Fabulous Freebies to Help You Get Organized

One of my constant goals is to stay organized and beat back the mountain of papers that come along with teaching.  Every time a pick up a stack to sort through it, I seem to find papers that are as old as my teaching career.  I could just throw everything in the trash, but I have this problem where I feel the need to know what I'm pitching.  Then there are the papers I copy for every class and the papers I get back to grade and the papers I get from weekly meetings and the papers with my lists of things to do and so on and so forth.  Sound familiar?

Don't get me wrong, papers have not swallowed my classroom whole....yet, but beating back the prolific paper piles is a constant job.  Keeping organized so that the most important papers don't get tossed out with the excess takes time, attention and planning.  So, what do I do?  Here are a few things that I use--and a few things that I should start using--to help me be better organized.

1) I keep a small calendar with me at all times to record meetings and due dates throughout the year.  Free templates can be found at WinCalendar.

2) There are several places where you can save papers online.  Of course there is Google Drive, but there is also Evernote.  Both places allow you to save documents, notes and images.

3) Three must-have binders: plans and calendars, student information and substitute materials.  Check out this blog for more details.

4) I always have daily and weekly to-do lists.  I start each week by laying out the things that I need to accomplish.  I keep my to-do lists in a notebook, but there are also cute online templates.

5) The Adventures of Room 83 has a great blog entry about organizing papers, with ideas for how to categorize supplies and files.

6) Want dividers to categorize your important files?  Check out these cute binder covers.

7) And, my favorite...Scholastic has 100 organizing tips for arranging your classroom without paying a cents.

If reading over this blog for 30 minutes saves you five minutes a day throughout the coming school year, then it is time well spent.

Happy organizing!

Fabulous Freebies: Favorite Educational Pinterest Freebies!

I love using Pinterest to find new ideas for my classroom. It is a quick way to find new hands on activities and a way to follow other teachers and see what they are using in their classroom. My largest personal Pinterest board is my Free Lessons & Teaching Resources board that has more than 250 freebies! Here are some of my favorite pins that are absolutely free!

If you enjoy these freebies, follow me on Pinterest to find more fun lessons & teaching resources.

I like this multiple intelligence test that you can use in your classroom to see what type of learners you have in your classroom. This would be perfect for the beginning of the year and it's a great way to get to know students.

Construction Management has a great list of 100 engineering projects for kids! This could be a fun hands on learning experience and many of these could be incorporated into cross-curricular lessons.

Freeology has a wonderful collection of graphic organizers. Graphic organizers are perfect for any subject area. I always like them as well since I am a visual person. There are printables that are good for a wide variety of ages and subject areas here.

Find 50 free journal pages at Grace is Overrated. I was impressed with the variety of pages and activities listed on each one.

Do you have a favorite freebie from Pinterest? Leave the link to the pin below and share!

Fabulous Friday Freebies: Free Graphic Organizers!

Graphic organizers are a tool I regularly use in class. They appeal to my students and are an easy way to see and organize information. Here are some great free graphic organizers you can use in your classroom!

Super Teacher Worksheets has a huge list of graphic organizers that are ready to print and use. Follow the links to get  PDF versions of each sheet. Some are specific to certain subject areas such as language arts but others are adaptable to a wide range of subject areas.

Education Place has a list of more than 35 easy to print graphic organizers. Click on each to get a printable PDF for use in your classroom. I especially liked the Venn diagram that had lines on it to help students fit more into each circle.

Education Oasis also is a great resource for graphic organizers. Some are broken down into different categories to make it easy to find what you are looking for.

You can customize and design your own graphic organizers at Recipes4Success. Add your own title and instructions with an already made format makes creating your own design easy and quick.

Freeology boasts that they have more than 100 graphic organizers ready to use for teachers. There is a wide range for a variety of subjects and age levels so I think everyone could find something here!