Read on for classroom must-haves from Amazon!

(This post may contain affiliate links. I make a small commission when you purchase something using these links.)

Amazon Classroom Must-Haves

There are so classroom must haves that teachers need to set up a new classroom. And lucky for us, we can find most of them affordably and conveniently on Amazon. Another great thing about Amazon is that you can create an Amazon classroom wish list to share with people who want to support your classroom!

I’ve put items into different categories to make it easier to find what you’re looking for. You can scroll through to see items for Classroom Setup, Classroom Whiteboard, Classroom Materials, and then Just For Fun stuff.

Classroom Setup Must-Haves

Here are all the Amazon classroom must-haves that will help you get your classroom set up and ready!

Matte Finish Spray

This matte finish spray is definitely a teacher must-have. Any time you laminate, your things come out all shiny – which means light hitting it can make a glare that’s hard for your students to see. Hit your laminated goods with a little bit of this spray, and you’ll be good to go! It instantly mattifies the sheet and makes it glare-free. 

Cordless Hot Glue Gun

Hot glue guns are definitely one of the most useful classroom must haves from Amazon. But what sets this one apart is that it's cordless!! After you charge it up, you can unplug it and use it around the classroom – such a useful feature.

Command Strips

Okay, these are definitely one of the top 5 Amazon classroom must-haves. I use these all over the place in my classroom – they are so strong! These are what hold up my acrylic whiteboard shelves, hold up heavy décor on the wall, and even hold up 

Chalk Paint Spray

I was surprised how much I used this throughout the school year! It’s just like spray paint, but it’s only chalk, which means you can use it all over school property without getting in trouble – water washes it right off. 

I’ve used this for a lot of things – marking spots on the grass field for students to sit or stand, even drawing giant math pictures on the sidewalk, or drawing boundaries for a game on the black top.

Command Clips

These clips do some heavy lifting in my classroom. I use them to store current anchor charts, to hold our microfiber cloths, even to hold up my fancy tassels on my teacher desk.

Desk Organizer

The perfect combination of cute and functional, this desk organizer fits everything that I need. I love the different compartments and the fact that it swivels.

Line Up Dots

I think these line up dots are an Amazon classroom must have that every teacher should try. These are vinyl stickers that stick to your floor to mark where students stand in line. When we line up to go to recess or line up to wash hands at the sink, these dots ensure that my students are spaced out – which eliminates most of the “line drama” that can easily happen when students go to line up.

Velcro Rug Spots

I was so impressed with these – they didn’t budge the whole year, even though our janitors vacuum nightly. They clearly mark students rug spots so that they always know where their personal space is. 

Cloth For Bulletin Boards

Two advantages of using cloth instead of paper as your bulletin board background: #1 you have way more color choices, and #2 it’s a whole lot sturdier. This cloth easily lasted 2 whole years for my bulletin borders.

Whiteboard Must-Haves

These items have transformed my whiteboard from blah to totally functional and fabulous. These are awesome solutions for making your whiteboard work best for you.

Whiteboard Display Shelves

I love these acrylic shelves from Amazon. They’re only 12 inches long, so they don’t take up too much board space, but you can still fit 2 books on each one. They add so much to my whiteboard display, and I love having a place to put the read alouds we are currently working on. And what holds them up? Command strips of course!

Magnetic Clips

These magnetic clips are definitely a classroom must-have. I use these all the time – they’re so handy and unbelievably strong. For example, I use them to hold up anchor charts, a work sample, or anything else I want hung up on the whiteboard.

Magnetic Shelf

This is another fun choice for displaying books on a whiteboard. It’s mega strong, so it’s a good choice for displaying heavier items on your magnetic whiteboard.

Classroom Materials Must-Haves

These are my ride or die classroom must-haves from Amazon. They do so much heavy lifting in my classroom, so I can say they are definitely worth the purchase.

Laminator

I get so much use out of this laminator! I am constantly creating new bulletin boards or new center works. And I have learned the hard way – if you don’t laminate it, it will be destroyed. Laminating lets me reuse materials year after year. 

