Episode Summary
This episode covers key insights on effective classroom organization for kindergarten teachers. I discuss the importance of using visual labels to aid student independence and emphasize font readability and supply organization based on traffic flow and subject areas. I also explore strategies for managing shared materials, stressing the separation of teacher and student supplies and offering tips on efficient teacher resource organization. From classroom library organization by categorizing books and implementing labeled systems for easy access, to sharing practical advice on maintaining organization through individual bins and visual guides. I hope to help you aim to create a structured and efficient learning environment.
In this episode I share:
- Importance of Labels in Classroom Organization
- Organizing Classroom Layout and Materials
- Strategies for Organizing Classroom Library
- Importance of Individual Bins for Organization
- Using Photos for Maintaining Organization
Related Blog Posts:
- 7 Tips for Organizing The Classroom: Supplies
- The Kindergarten Must-Haves: Classroom Supplies and Materials
- 7 Tips for Thinking of your Classroom Set Up for Kindergarten
- A Proven Classroom Set Up for Kindergarten Independence
- 6 Tips for Setting Up a New Classroom
Resources Mentioned:
Connect with Zeba:
- Instagram – @kindergartencafe
- Facebook – @kindergartencafe
- Website – www.kindergartencafe.org
- Tik Tok – @kindergartencafe
Read the Transcript of the Episode
[0:00] Hey teacher friends, today we are going to talk about all things classroom organization. I’ve got a ton of tips for you, whether it’s a new classroom, a brand new classroom, or you just want to revamp your current classroom. Before we dive in, I just have a request to ask of you. I am planning out my 50th episode, which is kind of crazy to me that we’re almost at 50 episodes. And if you would take a minute to send me a voice memo on Instagram of what the podcast has meant to you this past year, what you’ve thought about it, how you felt about it, I would love to share your voice in the 50th episode and share, just show off all the awesome kindergarten teachers that are listening. And yeah, if you could do that, that would really be a big help.
[0:50] So consider sending that DM at Kindergarten Cafe with the voice memo. And in the meantime, let’s talk classroom organization.
[0:59] Music. come to learn classroom-tested tips and tricks and teaching ideas they can use in their classroom right away. way. I’m Zeba, creator and founder of Kindergarten Cafe, and I help kindergarten teachers with everything they need from arrival to dismissal in order to save time, work smarter, not harder, and support students with engaging and purposeful lessons. I’m here to cheer you on through your successes and breakthroughs and offer support and resources so you never have to feel stuck or alone. Ready to start saving time and reducing your stress all while using effective and purposeful lessons that students love? Let’s get started.
[1:02] You’re listening to the Kindergarten Cafe podcast, where kindergarten teachers
[1:48] Music.
[1:53] The first tip I want to give you for organizing your classroom is the power of labels, especially in kindergarten classrooms. Labels are incredibly important if they have visuals attached to them, because as we know, kindergartners most likely are not reading the label. So any label that you want the kids to read and be able to use for organization needs to have a picture, either a actual photo or a visual of what’s inside the container or the shelves. The labels are really helpful because it shows kids where the materials are going to go and helps them be independent in seeking what they need and also putting things away. way. And they’re also good to help as students are learning to read and they’re learning to write. It helps students to be able to use these words throughout the room. They know where to find them and it can help them with their basic beginning reading and writing skills as well. So everything that you want the kids to be able to access on their own independently should have a label on it.[
2:59] If you are looking for classroom labels, I do have a whole bunch of different options, and you can see all the different labels that I use in my room, and I have different options for the theme that they’re related to, but they’re simple and they have the picture attached, so that’s important. You also want to think about the font that you’re using with your labels, because sometimes the really, really pretty font and the cute font are not the best for kids to be learning to read on. They don’t know how to read cursive yet, so this is just a general good tip for any part of the classroom, but anything that has a label or is writing on it that you want the kids to be able to read or find really needs to have the simple font that they can use when they’re beginning to read and write. So after you’ve labeled everything, you’re going to want to figure out how you’re going to organize everything, how you’re going to organize the classroom so that the layout makes sense with your materials, with the traffic flow. So some things to think about out with the classroom layout is you want to put your classroom supplies in a way that makes sense given the traffic flow of the kids and when they’re going to be using those materials. So I like to organize sort of all my literacy materials in one area, math materials in another area.
[4:12] So that when it’s time for this project or math time, they know where they’re looking for that certain material. I have shared materials. So each table, the kids sit at a table, each table bin has a cup that’s for pencils, a cup that’s for colored pencils, a cup that’s for markers, a cup that’s for crayons. There’s also a bin in sort of the main space of the room where there are extra markers, colored pencils, crayons, pencils, because things happen. The pencils break, the markers dry out, you lose the cap, someone else has the red and you want the red. There’s a lot of reasons why you might want the extra materials available for the kids. And I like showing them those as a way to teach them that independent problem solving. In addition to a table bin that has all of those writing and drawing tools, they have a table bin that has all their folders. So they can go and either take the folder out or bring the bin to their table. And that way everyone can get their folder out at the table. And I have a separate bin that has all their literacy materials, so their writing folder and their book bag, because I only need that for the literacy time of day.
