Optimum Organization

Dear Friends,

Optimum Organization

Do you love to organize your classroom?  Or hate it?  Or maybe it's a love-hate relationship?  Have you ever noticed that your students behavior is better when your room is more organized and less cluttered?  Is organizing always on your to-do list?   To get some great ideas, I am reading all the great links and linking up with Kristen and Elizabeth for the Optimum Organization Linky party.

My contribution is probably well known and well used - color coding and student numbers.  I know other people have blogged about numbering students, I do it as well and it works wonders for organizing student assessment and files.

This is my anecdotal records system.  The note cards are taped to a front cover of a recycled three-ring binder, bound with book tape along the sides.  Each card is numbered for a student.  I have one of these for each subject I teach.  I know everything should be trans-disciplinary, but our report cards are still organized by subject, so my assessment is as well.  

Yellow - Reading

Red - Writing/Spelling

Pink - Art

Blue - Math

Green - Units of Inquiry

Light Green - Personal and Social Education

Each Area of my classroom has the color coded sign. 

  

Then for a quick visual in my planbook, each block of time is color coded.  (Purple corresponds to all specialists classes) 

 The supply, book and math bins in each section are also color coded. 

 

These color-coded sticky notes help me to organize and label all the paper work in my student files. 

 

Above you can see some of the formative and summative assessment papers, including a Daily Reflection Sheet.  Notice all the work of a subject is clipped together and labeled with a color coded sticky note.  You can see the files below are numbered.  Using numbers means you don't have to be changing the labels each year.

Do you use color-coding or number systems?  I would love to hear your comments.  

Cheers,