I went with this basic little laminator, and it gets the job done. It’s lasted years, and it’s super easy to use. Don’t forget to stock up on plenty of laminating sheets! 3m is the size you want for most things – 5m if you need something super strong and sturdy.

Drying Rack

This isn’t just for art projects – I actually use this as a catch-all for all unfinished work. It’s wonderful for when you’re mid-craft and have to clean up quickly – students have a designated slot to pile up their work to resume later.

Worried about papers falling through the cracks? Cut pieces of foam board or cardboard to slide into the rack and give each student a sturdy surface to place things on.

Wireless Headset Microphone

These became all the rage during pandemic teaching when we were all in masks and couldn’t be heard. But I became so attached to mine, I don’t think I’ll give it up!

I love being able to raise my voice without having to raise my voice, if you know what I mean. And the wireless feature of this duo makes it so I can move around the classroom without having to wear the bulky speaker.

Classroom Mailboxes

These are a great way to organize anything you want to be sent home with your students. I have students pick up their homework and put it in a folder that lives in their mailbox slot each day. Then any papers or crafts that need to be sent home get put in the mailbox and students can take them home along with their homework folder.

The mailbox slots are handy for larger items, like crafts and projects, that wouldn't fit in a folder or file.

Bathroom Cones

This is my favorite way to be able to tell which students are in the bathroom at any given time. When a student asks to use the bathroom, they put one of our cones at their desk. Then I can easily glance around to see who's gone if another student asks to use the bathroom.

Microfiber Cloths

I’m all about having students help keep their classroom clean. These microfiber cloths are great for students to wipe up messes, clean tables, and wipe off surfaces. I keep a huge backup stash of them in the room so that I only run out and have to wash them every two months or so.

Just For Fun

Okay, so maybe these don't qualify as must have classroom items. But they are still definitely some of my favorites, so I couldn't leave them off!

Karaoke Microphone

When I need an engagement boost in my classroom, I whip out this karaoke microphone. I’ll announce that any student who raises their hand to participate will get to tell us their answer using the microphone. And like magic, every hand goes up to answer each question!

Tassels

Well, I just couldn’t resist sharing a couple of my Amazon classroom décor faves as well. These tassels are adorable – I used them to spruce up my teacher desk area.

Silver Stars

These hanging stars definitely qualify as one of my personal classroom Amazon must-haves because I use them literally everywhere in my classroom. Hanging over my whiteboard, dangling over doors, glued to clothespins, hanging in windows… they really do pull my room together in such a fun way.

R E A D letters

I love my READ display in my classroom library. These wooden letters are so versatile, you can decorate them any way you want to. I pasted on pastel tissue paper circles to create a cute bubble look on the front.

Classroom Must-Haves From Amazon

Like I said before, the list could go on and on. I will come back and update this periodically, as I am bound to discover more wonderful items from Amazon to help make your classroom run even more smoothly.

Which Amazon must-have are you the most excited to get? Let me know in the comments!
xoxo 
Laura

Resources For You:

Articles For You:

21 Amazing Ideas for Activities on the First Day of School

10 Genius Ideas For Classroom Storage Teachers Will Love

The Best Activities To Build Classroom Community To Try Now

The post 21 Classroom Amazon Must-Haves That Teachers Will Love appeared first on Love Grows Learning.

Read on for classroom storage ideas that will make classroom organization a breeze!

(This article contains affiliate links. I make a small commission when you purchase items through these links.)

Classroom Storage

Classroom storage can be huge headache. There is just so much stuff that goes into making a classroom function. Finding a space for everything that makes sense to you is crucial. Because having things organized is a non-negotiable when you’re in the middle of a school year and need to be able to find things quickly. 

These are solutions you can use for summer storage and throughout the school year to make sure there’s a place for everything and everything is in its place!