[5:21] So when you’re thinking of where you’re going to be putting these shared materials, you want to think about the traffic flow. So for example, where I have all of my table bins, it can get crowded if everyone is going there to look for their folder at the same time. So what I say is I call one person from each table and I have them bring over their table bin to their table, or I say, go get all of the blue folders and bring them to your table. That helps ease the traffic flow. and so if you know that you’re putting things in an area where it’s going to get traffic-y if you’re calling everyone at once then make sure to not call everyone at once so you can mitigate that traffic flow issue by the way that you dismiss people to their tables and send people off to the next part of your project. But I do think it makes sense to put all the content areas materials together in one area space so that it sort of becomes like the the literacy area, the math area. It’s just known that when I’m doing this activity, I know I will need to get stuff from over here. You also want to think about, are you putting materials that you want the kids to independently access in a spot that they can reach?
[6:30] Really, anything that the kids can reach, anything that’s at their level, at their eyesight, should be fair game for them. If you put something, and I have done this, if you put something at their level that you don’t want them to be touching without your support or help, well, guess what? They’ll find it and they’ll start getting into it. And it’s usually when you’re not there and then it’s a mess. So learn from my lesson and don’t put things out at their eye level where they can easily reach unless you really do want them to be independently accessing those materials.
[7:02] Your teacher area should be in its own separate little area or behind cabinets, things so that it’s clear to the kids, these are the teacher’s tools, not my tools. You know, it’s better if they can be behind a cabinet or behind your desk or something so that it’s clear to the kids this is not for them. For organizing my teacher supplies, I do like to have a little shelf behind my desk so that I can sort of keep a clear desk and just put the materials that I need sort of on like a to-do shelf or like my sub tub is behind my desk or my plan my extra plan books from last year they’re behind my desk like things that I might need occasionally they’re within reach but they don’t have to clog up my desk so I do like having them behind me and then in addition I have cabinets where I put all of the curriculum materials and I’ll just take out unit by unit what I need. So that will also go behind my desk so that I know, okay, I’m in unit one for math. That book is behind my desk. That’s where I can find it. Or, you know, the math one was always within reach because we had a new curriculum this year. But for reading and writing, I’ve done that curriculum so many times now that that book I kind of just had next to my teacher chair on the rug so I could pull it out if I needed to look at something quickly before a lesson. But generally, I knew what I was doing. I didn’t need to have such constant access to it.[8:30] Let’s talk a little bit about the classroom library. I get a lot of questions about how to organize the classroom library, and there’s a lot of different thoughts and feelings about this. So I will just tell you what I do. Do I know if it’s the exact right, 100% correct way to do it? I mean, there’s just so many different ways and philosophies to do it. So I think you have to take all the research and take what people are saying and at the end of the day, do what’s best for you and your students. So the way I organize my classroom library is I have a shelf of leveled books and decodable books. So I have sort of the first shelf is all for the beginning of the year. The second shelf is for the middle of the year. And the bottom shelf is for the end of the year or my more advanced readers. I do bands of leveled text that are organized by topic. So the kids are looking through to find books that they enjoy based on sort of the shelf. So I can say, like, pick any books from this top shelf that you want. This one’s all about nature. This one’s all about people. And what I’ve done is it’s actually a band of level A and B, whereas the middle shelf is a band of C and D. And then the bottom shelf is E and F, G and H, and then I and J in their own little bins. But again, they’re organized by topic. So they’re organized by series we love, fiction, nonfiction, stuff like that. Silly stories. That’s a fun one for C&D.
[9:55] But mixed in with that, I also have decodable books. And those I tend to give my students more when I have more decodable books. I give more decodable books, especially at the start of the year. I focus more on that than I do the levels A and B, because as I’ve done a lot of learning this year and the previous year, levels A and B really aren’t decodable a lot of times. They’re just very predictable text with pictures that match the words. So I’ve gone through and sorted out trying to get rid of the most harmful books like that, where it’s just literally teaching kids to guess based on the picture. I’ve tried to find the books that are the most simple language, but it is hard in those earlier texts. So that’s why I definitely give my students more decodable books, but I don’t have enough to really fill up their bag. So I mix in some of those. I have them mix in some of those A and B books that I know will be good practice for sight words and some simple words as well throughout the book.
