27th Day: Color-Coded Boxes for Storing Materials

Well, if you've read any of my other posts, you'd think I have some serious OCD tendencies. And you would be right! Oddly, these very tendencies keep me only half organized. I like to have things organized, but that takes a long time. So, often, I end up in this terrible cycle between hyper-organized and completely chaotic--or, if we're working on a positive spin that day: "awaiting organization."

When you have been teaching for nine million thirty years, you accumulate a lot of stuff. I honestly think that happens because we often have so little, we will take anything we can get. If it is not a continuous process of purging, you end up with what most teachers experience all too quickly: Materials Overload!

In an effort to keep things at least "categorized," I have turned to "the colored bin system." {Insert major shout out to my friends, Office Depot and DJ Inkers clip art!}

I know, without using much brain power, that if I need to find the books, activities and materials for teaching about decimals, there is a good chance they will be in a blue box.  Math materials always usually are supposed to go in the blue boxes. When all is right with the universe, you might even find those items in a labeled box, probably something with "decimals" on the label.

Imagine the opening to a scary movie... "Da da da... What you are about to see may be shocking. You may wish to avert your eyes..." If I showed you my garage, you would hear screaming! As I have chronicled before, that space remains less-than-organized. But in the midst of the tumult, you will find some gems of organization... all thanks to those covered bins!

So, here's a bit of evidence to show my system. It is definitely a work in progress. If all goes well, I will have everything in place in a few years... right before I retire!

I took a picture of two boxes from each "collection." I'll leave it up to your imagination to determine how many more boxes are not photographed. Here goes nothing..

Science materials...

Math Materials...

Writing materials...

Reading materials...

Oh, how I wish everything was put away and that I could find anything that I needed just by peeking into a colored box. Alas, that is not true. There is more than one bin labeled like this...

And, as of this summer, there's a new bin in town...

So, that's my system! As long as things make it to the right colored bin, I have half a chance of finding them. And, even with the attempt to go paperless, there are still rock samples and props and treasured picture books to support learning. In other words, there may WILL always be stuff to organize and store!

How do you keep your materials organized? Any tips or tricks that you have found useful to ensure that you find everything you need?