15 Ways For Teachers to Get Organized For the Beginning of the School Year

All teachers need a user-friendly system to help stay on top of the endless marking, checking and workpages. Plan as thoroughly as you can and if you don't already have one, develop a system of organization. It's truly amazing how much paperwork and marking goes into the first year. It's easy for a new teacher to feel overwhelmed and confused. Try to avoid these initial feelings by planning your lessons ahead as much as you can. Rely on a system that is easy and user friendly. Consider these tips when organizing or opening your classroom for the fall semester.

Remember, being well organized and having well prepared lessons are also important to having a well-managed class.

Grow Calendar 2011

1) Have a computer backup plan. Purchase a flash drive, a hard drive, or consider creating a google documents account.

2) If you use a paper-based program, prepare everything you need for a smooth entry into the school year. Prepare important calendar dates; wait until your class is established to copy in the students. If you've working with an electronic system, decide on the grade weights or averaging system and establish the formula in the software.

Make sure you have a storage plan.

3) Have a plan for storing handouts like a stacking/filing system and a specific location for finding those stacks. Keep only 1 master copy of each file and recycle last year's bulk copies. Make sure you have a copy on your computer!

4) Prepare a make-up work plan and location that is ready for action by the first day of school. You never know when you'll need it!

5) Choose a location for this year's paperwork. If you keep an individual student file for each student, have an organizational system for each class. If you keep a separate file for each course or section, organize by that system too. Try really, really, really hard to have an empty file cabinet drawer for this year. You can at least lay the papers down in the file cabinet and close the drawer, even if there's no time or perhaps need to file in folders.

6) Old pictures and newspaper clippings tend to yellow and turn brittle. Laminate colorful pictures and recycle the rest. Libraries are a great place to donate unwanted textbooks and old readers that students no longer need.

7) For teachers in a staff teaching the same grade(s), a communal file or folder can be helpful for quick and easy access of workpages. Again, these should be divided into skill-sets and subjects.

Organize your own supplementary resource material. This can be a teacher's checklist that you consult and use frequently, some uplifting words for bad days, or a a list of reminders.

9) Have a folder with the school policies and regulations. You should especially know where you stand in terms of how your school deals with discipline problems. Having this file within easy access will definitely help you when you are confronted with difficult and unanticipated classroom situations, which undoubtedly will happen.

10) If you are a reading teacher, you might want to have a folder for informal reading comments as you listen to your students read the first week. Pre-assessments e-assessments) during the first weeks of school are especially important for getting to know your students.

11) Have folders with letters ready to send home on first or second day to parents. You may consider a separate drawer with different letter folders.

12) Keep a folder with the necessary handouts for any new student that may arrive a week or a month later. There's nothing worse than running around the room looking for important handouts for a new student!

13) If applicable, hang a bus list. Keep an extra copy in your folder.

14) Make sure you have a schedule for lunch and PE posted. This is VERY important to the students. Again, keep a master copy in your folder.

15) Have a folder with blank journal templates for the first day of school. Younger students can write a letter to their parents telling them all the things they learned that day. Older ones can write a list of goals setting their intentions for a good school year. Keep additional folders of blank seating charts, blank papers and other templates.

15 Ways For Teachers to Get Organized For the Beginning of the School Year

Grow Calendar 2011

The Organized Parent: 8 Tips for Getting Your Growing Family's Act Together

One child is a relationship. Raising two or more is a small business. To stay sane as the family grows, you need to organize and plan effectively.

What follows are 8 tips for keeping family life on track as school events, pediatrician appointments and errands multiply.

Grow Calendar 2011

*Keep a "Waiting For" file. My file currently contains: birthday invitations responded to, information on my girls' upcoming dance recital, and receipts for uniforms on order. Without this file, these papers would be on my desk.

*Read the school newsletter. Skip the newsletter and the school gods will get you. Your kid will arrive in uniform on costume day. You'll find out about the big pilgrim event after the turkey's been roasted. Note newsletter events - then look for them to change in the next newsletter.

*Get an electronic organizer. As the family grows, so do the number of regularly scheduled events. Kids' activities, PTA meetings - why record these by hand each week when you can program them to repeat? The best gift I got preparing for my second child was a Palm organizer.

*Keep spring open. Once the kids start school, May and June are as busy as December. Schedule a business trip during the last month of school and you risk missing an important event. Keep your calendar as clear as possible during this time.

*Create an inbox for your mate. You swear you left it on the counter for him. He hasn't seen it. Avoid conflict by giving your spouse an inbox. Put the roofing estimate job in the box and place flowers on the counter.

*Meet with your spouse. Plans made in passing don't always register. Men are lousy at multitasking. Women get overwhelmed at home. Sit down and compare calendars. Start by scheduling date night.

*Consider birthday parties optional. The more kids you have, the more invitations you get. Pass on those that don't fit your schedule. But RSVP so the busy birthday parent can plan.

*Preserve free time. My favorite days with my girls are the unscheduled ones. Set aside time to just hang out together. It's as important as anything else you'll do.

(c) 2006 Jennifer Bingham Hull. Reprint rights granted as long as entire article is published, including resource box and its live links.

The Organized Parent: 8 Tips for Getting Your Growing Family's Act Together

Grow Calendar 2011

Adding a Metal Storage Shed Will Keep Your Cottage Neat and Organized

Do you feel like your life is becoming cluttered and you need to do something about it quick? If you do, then there is certainly a solution for you. You can remove the clutter from your life and you don't have to wait weeks or months to do it. You can actually do it in a matter of days and you can do it all on your own.

If you're looking for a good do-it-yourself project that you can have done in just a matter of days and you feel like you're being overcome with clutter in your home, then a storage shed project is going to be the project that you need. But if you're thinking you're going to need saws, hammers, nails, and other tools, you don't need to think that at all. In fact, you can simply install a prefab metal storage shed that even the least carpentry inclined individual can install. All you need is the metal storage shed, a plan to put down some flooring if you like, and a few simple tools.

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Putting up the shed

Let's face it. If you were to have someone else do it, it would take a long time. There would be hammering, sawing, drilling, and all sorts of loud noises for who knows how long. You'd have to deal with the anxiety of having your building finished as soon as possible, but such frustrations as slow workers and inclement weather would be working against you. Before you would know it, you would have several weeks behind you and just half of a building.

Purchasing a prefab metal storage shed removes all of these frustrations. As a matter of fact, a metal storage shed will most likely last you longer than a wood storage shed or a shed made out of another type of material. They are also very easy to assemble and are more cost-effective. And believe it or not, you can do the entire project yourself. All you have to do is follow the assembly instructions and you are on your way to having yourself a storage shed in no time. It is a project that you can feel proud of yourself over and it is a project that is going to keep your life neat and organized.

However, you have to make sure that you choose a prefab metal shed that is the right size for the things you want to store. If you don't have enough room, you're still going to experience a certain degree of clutter that you do not want to have to deal with. The point of putting up the shed is to remove the clutter from your life, so making sure you have one of ample size is how you're going to do that.

Neatness and organization

The project isn't finished until you start organizing your home by placing items within your prefab storage shed. You'll notice that by storing items in your shed, you'll free up room in your home for those things that you regularly use. You can also free up room for new things that you need. One reason why some individuals do not buy new things is because they have no room for them. Now that problem is solved and you can enjoy a life that is free of clutter. If you need something, then you can simply go to your storage shed and get it. Once you start organizing one part of your life, you'll notice that the rest of your life will become organized as well. You can then kick back and enjoy it.

Adding a Metal Storage Shed Will Keep Your Cottage Neat and Organized

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