Tackling the Supply Drawers

If your classroom is like mine it is probably short on drawer space.  I sometimes feel like Goldilocks when it comes to my classroom and its drawers.  I used to be in another room that had 3 drawers  1 small, 1 medium and 1 large.  I loved how deep they were, but really they were too deep.  Two years ago I moved rooms and thought WOW instead of 3 drawers I have 5.  The first were to deep and these are too shallow.  I was forever getting things caught when trying to open or close.  A few weeks ago I had had it and decided it was time to reorganize and contain the chaos with containers.  I have an obsession with plastic containers.  I'll post about that at some later date.

I'm only showing you a small amount of what I really have.  Many are in my drawers.

I began by taking everything out of the drawers and sorting it into my plastic baskets..  I had multiples of the same item in several drawers.

As I sorted it became clear to me that I did not need the 20 something boxes of #2 pencils.  I teach kindergarten and we use the big pencils.  I also didn't need the overhead projector bulbs I had been hoarding- I now have an Elmo.  Quickly the baskets were filling up with like items.  I also had a larger basket for items I no longer needed like the projector bulbs.  Once everything was sorted into the baskets, I started arranging them in the drawers.  The items I would need most often like glue sticks were placed near the front of the drawers  I made it so the baskets didn't have much room to shift about.  I think once I'm happy with this I will use velcro to hold them in place.

I had some leftover items from the drawers that I was able to place in the cupboard above.  It has been three weeks and so far so good.

Now it is your turn.

1. Look around for classroom for those unused plastic baskets.
2. Pick one set of drawers to reorganize.
3. Make a box for things to put back in the supply room and another box for things to give away
4. Pull the trash can over
5. Pull everything out and start sorting.
6. Once it is all sorted go through it and ask yourself, "do I really need 12 boxes of staples or 5 boxes of binder rings"
7. Don't forget to check the ink in those pens- no use keeping them if they don't work.
8. Now put the basket in the drawers and arrange them.  You may need to do it a few times to make everything just so.
9. Get rid of the stuff from steps 3.
10. Post a picture to show us your hard work.