Saturday, January 7, 2012

I don't like messes...

Is that a word?  Anyways I am quite the neat freak.  When I tell my friends that my house is messy, they say "oh, that just means you have a few neatly stacked piles on your table."  Aww man, they're right.  

When I moved into my classroom 3 years ago, as a long term sub, it was a MESS.  The teacher that was there before me, was very sick unfortunately.  I never met her, but it seemed that she was a very good teacher.  And, also, somewhat of a hoarder.  There was so much stuff in that classroom.  Okay, I thought, I can handle this.  I like to clean!  WRONG.  My challenge that year was that we didn't have a contract, so we could only get to school 15 minutes before the kids did and had to leave the building 15 minutes after they did.  And we couldn't go into our classrooms on non-school days.  CA-RAZY!  Here are some pictures of my first day three years ago:

Sooo many worksheets.  I almost never use worksheets in my classroom. 

This one is a little blurry, but the kids cubbies were a mess! (Yes, that area is where they were supposed to put their backpacks, lunch boxes, and coats.  Wait, wa-??)

So in the past few years, I've conquered the bookshelves and the cubbies.  I'll post my "after" pictures soon.  But now I just have one more area of attack.  These haven't bothered me quite as much since they are behind closed doors.  But here are my closets:

 Yeah, these doors don't even close all the way.

These next two, I started to conquer but got a little overwhelmed (and ran out of time).  So much valuable space and materials!  Must. Clean. 


My goal was to do them this past summer, but they tiled my classroom and no one could tell me when they were going to be done and when I could get into my room.  Apparently they finished them 2 days before school was supposed to start.  Needless to say, I wasn't able to get in to my room to work on them.

But now, thanks to:

I will now be cleaning my closets!  I've needed some motivation to get it done.  On Monday, I'm starting with the construction paper closet.  I think that will be the quickest one to do and the one that desperately needs it!  Any suggestions on how to organize it?  I was thinking plastic shelves or boxes so that I could get to all of the construction paper easily.

7 comments:

  1. Oh my word...I can't imagine only being able to get there 15 minutes before the kids and leaving 15 minutes after...that is crazy! What I have done in the past to organize construction paper (and it looks like you could too based on the closet) was to hang it in a sweater hanger. I have a picture, but it's with printer paper. The picture also shows how I'm housing construction paper this year.
    Setting Up the Room

    You could maybe put large construction paper in the area that houses all of those worksheets (yikes!). I agree, I rarely use worksheets too! Hopefully that helps. You definitely have your work cut out for you, but if you're super neat I know you'll tackle it all :) Good luck!

    Living A Wonderful Life

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  2. wow! Yeah...I don't like messes either - and it was really hard when I had an intern who wasn't like me...BUT I think I converted her...lol. By the end of the internship she was putting color labels on my construction paper drawers in the pod.
    I'm a but of an OCD person when it comes to organization though..lol
    The Teachers’ Cauldron

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  3. I'm a new follower! and thanks for the award :)

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  4. Good for you Sara! (And thanks again for the award!) One of the benefits of teaching year round and moving classrooms every 9 weeks is that you have to stay super organized. Although don't look inside my two big rolling carts, they aren't exactly neat. :)

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  5. Oh... you poor thing. I think I would have a heart attack!
    Remember... baby steps - it's got to be overwhelming.
    Good luck.
    ♥ Dragonflies in First ♥

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  6. Those worksheets make me want to cry!! Good for you for doing your best to make everything better. :)

    Marvelous Multiagers!

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  7. Glad to find another 2nd grade blog! And one who is also doing the Clutter Free Challenge :)

    Haley
    followingoptimism.blogspot.com

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