Organizing Community Supplies with Color
share this timesaver:
Hello dear friends! These beginning weeks have just flown by and today I realized I haven’t stopped to share any classroom pictures! I hope to post a classroom tour very soon but, in the meantime, I wanted to share a quick idea that has been working very well for our class.
You know that beautiful moment that happens so often in our classrooms? The one where all of your students are happily immersed in a project and you can just feel all the creative energy flowing? It’s the best, isn’t it? But sometimes that creativity can be interrupted by searching for supplies…
“Do you have an extra red marker?”
“Does anyone have a black Sharpie?”
“I need a light green crayon!”
So this summer I decided to add another organizational system to my classroom, one that would save precious time AND be easy for my students to manage…I organized all extra supplies by color:
I bought several mason jars and an array of popular supplies, from crayons to Sharpies:
And sorted everything by color:
These are community supplies. My students know they can use them if they need a certain color, as long as they return them once they are finished. The mason jars (besides being really lovely!) make it easy to see the supplies. And the color-coding keeps everything in order and easy to locate quickly.
Pretty simple. And you know what else? The jars make beautiful, yet functional, decor pieces that really stand out when you enter the classroom!
I’ve been using organizational color-coding in other areas of our classroom as well and will be back to show you more soon!
Do you use color-coding in your classroom? Do you have ideas for extra supplies to share with us? Thanks so much for stopping by!
Kristen Beakey
I’m an elementary math coach with a passion for sharing beautiful, streamlined solutions to save teachers time. Ladybug’s Teacher Files has been a work of love since 2010. Filled with tech tutorials, math ideas, and organization…I strive to save you time in all aspects of your teaching!