Ziplock Bags for Bulletin Boards

One thing you don’t want to lose and have to redo is your bulletin board pieces. It’s so worth it to laminate and store all your bulletin board pieces so that you can re-use them every year. The best way to store them? Gallon-sized Ziplock baggies! These are a great classroom storage staple.

I put each bulletin board set in its own Ziplock baggie and label the outside with a Sharpie. And this doesn’t have to be wasteful – I reuse the Ziplock baggies year after year.

File Organizer for Bulletin Boards

Part 2 of the bulletin board storage is, in my opinion, pretty darn genius. Instead of having a bunch of loose Ziplock bags to keep track of, use a file organizer. This lets you see them all in a row. 

You can organize them by month or unit, or whatever makes the most sense for you. A serious lifesaver if you’re like me and like to switch out your bulletin boards all the time.

Dry Erase Pockets for Center Works

I always have tons of these dry erase pockets because I use them for center works, math class, etc. But did you know they double as storage solutions too? You can use your dry erase pockets that are out of rotation or that are a little old and beat up to house center works! 

This keeps all the pieces of each center neatly together. Plus, they’re in a container that you can see through so you won’t have to open up bin after bin looking for the one you need!

Oversized Zip Pouches for Center Works

For center works that have bulky pieces (I love using manipulatives and stuffies in many of my center activities), these oversized zip pouches are the perfect classroom storage solution. Just zip up all those pieces, and you won’t have to worry about losing anything!

They come in several different sizes, but I find the 9×13 size is the most versatile. If you have something unusually large, you can opt for this extra-large 17×12 size! 

Pencil Cases

Pencil cases are definitely another classroom storage staple. But I like to use them for a lot more than just pencils…

At the end of every school year, I always have some leftover pencil cases that are a little too beat up to give to next year’s students, but still totally functional. I find that these are the perfect classroom storage idea for keeping all my leftover materials organized. Got some leftover unused gluesticks? Put them in a pencil box. Whiteboard markers that still have juice? Another pencil box. Student erasers that I’m going to reuse next year? Into a pencil box! 

This helps me take control of the materials and contain them in a way that is helpful. Extra points if you color code and label them too. These are by far my favorite pencil cases because they are sturdy enough to last the year, and the price point is unbeatable.

The Perfect Classroom Bin

One of the most crucial storage ideas for the classroom is the ultimate classroom bin. I found one that I use for almost everything. Just a few ways that I use these bins in my room:

• Classroom library bins: I organize my library by level, and these bins are the perfect size to hold my books.
• Student crates: Students store all their class materials in a crate. These crates hold their workbooks, notebooks, plus their pencil pouches and math toolkits.
• Center activities: When students go to our workshop shelves to get a work for centers or workshop time, they are often stored in these perfectly sized bins.

I always keep some extra on hand for when I need flexible storage throughout the year to hold current math materials, or unfinished project materials, or anytime I’m collecting materials from families.

Paper Trays

There’s no doubt that teachers need a lot of paper in their classrooms. Especially for us primary grades – the more colors, the better! Paper trays are hands down my favorite way to organize all my beautiful papers. 

I have paper trays for all of our colored construction paper, for our writing paper, and for our blank paper. I love that paper trays allow you to visually see what you’re low on for easy re-stocking. And it’s easy to make some paper trays in student-accessible cabinets if they need everyday access. For example, our writing paper, blank paper, and paper scraps go in paper trays that are accessible to students throughout the year.

File Folders for Master Copies

Saving and organizing materials you use each year is a game changer for making subsequent teaching years easier. But it can require some creative ideas for classroom organization to find a system that works. 

While many teachers like to keep their master copies in binders, I have found files to be the best solution. There are lot of things that I want to save that don’t fit well in a binder, but fit in a file beautifully. The kinds of things that I save masters of so I can reuse them year after year are: craft templates and samples, reinforcement work for each subject, challenge assignments for each subject, homeworks.

I like that I don’t have to fumble for the right binder – I just look at my file box and I can see everything I have in one place.

