The end of the school year is exhausting! Between report cards, field days, celebrations, and the overall excitement of summer break, many teachers think of “packing up” the classroom as a daunting chore. I enjoy cleaning up my classroom because I know I'm preparing for a fresh start for the following school year. In today's post, I'm sharing 4 tips for organizing and cleaning up your classroom at the end of the year!
Get help from your students
At the end of the year, there are so many things that need to be cleaned and organized. First, your students will LOVE to clean out their desks. I have them take everything out and we make a “take-home pile” and a “recycle” pile. Once the desks are cleaned out, students will put the take-home materials in their backpacks. The rest of the materials will go into the recycling bin. Then they get a disinfecting wipe to clean it all out.
Another thing my students LOVE to do is to help me organize center activities and manipulatives. I will pass out a bin of my math and word work manipulatives to a few students. Then they will go through to and take out anything that doesn't belong/anything that is broken. This is a huge time saver and the students enjoy taking ownership in cleaning up our classroom.
Store your bulletin board supplies together
Nothing is worse than coming back to school in August/September and not knowing where you put the letters for a specific bulletin board! Save yourself the headache and store your bulletin board display letters/designs in a ziplock bag! Write the name of the display on the bag. That way you can easily find it when you are setting up your classroom.
Don't be afraid to THROW IT OUT
Teachers are hoarders. Even if you don't think of yourself as one, teachers generally like to hold on to things just in case we may need it someday down the line… Well, I'm here to tell you that you probably do not need half of the things you are holding on to! Or maybe I'm just saying that because it's what I need to hear! The end of the school year is the perfect time to donate/throw out. Get rid of the things that you have been holding onto but haven't used in 1-2 years.
Clean up your drive
This year you probably had a VIRTUAL CLASSROOM as well as a physical classroom. If you already keep a neat “digital filing cabinet” (I'm jealous) then you probably don't need to spend too much time doing this. But if you're anything like me, you should probably spend some time organizing your Google Drive (or whatever you use to save your digital files). A messy Google Drive is a complete nightmare.
I started organizing my Drive by creating a folder labeled Resources. In that folder, I created subfolders for each subject and I organized the resources by month, skill, or however else I could categorize them. I know future me will be thankful when I don't have to search through hundreds of folders to find one thing!
Set yourself up for a successful Back to School
As I pack up my classroom, I'm also thinking about returning to school in September. What will I need? What can I do now to save me time during that crazy season of setting up my classroom/the first few weeks of school? Do your future self a favor. Dedicate a file folder, bin, drawer, etc. to all the things that you will need at the beginning of the school year. This is where I like to keep all my hard copies of activities like All About Me, Writing Folder Labels, First Day of School Writing Activity, 3 Star Coloring Lesson, and all other papers needed for the beginning of the school year. I even like to start making copies so that I'm all set for the next school year.
Use these quick tips and tricks to clean up your classroom! You'll be happy to return to an organized classroom in August/September! Let me know if you have any other tips and tricks I could add to the list!
