by the end of the school year. Let your helpers clean out center tubs, restock materials, and pack them away for you.
3. Purge Old Files
This is a job for you. Clean out and purge your files. Get rid of anything you haven’t used in 2 years. Grab a label gun and make beautiful, uniform labels, so that you can find everything you need quickly. Your back-to-school tired teacher will thank you!
4. Sub Tub
What is a Sub Tub? It’s the emergency substitute plans you have if you cannot come to work and have no time or opportunity to write lesson plans. Gather up extra materials and activities you may have copied for this school year but never used. Place these in your Sub Tub. Write out a lesson plan to accompany each activity. Prepare an emergency information page, a placeholder for your class list, schedule, who to ask list, and a school map. In August – all you will have to do is add a class list! This is one of those tasks that is a huge pain during the back-to-school season. You will be so relieved to have this ready to go!
5. Classroom Management Plan Update
This is the best time to evaluate your current classroom management plan and organizational systems. Look at what worked and what didn’t. What better way to start the new school year than to have your systems in place? Here’s a FREE Classroom Procedures Teacher Resource that will help you evaluate and formulate these new classroom management structures. If you want to learn more, I explain How to Write Procedures That Create a Safe and Respectful Classroom in this post.
6. Back to School Orientation and Open House Materials
Back to school is a few months away, but….there are tasks you can complete now that will make that time so much more manageable. Update and copy any materials you know you will want for Back to School Orientation/Open House. Parent information sheets, student interest surveys, your syllabus, classroom management plan, etc. If it can be done ahead of time – do it now!
7. Welcome Back Goodie Bags
If you give your new students a goodie bag at Back to School Orientation/Open House, why not prepare those right now? My bags included pencils, erasers, bookmarks, and usually some type of candy. I use cellophane bags tied up with a pretty ribbon. It’s such a positive way to start the school year and eases those meet-the-teacher jitters! For you – it’s really nice to be able to unpack those ready-to-go goodie bags during the busiest time of the school year!
8. First Week Plans
Prepare your first week’s lesson plans. Get all the copies made and place everything in one place. Check that off your list!
9. Plan Your Read Alouds
Plan out your read-aloud for the first two months of school. I like to read some of my favorites mixed in with class and character-building texts. This gives the students a nice variety and helps create a community of learners and readers.
10. Classroom Supplies
What are some classroom supply items that your school or district gives you for your classroom? Maybe it’s folders, notebook paper, copy paper, pencils, tape, staples, etc. Now is a great time to list what you will need for the next school year. If you can fill this order now – do it! If your school makes you wait until August – no problem – you are ready!
I promise if you try to do these 10 end-of-year classroom organization tips – next year will start out so smoothly!
To help you get ready for this – grab this really cute teacher checklist that you can use right now!
If you don’t have time right now – save this post to one of your Teacher Pinterest Boards for later!
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