The Chronicles of a Veteran Kindergarten Teacher

Today I thought I would share some of my classroom organizational tips for teachers. For the rest of you, I will end this post with a little classroom funny. Before I begin, I want to wish my beautiful daughter Katey a Happy Birthday! She is 21 today! I love you sweetheart!

For this post, I thought I would share with you how I  organize my classroom lesson plans. I know we all have our methods, but for those of you who are interested, this is the way that works for me. I put each week in a notebook and label the week with a tab. Next, I put all ideas, papers, etc. behind the week so that I have easy access to it. There are generally 3-4 weeks in a notebook.

I keep all of the notebooks in a bookcase close to my kidney table. I do not have a desk because I want the

maximum  amount of floor space  available for the children to use. I have long rectangular storage boxes that hold instructions for projects or samples of crafts for each month. I will add that picture tomorrow as I forgot to take one today. If you would ever like me to share a unit or lesson plan with you, just let me know. I am happy to do so. I will also make a copy of any activities that you would like and send them as well along with instructions.

 I also keep all my lesson plans on the computer by week. I do the same with my newsletters. Every year the class makeup will change but I have a skeleton curriculum map and can change my plans to fit the needs of my students.

I also take pictures each year to put in a book I call "The Wonder Year". I mentioned it in an earlier post. Each child writes a sentence for the month and we post a large picture on the page under the sentence. It really helps to set up files for each activity. For example, once we take a field trip, I label the folder field trip pictures. Then I set up a folder for each child within the main folder.
 I keep a stack of each child's name handy so that as we complete an activity, I have a checklist to ensure that I don't miss anyone.

I will close with a little classroom chuckle. We share a bathroom with the kindergarten class next door. One day a few weeks ago, I was working with a small group of children when one child asked if we could hear singing. No one else heard it, so we continued with the game we were playing. Now, the kidney table I use is next to the bathroom wall. All of a sudden, it sounded like a young Elvis Presley was belting out a tune at the top of his lungs from inside the bathroom. My entire class got quiet and listened. Then we all broke into laughter at the same time. Meanwhile, the singing continued with our little American Idol wannabe still singing at the top of his lungs. I went over and knocked on the door and asked whoever it was to please stop singing.  The singing immediately stopped. Evidently the child had been oblivious to the fact that he could be heard. I am not really sure what it is about bathrooms that causes one to break into song, but we haven't heard a peep since that day.