Binders for Assessments

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A post shared by Laura White 1st Grade Teacher (@lovegrowslearning)

Now, I know I’m team file for most things, but I do like binders for assessments. These are easier for me to keep organized with tabs, so binders are a great storage solution. You can create a separate binder for each subject, and then keep masters of your assessments for each quarter so that you don’t have to go looking for theme every year.

There are so many cute binder cover designs out there, so it’s easy to personalize them! Click here for the binder covers shown in my picture.

Monthly Bins

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A post shared by Sabrinna Anne (@teachinglittlemindss)

Having monthly bins is one of the most convenient storage ideas for classroom organization. Once you have a clear idea of what bulletin boards, centers, and other materials you need for each month, you can store them in these handy plastic bins. 

This makes it so much easier to stow away the stuff you no longer need at the end of the month, and bring out the new stuff! You could also organize these by season, theme, or unit, depending on how you like to break down your schoolyear.

Classroom Storage Ideas

I hope these ideas for classroom storage were useful! If you’re a new teacher, I suggest picking a couple ideas to start with and then slowly building on as time goes on. I certainly did not have all these systems in place at the beginning of my teaching career.

And the truth is, as you continue to teach, your supplies will change and grow, and your organization will have to change and grow as well. So you can always return to these ideas when that happen. After all, the classroom is an ever-evolving environment.

What storage solution are you most excited to try out? 
Let me know in the comments! 
xoxo Laura

Resources For You:

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The Best Activities To Build Classroom Community To Try Now

The Philosophy For Classroom Management That Changed My Life

10 End of the Year Craft Ideas Your Students Will Absolutely Love

The post 10 Genius Ideas For Classroom Storage Teachers Will Love appeared first on Love Grows Learning.

Concurrent Teaching

In case you're all turned around by the lingo (like I constantly am…), concurrent teaching is when a teacher has on-campus students and distance learning students watching lessons at the same time. Now, I'm not 100% concurrent. I have my distance learners with me for part of the day, and then the other part of the day they're doing pre-recorded lessons and activities on Seesaw. Apparently that's a part synchronous, part asynchronous program, or a hyflex hyrbid… honestly, the lingo is too much for me! All you need to know is that sometimes, I have distance learners on Zoom live in the classroom with me.

My Setup

I've tried to keep my set-up as simple as possible, because honestly I need to keep my attention on my students. If the technology takes too much focus, it's just too hard to stay with my learners.

Laptop Setup

My main tool is my 3-tier cart from Michaels. I love that I can put my laptop on top and then roll the cart around so that my Zoom students can see whatever they need to be able to see. I'm still working on getting it at just the right angle and position to not block the view of my kids on the carpet. But I'm finding that if I position things higher on the whiteboard, everyone can see better.

TV Setup

Sometimes I need to be able to show things on the TV, like when I want the children in the classroom to be able to interact with the children at home on Zoom. Other times, I need to show a video lesson to my on-campus students–our science lessons are prepared by another first grade teacher, and our enrichment classes (specials) are all video lessons.

For this setup, I recently switched to using my iPad. I was originally using my laptop, but I needed to be able to do other work on it, so it was very inconvenient to always be using it for screen sharing to the TV. Making the switch to the iPad was so much better, because my laptop is now freed up.

When I'm using the TV, I keep this setup on my desk, so that I can have all the tech stuff safely in one place. So far, this works really well.

Document Camera

I also have the option of showing a document camera during a lesson. To do this, I use my laptop hooked up to the TV. My on-campus students watch the document camera on the TV. My online students see the document camera on my shared screen over Zoom.

Future Plans

There are still some additions I am hoping to add on to my setup as time goes on.

The first thing on my wish list is a headset mic that can work with a Bluetooth speaker. My voice is getting really worn out talking through my mask (thanks to Covid), over the air conditioner (thanks to 100 degree weather), and over air purifiers (thanks to wildfires). I've seen some teachers trying out a headset, and I think I'm going to have to give it a go! I will definitely share if I find a good one!

