I made a few minor changes to the
Students' Materials Shelf a while back.
Since I decided the theme
of my changes this year would be "consistency," I swapped out the few
Sterilite shoeboxes to give my Math Manipulatives Area a cohesive look.
So I thought it would be a good idea to get
more lime green and aqua containers for this shelf.
I love the little Unitz crates from Staples,
so I thought I'd just get more of the same.
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The Before Photo |
Unfortunately, it appears they have been discontinued.
:(
My next dilemma was what to do with the larger
items, like rulers, hole punchers, tape dispensers and staplers.
I've never been sure how to house these, and
then I got a great idea:
paper trays.
I could create vertical storage and the kid
s
could take a whole tray with them when it was time to distribute them to
groups.
Unfortunately, that was not meant to be either. They're not tall enough, the rulers fell out
of them, and they sagged under the weight.
But other than that...
So I'm still not happy with my materials shelf
situation. If anyone could give me
advice in the comments below I'd be grateful!
On the other hand, I made a few positive changes.
I found some lime green baskets in Target's Dollar
Spot. They're not exactly what I wanted
since I can't stack them, but they're a good size for my highlighters, Sharpies
and scissors. I also found some tiny
striped boxes at Target that fit inside my wooden box to hold paper clips,
staples and erasers. That's a plus
because the paper clips could slide under the dividers in the wooden box;
hopefully this will contain them better.
And finally I found some cute pails, also in the Dollar Spot that I'm
not sure what to do with; I only found a use for one of them (holding my chart
paper markers). That plus some Frixion
pens on sale meant a successful shopping trip that day!
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The next improvement I made was to my mini trash.
It fits in with the theme with the help of a
bit of Duck Tape.
The mini trash was a
real success last year when it came to reducing sticky note wrappers and the
like being stuffed any old place on the shelf by kids who were too lazy to walk
15 feet to the barrel, haha.
Seriously,
my class this past year was one of my neatest ever and I think organization
tricks like this help.
Now it also fits
in!
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Another good use for the Duck Tape was to create a border on
the lip of each shelf.
Like the
bookshelf, this shelf is so old and worn it has given the kids and I
splinters.
So not only does the border
tie in with my color scheme, it will hopefully also prevent some nurse visits!
So this shelf is still a work in progress,
unfortunately. I'll check Pinterest, but if anyone can advise me
on the ruler, stapler, hole punch and tape dispenser situation I'd be
appreciative. I'm sure they are not going to stay balanced on top of the paper trays as shown below once the kids arrive!
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Update: Thank you to Kim from
Quintessential Lessons for a great solution to my ruler dilemma! Although a Pringles can is too tall to fit on my shelf, I could lay it flat if rolling wasn't such a problem. However I had on hand a rectangular prism shaped can (Bentley tea tin) that now fits in well thanks to some Duck Tape!

Still looking for ideas on how to stack the tape dispensers, hole punchers and staplers. Does anyone have a solution?
This is a great way to keep the classroom materials shelf organized! It looks neat and tidy and makes it easy to find what we need.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely concur with you; I had a similar experience when I was a student. While I was studying abroad, I was actually concerned about my homework, but I had no option to receive assistance. Lastly, a buddy sent me information about Assignment Services, which was useful.
ReplyDeleteOrganizing the classroom materials shelf can help create a more efficient and productive learning environment. Group materials by subject or theme, label containers clearly, and arrange items in an easily accessible manner. Consider using storage bins or baskets to keep materials tidy and accessible for students.
ReplyDelete