A Peek Into My Closet

My absolute favorite blog posts are ones with lots and lots of detailed and close up pictures of classroom set-ups and organization systems. With the year coming to a close I'm finding myself thinking a lot about these systems as I get the room ready for summer. Anytime I need to pack things up after finishing a unit or topic, I try to think about what will be the most helpful to me at the end of the year when I'm worried about finding boxes and tubs to store everything. Why pack everything twice? So here's a peek into how I keep my closet clean, organized and accessible. Enjoy the pictures all my fellow photo-geeks!

Here's a head-on view of my closet. I should preface by saying that I moved into this room after having a closet twice this size... THAT was fun. 

I ordered this my first year of teaching to use as student mailboxes. At that time the school was bursting at the seams and they didn't have a set of mailboxes for me. Now that I have real mailboxes, I like it much better as a place to store copies, forms, and sets of emergency worksheets in case of lesson failure :P

Bottom shelves. We totally get jipped on shelf space. Two shelves are perpendicular and over lap, so you can't put anything to need to get to easily on the inside corner or you will be constantly unstacking the shelves. I tried to move the main shelf over to where the pink tubs are, but they are bolted into the wall.

Bottom Shelves: Office stuff (envelopes, file folders, etc.)

2nd Shelf up: Reading Assessments (DRA2 kit, PALS kit, Progress Monitoring forms). 

Top 2-3 Shelves: Mostly curriculum based boxes. These clear Sterilite bins from Target are my FAVORITE. I love how the purple clips snap the lids on, and how nicely they stack. In the beginning of the year, I arrange the boxes according to when I will need them. After I finish a unit, I move the box to the tippy top shelf so I can move something else down to eye level for easy access.

These little shoe box sized bins hold a variety of items I may need on a limited basis. I have bins for borders, yarn, streamer paper, glittter/sequins, note pads, pipe cleaners, etc. The bins in the "no man's land" corner are things I usually only need at the beginning or end of the year.

In the brown cardboard box I store all my pocket folders. I always take them out of the boxes when I order and arrange them by color. That way I don't have to go rifling through all the boxes of assorted colors to find what I need.

I did tidy up just a tad for this photo shoot but I try to keep the closet looking like this all year long. It makes life so much easier. So often at my school I see closets that make me want to hyperventilate. You know the ones I'm talking about... The ones with so much stuff on the floor the teacher can't even close the door! Yikes!  I am always surprised at how little is actually in those closets. It may not look like a lot, but there is a TON of stuff in my closet. You'd be surprised at how little space things take up when they are put away purposefully and organized.