What does your setup look like?
xoxo
Laura

The post My Concurrent Teaching Setup appeared first on Love Grows Learning.

Goals of At-Home Materials

The materials we chose seemed to fall into three categories. These categories helped us select materials and identify the purpose of what we were sending home:

1. Scaffolds For Independence: Some of the materials are anchor charts, reminders, or cheat sheets to help students do their work without the assistance of a teacher on hand.
2. Learning Manipulatives: We tried to send home as many hands-on materials as was practical to aid in lessons. Manipulatives are so crucial for younger students–not just for learning, but also for engagement.
3. Project Materials: There are so many wonderful activities and projects we start the year with–art projects, science experiments, class projects–and we wanted to be able to include as many of these as possible in our virtual plans. This meant thinking ahead about what materials student would need at home to be able to complete this work.

Breakdown of Materials

I'm excited to share with you everything they got for at-home learning! We are planning to do additional pick-ups every two weeks, so that we can continue to hand out materials that are needed for upcoming lessons.

Math Toolkit

Out math toolkit is chalk-full of manipulatives and game materials. We included these in pencil box for easy storage:

• 2 sets of dice – dots and numbered
• 10 linking cubes
• 10 double-sided counters
• Whiteboard marker and eraser

These tools are so helpful for our live Zoom math lessons. They provide so many opportunities for me to work in student participation and engagement. The double-sided counters are great for games and for looking at combinations that make certain totals.

Dry-Erase Pocket Sleeve

These have been so helpful to use during lessons! I included 3 different templates that we use during math that have number bonds, ten frames, and addition sentence prompts. I numbered them all so that I can just tell students which number we need that day. In the back is a piece of white cardstock, so that the back is always our blank side. While we are mostly using these in math lesson right now, I am going to start using them for dictation words soon as well.

Writing Folder

This is something we use every year in class, so it was simple to send these home as they were already prepared. Students use their folder to store the stories they are working on and the stories they finished. Inside the folder is a sheet protector with a page the pictures and the spellings for our alphabet sound cards and also a page of sight words. These are for reference while they write. We also gave them some story packets to get them started on their writing!

Reading Folder

The reading folder is a new addition, but it seemed like a convenient way to store all of their reading supplies in one place. Their reading folder has sheet protectors to put anchor charts (we started with out first anchor chart of the year – reading superpowers). In the pocket of the folder, we put their letter tiles, which we use for word building and phonics actitivies.

Science Materials

We selected the materials they need for the first few weeks of science – some planting materials, a few project materials, and the science reader. We use FOSS, which is a very hands-on science program. So we'll definitely have to send home more materials as we go. We also sent home our Science Journals, where students keep a record of the experiments and concepts gone over during science lessons.

Ongoing Projects

We decided to send home their whole alphabet book, which is the first ongoing project we have. It seemed simpler to send the whole book ahead of time rather than send page by page for parents to print and cut out each day. This strategy will be useful for future projects that have a similar, on-going pattern.

Art Materials

Our school is all about arts-integration, so we include an art project every single day as part of their classwork. Some of these are optional, but many of the families love to do them as a break from worksheets and academics. We sent out a questionnaire at the beginning of the year to see if families needed us to provide any basic art materials (colored pencils, construction paper, glue, paints). Then as part of our pick-up, I put together any additional materials that were required for the next two weeks of projects. This week, we sent home sequins, pipe cleaners, popsicle sticks, and beads!

So far these pick-ups have really helped us stick to a lot of our normal lesson plans. Transforming lesson plans has been a big job this year, so anything that can help have students get a similar experience to what they would have in the classroom is hugely helpful!

What materials are you sending home with your virtual students?
xoxo
Laura

The post Materials To Send Home With Your Virtual Students appeared first on Love Grows Learning.

The first thing I am doing is getting my Google Classroom set up (more on that later), and thinking about how I want to schedule the day. We had a lot of practice with it last spring, and after several iterations, we came up with a system that worked really well for families and teachers.