[10:52] So that’s one shelf I have. One bookshelf is just those leveled text mix-in bands with topic and genres bins. I have a whole other shelf that’s broken down into like favorite story books, fairy tales, nonfiction, some of the favorite authors like Mo Willems or Pete the Cat. I have a ton of those books, so they get their own section in the bookshelf. And so I’ll let kids Kids take a book or two here for their book bags, but they’re really not reading these books independently yet. But these books, I let them read at any point during playtime or rest time, any kind of downtime. I’ll let kids take a book from here one at a time and then put it back. I have another shelf. It’s like a bench on the rug area, just because I ran out of space at my library and I kind of like having the bench in my meeting area. And that has teacher favorites, a whole bunch of Magic School Bus and Arthur books that I have, and then my favorite authors has a whole section. So those are books that I have multiple books by the author would fit in there. So the Good Egg, The Bad Seed, those all are in there.
[12:02] Laura Numeroff, Eric Carle, Oliver Jeffers, The Click Clack Moo series, all of those, They’re all in there in that section. And then additionally, I have a book display that has the monthly rotating books
[12:18] that I put out on display for the kids. Now, the way I organize these books is I have little storage bins. I think I got them on Amazon that I fit all of my monthly books inside the bin. So I can just grab the September bin, put out the books on display, and then I just put them back in the bin when the month is over.
[12:36] One key strategy for your classroom library organization is if you have labels with pictures and words for the kids to organize, they have a really hard time remembering where they took the book from and they’re not really reading the labels, right? So the best thing you can do is have a matching picture sticker on the book so that way they can match the picture with the label of where it goes. It’s not a foolproof system, but it helps an insane amount to have the kids be able to just find the label and put it away correctly. And you do have to teach them how to do this, but it’s so much easier than just remember where you got that book from and put it back. But this is a project that takes a lot of time on your end to get it set up. So I didn’t tackle this project until, heck, I’m still adding stickers to books and this is going into year 11. So it is a big undertaking, but I think it’s well worth it.
[13:30] So back to the general classroom organization organization, tools, and ideas. In addition to the labels, you really want everything to be in individual bins. This helps the kids be able to take the bin to their table or walk around and let’s say pass out the glue sticks to everyone and put it back away appropriately. But it just helps keep everything organized so everything’s in a bin, everything has a place, everything has a label.
[13:57] Even in my cabinets and things, I try to keep things in bins or behind my teacher area, try to keep things in bins so that I can grab the bin, take it down and really look through and find what I need, as opposed to trying to search through an entire shelf of, you know, things that go really far back deep and, you know, not sure what goes in the back there. The bin helps, so you could take it down and really look through everything.
[14:20] And I try to put materials together that make sense in the bin. One idea for maintaining organization for the kids, if there’s something in particular you want organized or put away a certain way, is to take a picture, take a photo of the area exactly the way you started the year out as and how you want the kids to put it away each time. And the photo will be the visual cue for them for how exactly it’s supposed to be put back the correct way. Of course, kids don’t just do this automatically. This is something that has to be explicitly taught for them and they have have to practice, just like any other routine in the classroom. So as you are organizing your classroom and setting it up for the year, remember the key tips here are labeling everything with a picture, putting like items together, considering the flow and the traffic of the classroom.
[15:13] And remembering to explicitly teach students the organization systems that you want them to use, knowing that they won’t just automatically know that they will have to be taught those systems and held accountable to them by routinely practicing them and reviewing them with the students throughout the year. Let me know which strategy you can’t wait to try this year. And maybe send me a picture. Tag me on Instagram at Kindergarten Cafe showing me your classroom organizational systems. And if you’ve made it this far, I just want to say thank you for bearing with me. I had a bit of a cough, a bit of a tickle. I don’t think my voice is coming out the best that it has. So thanks for bearing with me. The quote of the day relates to organizing. Your classroom often involves purging your classroom, especially if you’re inheriting an old classroom. This kind of relates to that. So a first grader outside a recess turned to me and said, Miss McGibbon, I found a file outside on the playground. Not a getting out of prison file, like a computer file.
[16:15] To this day, I still don’t know what kind of file that is that they found or how they, on earth they know what a getting out of prison file is or what that would be to them. But yeah, so what you never know what you can find when you’re organizing your classroom. room. My first year teaching, I found a floppy disk. That was pretty impressive, I thought. So yeah, I hope you enjoyed these tips. And please consider leaving a review to help spread the word of the podcast and sharing with a friend. Thank you so much.
[16:43] Music.
[16:49] Thanks so much for listening to the Kindergarten Cafe podcast. Be sure to check out the show notes for more information and resources, or just head straight to kindergartencafe.org for all the goodies. If you liked this episode, the best ways to show your support are to subscribe, leave a review, or send it to a friend. I’ll be back next week with even more kindergarten tips. See you then.