Tips for Getting Organized Over the Summer

With the extra downtime that the summer months bring, taking some time for professional development is never a bad idea. Use these suggestions to spend some time getting organized for the new school year.

1. Paperwork!

The first and arguably most important step to getting organized over the summer is tackling that messy paperwork that inevitably builds up from the past school year. By getting this organized and developing a system, you'll be sure to be better organized for the coming school year.

TeachHub.com suggest teachers tackle paperwork by diving paperwork into three well-labeled and sectioned off binders.

The first binder, of course, is The Teacher Binder. In this binder, includes schedules, lesson plans, meeting notes, and other important paperwork related to this.

The second is the Student Binder, which includes notes and portfolios from students, student goals, running records, etc.

Finally, the third binder is the Substitute Teacher Binder, which helps organize forms, student information, and need-to-know info so subs always have enough information available to best take care of your class when you're away.

2. Art Supplies

Grade Level: Elementary School

As an elementary school teacher, you are undoubtedly familiar with the feeling of chaos when art supplies aren't in order. Use these simple and cheap DIY ideas to get your art supplies in order for next year.

Wine Rack for Markers

BuzzFeed suggests using a wine rack and plastic cups to easily and cleverly store markers by color for the class. Find a cheap wine rack and some plastic cups, organize the markers by color and you're done! All you need to do is emphasize putting the markers with the color they belong to stay organized all year round.

Art Supply Tray

Use a muffin tin and plastic cups to make a fully functioning art tray in just a matter of seconds. Store paint brushes, scissors, colored pencils and any other art supplies you need in portable muffin tin trays that can be shared with students in your class. 

Mason Jars

Mason jars are trendy and cheap right now and serve as great storage containers for miscellaneous art supplies. Mason jars can be labeled and then used in your classroom to give art supplies a home base.

Supply Binder

For this method, you just need a binder, a hole punch, and some zip lock bags. Hole punch the zip lock bags and fill the binder with them for as many as you need to fit your makers, crayons, pencils, and other art supplies in one easy to reach place.

3. Lesson Inspiration

As a dedicated educator, you likely go about your days constantly seeing things you would like to integrate in your lesson, whether it be a magazine clipping, a documentary that caught your eye or a must-read book for you or your class. Use your smartphone- Notepad works best- to keep track and organize daily/weekly/monthly ideas so they're consolidated in one place and you don't let good ideas get away from not making a note.

Then, do some concept mapping to figure out to best integrate in your class. Being so organized and well-prepared will benefit everyone and you can get the best practice over the summer before the year starts.

Compiled by Nicole Gorman, Education World Contributor

06/08/2015