One thing we realized, is that every family is different when it comes to the time and resources they have available to devote to distance learning. Some families were struggling to complete the work we were assigning, and other families were asking for more! So we created some flexibility in our schedule by indicating which assignments were required, and by including optional assignments for families that wanted more.

Here is how we eventually ended up structuring our schedule. This format really worked for us, and if we go to full distance learning mode this fall, we will almost exactly replicate it. We got great feedback from families about how pleased they were with the virtual learning that they received.

Having a schedule, even if I changed it sometimes, was so helpful for me. It helped me make sure I was covering everything I wanted to cover, and gave me some sort of structure to hold onto in my lesson planning.

Live Instruction (Zoom or Google Meet)

We limited the amount of live instruction for several reasons. First of all, it was very hard to coordinate schedules of all our families. Most of our students were sharing devices with their siblings and working parents, so they couldn't hop on for live instruction very frequently. We also found that first graders can't handle a lot of screen time. However, the following worked very well in a live setting:

• Circle Time: We started every morning with Circle Time together. It was such a lovely way to start the day and to feel like a family. We sang songs, switched the date, and read a Morning Message together. Then we would play a game like Swingman or MadLibs. We also incorporated some student sharing during Circle Time.
• Small Group Instruction: The only other live instruction we did was in small groups. We met with every student in groups of 3 or 4 for once a week for reading instruction and once a week for writing instruction. This was where the bulk of our differentiated instruction happened. I am thinking of having these more than once a week this fall. And I will definitely be adding some live small group math work as well.

In the spring, we were using exclusively Zoom for our live instruction. However, since we'll be migrating to Google Classroom in the fall, it is likely we'll be using Google Meet for our live class times instead.

Recorded Lessons (Dropbox or YouTube Links)

We found that recorded lessons were the best way to deliver our instruction. These were usually 5-10 minutes long. We would record ourselves and then create a Dropbox link to send to families. This way, families could choose what time worked best for their students to watch their lessons. Each recorded lesson had an assignment that went with it.

• Reading & Writing Workshop: We use the Lucy Calkins Units of Study for reading and writing workshop, so our recorded lessons were 5-10 minute minilessons teaching a specific reading or writing strategy. The assignment was always independent reading for 20 minutes and working on current writing pieces.
• Math: Our curriculum is Eureka Math. I simplified the lessons to be no more than 10 minutes long to teach the strategy. I often emailed families a PDF with cut-out manipulatives for them to use during the lesson.
• Phonics/Grammar: Phonics lessons were short, usually around 5 minutes. They would consist of learning a new sound spelling team or practice with a particular spelling or grammar rule. For the practice lessons, I often emailed a PDF with cutout letter tiles to use during the lesson.
• Science: We only did science once a week in the spring during distance learning, because we use Foss which is very hands-on. It was just impossibe to get all the materials to the kids, so we would end up filming the teacher demonstrating some of the hands-on work as a lesson each week.
• Read Alouds: Filming a teacher reading aloud a book was a great little lesson to include for students. Sometimes we would even stop and give prompts to students for them to respond to, as if we were in the class together.

Optional Assignments

We tried to include some assignments that were optional, sometimes as a fun activity or some extra reinforcement work. We always marked these with “(optional)” so that families knew these were only if they had the time and desire for more schoolwork.

• Enrichment Lessons: We were fortunate enough to have our enrichment teachers (Drama, Art, Gardening, and PE) filming short classes for the students to do every week. We could offer these to the students once a week.
• Art Projects: Our school emphasizes arts integration, so we offered a project for students to do every day (except the day they had art) that was related to what something we were studying.
• Reinforcement Work: It was easy to attach extra phonics worksheets, math fluency worksheets, and review activities for families who wanted a little extra.

We will undoubtedly have to make some changes as we go along with distance learning this fall. But this schedule will help us create a structured backbone for our program, and luckily last year's schedule only needs a few tweaks.

But, if we end up doing a hybrid model, this schedule will have to change a lot! So stay tuned to see what happens next…!

