Camp Creek Press

Don't worry, I'm not going to pretend I can cover the topic of organization in just one post.

After all, "Real Simple" talks about it in pretty much every issue.

However, we're getting ready to gear up for the school year, we need to organize our classrooms, and parents have many of the same concerns at home. (In fact, more and more bedrooms and play rooms are drawing inspiration from classrooms!)

I am not one of those people who keep only the things which I feel to be beautiful or know to be useful (paraphrasing William Morris). My closets and drawers are crowded with the less attractive, the downright ugly, the obscure, and the "maybe some day".

At home (see above), we had a major organizing shift this year in the play room. I purchased a couple dozen of the clear bins shown, which have permanently attached lids that, when open, hang neatly at the bin's sides like a hinged open door. These were purchased at Wal-Mart when they were on clearance, and I made a second trip to get more. Bless the person who thought of the permanently attached lid. At school, we always ended up disposing of the lids (because they would just end up scattered everywhere. Yet things in open bins tend to attract dust bunnies and, in our part of the woods, dead ladybugs. Yuck.

Clear bins and containers are so nice for showcasing their contents. If a three-year-old child couldn't see into it (e.g., lying in an open basket on a low shelf), then we stored it in a clear container. Because our program was Reggio-inspired, we used a lot of baskets and wooden bowls to hold art materials. We tried to minimize the amount of plastic in the classroom. For storage of materials we didn't need as frequently, however, clear containers on upper shelves were both useful and attractive.

(Most of the materials in our art studio were accessible to all the children, all the time. The materials on the high shelves were things in limited quantity or which were needed infrequently. With limited storage, it always helps to go up...and high shelves are also a nice way to display completed projects.)

One of our favorite finds for organizing pens, pencils, markers, paintbrushes, etc,. at school (and at home) was paint cans. The paint store sells them in different sizes, about 88 cents for the quart size. These are a natural material, sturdy, and .. bonus .. magnetic -- so you use magnetic labels on them.

Martha Stewart uses paint cans turned on their sides to make excellent cubbies. It's not hard to imagine these repurposed as student mailboxes in the classroom (drawings can be rolled!).

More organizational inspiration for today:

Colanders instead of baskets

Pegboard desk (Martha Stewart Kids)

Baskets, chalkboards, and cork boards (Pottery Barn Kids)

Slat shelves