Organizing Your Files and Centers!!

I'm so excited and privileged to be involved in the first ever Bright Idea Blog Hop.  I can't wait to read and see what all of these amazing bloggers have in store to share.  :)  I wanted to share with everyone a small change I made in my classroom from last year to this year and have LOVED it!

How I file my papers:

I used to do the 'normal' - place my files in hanging file folders.  But what ended up happening??  Files would fall and empty into the bottom of the cabinet.  Files would get so big it hurt to pick them up.  Files would NEVER stay in order as much as I wanted or needed them to.  Solution?  Binders!

They... are....amazing!!  They never get messy, out of order, too big - should I go on?  I didn't take a picture of the inside, but I bet you can guess what that looks like - papers!  I use tabs to organize the papers even more inside the binders.  These all stay right behind my desk and are an arms reach away when I go to plan!  

I also made a few other organizational changes and I fell in love with.  I have a LOT of games/activities/etc and could never find a way to organize it all in a way that I liked.  So this summer, I created this...

Each basket contains the games/centers for the particular topic that's labeled on the front.  So when I'm looking for a center on a specific topic..  BOOM!  It's that easy!  

 I loved the idea so much I did it with all of my teaching books!  The books are right next to the center bins so its all right there ready to be picked!

It take just seconds now to find what I need.  Other teachers love it to.  They call me their own personal 'teacher store'.  They love know that they can walk in and find exactly what they need!  

It's the little changes that we can make that help make our life and our routines a lot easier.  I hope you enjoyed the tip from today and find many more in the hop!  

Ready to HOP on?  Make sure to check out Christina Bainbridge's post.  She's posting about an amazing review game that the kids will all LOVE!  Or check out the linky below to check out topics that interest you!