How are you scheduling virtual learning this fall?
xoxo
Laura

The post How To Create A Virtual Learning Schedule appeared first on Love Grows Learning.

The best way I could cope with the anxiety I was feeling was to prepare as much as I could. This started with the physical setup of my classroom itself. In the summer, I don’t teach in my regular classroom, so I did a big overhaul of the furniture in my summer room. I had to rearrange tables, chairs, and desks to make open places to walk, and spread out the students at their seats.

Here’s a video showing some of the most important classroom features we added or changed for safety. Read the article for details on all these ideas!

• Spread out my seating chart. Students now sit two to a table, with six feet between them. I made sure there are accessible aisles so that teachers can move through the room without getting too close to students.

• Keep belongings at student seats. I tried to cut down on the times they had to be out of their seats and milling about the classroom by having as many of their materials with them at their seats. They also keep their backpacks, water bottles, and lunches right next to their chairs. It’s a little cluttered, but it cuts out the need for students to get up every five minutes to get water, jacket, snack, etc…

• Give everyone their own materials. Each student has their own seat of pencils, crayons, markers, scissors, sketching paper, tape, glue, etc. Materials that used to be communal are now kept in individual pouches labeled with names, and everyone understands that they have to use their own materials.

• 6 foot markers for lines. Students quickly forget to keep six feet apart. Marking the floor with lines where they can safely stand when they line up to wash their hands, go out of the room, or come in from recess can help them keep those boundaries in mind.

• Cabinet handles and door. Any cabinets that are frequently used by students (book shelves, games, personal belongings etc.) we have removed the doors of the cabinet. Handles are a hotspot for germs, so it’s best to by-pass them altogether. I definitely still keep my personal belongings in a cabinet with doors, but it’s clearly labeled as my space, and it’s out of reach of students. 

I am definitely discovering more ideas and better ways of doing things every day, but this much at least helped me feel more confident about heading back to work.

What questions do you have about safe classroom setups?
xoxo
Laura

The post How To Set Up A Safe Classroom During A Pandemic appeared first on Love Grows Learning.

I was determined that my new workflow wouldn't create a permanent mess in our living room, which is the space we disconnect from work, rest, and play. So I devised a system that allowed me to spread everything out all over the place while I worked, but quickly and easily hide it away when it was time to stop working. I cleared out one of the drawers next to our couch and filled it with all the piles of books, baskets of teaching to tools, and stacks of papers I need on a daily basis. I even fit some of my teaching puppets way in the back. Then I made space on top of a cabinet to keep all of my electronic devices neatly stacked when I wasn't using them (during one day, I might use my laptop, my iPad, my Bose speaker, my earbuds, my noise-canceling headphones, and my Phone… yikes!).

During the day, my space is a mess. The papers get spread out, the pens are everywhere, books are all over the couch. But as soon as I'm done working, I sweep everything up and stuff it back in the drawer. It's actually quite a miraculous system, considering my track record with cleaning up after myself. As my husband tells me, I am notorious for getting something out that I need, and then leaving it there and moving on without bothering to put it away! But honestly, it takes me about two minutes to shove everything back in that magical drawer, and even I can handle that.

Adapting as time goes on

Now that we're eight weeks deep in distance learning, I started noticing that my back was not happy working on the couch for all those hours. I was often hunched forward, with no back support, working on a coffee table that was really too low for any kind of computer work. With one-on-one student sessions, I would usually plop on the floor, angling so that both my face and my table surface was visible to the student. Not so good for the body, as it turns out. So now we're onto workspace 4.0, the dining room table! I'm still using my little drawer, which is luckily close by. But now everything is spread out over the table, and I'm able to sit in a real chair! With back support and cushioning! This is only day one in this new workspace, so we'll see how it goes moving forward. If there is one thing we've all had to learn in this pandemic, it's how to be endlessly flexible in ever-shifting circumstances!

How have you been organizing your workspace?
xoxo
Laura

The post How I Organized My Distance Learning Workspace appeared first on Love Grows Learning.