Optimum Organization...maybe someday?!?

 Ahhh...an organization linky!  I am really striving to be organized but I have SO much work to do this summer in my storage closet and filing cabinets.  I plan to take pictures of that mess and then show you before and after pictures after it is done this summer!  

For now, I am linking up with two amazing ladies, Elizabeth at Fun in Room 4B and Kristen at Ladybug's Teacher Files for their Optimum Organization linky.  All the ideas I am sharing with you below are new organization techniques that I implemented this year.  Most of them have worked out great but I still need to tweak some too. :)

 You can read more about this hanging pocket chart here and more about the storage cart here.

Read more about the pencil containers here.

Read more about the editable schedule cards here.

My biggest organization disappointment was one of my summer projects that I made to keep my writing and reading conferences for Daily 5 organized.  I worked to make a divider in this binder for each student with pages to record notes for writing and reading conferences.  

Why did it disappoint me?  It was too large and cumbersome to carry everywhere and I found that the conferences needed to be fairly quick if I could get even close to fitting them in.  My plan this summer is to get organized again and use some sticker labels for individual conferences like this idea by Jivey at Ideas by Jivey.  I can carry around a clipboard and stick my notes from the label into my binder later!  This will be so much easier to manage.

I can hardly wait until summer to begin organizing even more areas of my classroom!  

It is in dire need!!

Tried It Tuesday (Save my Sanity Organizer)!!

 I am so saddened about the events in Boston.  

It is like a huge cloud hanging over our heads and my thoughts and prayers go out to all the families and friends who have loved ones affected by this tragedy.

We are on our fourth week of "Tried It Tuesday" and I love all the amazing ideas that bloggers are linking up!!  There are super talented educators linking up creative ideas that you will want to check out!

Thank you so much for linking up and for showing support by reading along or commenting:)  

<center> <a href="http://fourthgradeflipper.blogspot.com/"><img src=" http://i593.photobucket.com/albums/tt15/04fallingstar/3AM%20Blog%20Design/3am_triedittuesday_3_zpsd7a240d4.png" width=225 height=225 border="0" alt="Photobucket" /></a></center> Awesome linky button above designed by the talented Michelle at The 3am Teacher! What is 'Tried It Tuesday'? 1.  Write a post about any"thing" you have...TRIED (new or old)! 2.  Describe what worked and maybe what didn't work. 3.  Keep it simple and focus on one general topic.  You can link another idea next week:) 4.  Link your post back to this post.

My Tried It Tuesday:

File Organizer Pocket Chart

You would not believe how much the addition of this pocket chart has improved my organization sanity!!   I snagged it for under $15 at Amazon! It takes up no floor space and I have it hanging with thumbtacks pushed into a strip of cork at the top of my board.  There are three holes at the top of the pocket chart.  At first, I thought it wouldn't stay put, but it does! It holds an amazing amount of papers!!  Seriously, I wouldn't have believed it myself. As you can see, I have some pockets with multiple file folders.  There are 10 pockets total.  
Why has this little pocket chart made such a difference? It has saved my sanity because before I had a pathetic poor method for organizing the extra handouts for absent students or lost papers (sometimes "conveniently" lost:).   Background:  I keep extra copies of assignments on hand because when students lose an assignment, they receive a new one and have to start the assignment over.  The same goes with papers that needed to be corrected and are lost.  It really cuts back on how many papers are "lost" after the first month or so of school.   Every so often, I have students who chronically lose papers and they no longer have the privilege of getting a new one to write on.  They borrow an extra copy and write out the questions and answers on a separate paper:)   I consider myself a fairly organized person so I don't know why I didn't fix my system sooner!  I used to keep extra papers in a metal organizer on a shelf behind the door but it always ended up crowded and was difficult to find the copies there.   When I was looking, I was usually annoyed because I was spending MY time looking for another copy of a paper that one student "conveniently" lost  Although, I was determined that they would not get out of doing the assignment!   Now, I have all the extra copies arranged by subject in their own little file in this hanging pocket chart.  I just tell the student to look for an extra copy in the folder when they have lost a paper (much to their chagrin)!  Love it!!   There is plenty of room for some extra work on writing activities that are handouts.  I also have some extra math center activities here that won't fit in my drawer organizer. Isn't it amazing how one little change can make such a difference in your day? I hope you will link up one of your "Tried Its"!   You never know who may be inspired by it:)

Monday Made It (Laminator!! Yay!)

