End of Year Classroom Organization
Ways to Prepare your Classroom for Summer
Organizing the classroom is time consuming and exhausting but often students are more than willing to help. Give students many breaks and a few treats for their aid in preparing the classroom for the next group of students.
Cleaning the Classroom Tips
Desks
Students clear out their desks as a group. The teacher will assist all students in clearing out their desks.
Students will categorize their stuff into piles from their desk.
One pile is for loose papers, 2nd pile is for textbooks and library books, 3rd pile is for notebooks, and 4th pile is for miscellaneous items such as erasers and pencils.
Assign a few students to collect the textbooks and place them in their appropriate position in the classroom. Students will also organize them numerically if needed.
Students place all their notebooks in a grocery bag to bring home. Have students take the majority of notebooks home, only leave a few that are required for the next week. Students may write their math, language, social science in one notebook.
Students recycle the loose papers except for the ones they desire to keep. Students need to learn how to organize papers and identify the important ones and the ones that are no longer of use. Students place their loose papers together in a file folder or staple them all together.
Students decide on what miscellaneous items to keep and which ones to discard. Students should dispose of broken pencils, erasers that never worked, markers with no ink left and other items that have no value.
Students bring home the majority of their stuff before the last days of school. The last day of school goes quickly and students are more interested in saying goodbye to friends than organizing their stuff and taking it home.
Classroom Hooks
Lost and found is overflowing with winter wear in the spring and a few shoes are missing their partners. Too often at the end of the school year, students return home with a few missing items.
Clean the classroom hooks and find a home for all the hats, mitts and jackets. Students are to immediately place the found items in their backpacks and not to leave them on the hook. For the remaining week, students place their jackets, sweaters and gym shoes in their desks since it only has a few items. This will reduce the amount of clothing being left in the classroom.
As well, allow the students to visit the school’s lost and found to recover any forgotten items.
Classroom Artwork
The last week of school, bulletin boards and classroom walls should be sparse. It is best for students to bring their artwork home a week before the last day of school. Ask a few students to take down the art work and to hand them out to the appropriate students. If the artwork is bulky, have tape or elastic bands to allow the students to transport the art without ruining it.
Assignments/Projects
File folder for each student filled with assignments and tests that have been kept for the past year. You may wish to ask certain students to keep their work to show next year students level 4, level 3 work. Often students are more than willing to leave their work behind, if they are not, ask them if you are able to photocopy their work. Always ask the students permission. As well, you may wish to keep a few projects and return them next year after they have been replaced by the new students.