I am linking up again with Tara at 4th Grade Frolics Monday Made It!  This linky has really kept me motivated.  I love all that I am getting done!!  This week I did a lot of finding, stealing, borrowing, buying, printing, laminating, cutting, and adhering.  I guess when I put it that way, it kinda sounds like I made it!  Yep!
There will be many links posted below to my inspirations:)  Thank you to all these fellow bloggers!

I received my Scotch Laminator in the mail and everyone was right!  I DO LOVE IT.  It has become my best friend this past week:)  It was well worth the $30 to be able to laminate WHAT I want, WHERE I want, and WHEN I want.  Priceless!!

I finally figured out I had to feed the laminating pouch in the top (I tried feeding it through the bottom and wondered why nothing happened).  It took it right in and laminated pretty quickly!

Here it comes!

 I downloaded these Rules posters from 3rd Grade Thoughts who originally found them at The Polka Dot Patch.  I cannot wait to get them up in my room!

Next, I went on a laminating binge!  I got my Carson Dellosa owls for my door laminated...

I finally got the "WELCOME" letters laminated that I was inspired to make by 4th Grade Frolics (who got her idea from Mrs. Lee's Kindergarten).  I had my 5 year old hold them because I cannot bring my things to school yet...still waxing the floors:(

 For the ribbon, I just used my handy dandy scotch advanced tape glider and taped each circle to the ribbon.  If you look closely, you can see the tape on the back of this circle.

Back view of sign...

I laminated these ADORABLE owl subject headers from The Wise and Witty Teacher to use for my homework area.

Found these two great charts that I can hang once we do these lessons for the Daily 5 that I will be trying a modified version of in 4th grade this year.  I found this website (San Juan Unified School District) through Pinterest and they have a lot of Daily 5 resources.

These cute EEKK posters I downloaded from Kelli at Castles and Crayons.  Check out all her Daily 5 resources!

I (actually!) made these myself for my front board.  I will put magnets on the back of them and my teacher's helpers and math meeting helper will be changed daily below them.  The "recess" one is where I keep a list of students who owe work and stay back from recess that day to get caught up.

By the way, the lamination is nice and thick and I had no problems at all.  It is also the type that will be easy to write on with a wet erase marker.  My school has a cold laminator and the paper is funky.  It can't really be written on and I was worried about this laminator.  No worries!  I also just bought 200 laminating pouches at Sam's Club for $19 and change.

Next, I printed these Reading Response Labels for Interactive Journals from Rachel Lynette's TpT store.  I printed them on Avery 8160 and they didn't quite line up correctly, so then I printed them on regular paper and will cut them when I need to use them.

There were 42 prompts available to print and I just picked out about 10 to start with:

Then, I knocked off the sharpened/unsharpened pencils and Box Tops container on my to do list.  I have seen these all over the blogging world!  I started with 2 Folgers containers for the pencils and a taller container for the Box Tops.

I just wrapped each container in scrapbook paper and adhered it with my handy Scotch Tape Runner!  The cute labels are from Lil' Country Kindergarten.  

Back view of pencil holders...

Finally, I decorated this binder cover template to fit my needs.  The binder cover template is from Lyndsey at A Year of Many Firsts.  They are fully editable! Yay!

The only item that I used to keep in this binder (with a not-so-nice cover) was the record of books read by each student (independent reading chapter books).  I keep track of where the book is from (home, library, or teacher library), the date they finished the book, AR test score, and if the book was returned.  I don't have an elaborate way of checking out my teacher library books and this system works for me to check if students have checked out books.  Every student in my homeroom and ELA class has a tab.  

In addition to the form below, this year I will be adding the CAFE reading and writing conference forms for each student under their tab in this binder.  I also will put calendar and keeping track forms in the front of the binder.  Check back soon to read my blog post about this as I get more organized.  This is all new to me and I am nervous that I won't be able to keep up with the paperwork for D5 (or D3 in my case:)

The border is from the Hello Literacy blog.  If you would like a free copy of this handout to keep track of your students reading, leave me a comment with your email and I will send it to you!

I am looking forward to reading about all your great projects too!  See you soon:)