Here are some ideas for organizing and storing teaching materials.
I prefer to store my teaching materials in a storage building I have at home. I take what I need to school for the month and then take it back home. I prefer not to mix things I’ve purchased myself in with things that belong to the school.
Every year I go through my teaching stuff in storage to weed out things I don’t use, or organize a few things that got misplaced during the year.
Having taught Pre-K for 12 years, I have a lot of teaching materials!
Books:
I have my books organized mostly by themes. The book boxes came from Lakeshore, and the books are sorted by topic into those. I put them in 2.5 gallon ziplock bags to prevent them from getting dusty. My book boxes are: (Top Row) Colors/Beginning of School, Families, Pets, Winter/Polar Animals, Forest Animals, Farm; (2nd Row from Top) Christmas, Fairy Tales, Transportation, Community Helpers, Plants/Pond Animals, Ocean; (3rd Row from Top) Dinosaurs, Safari Animals, Rainforest Animals, Bugs, Halloween/Pumpkins, Holidays (Thanksgiving/Valentines/St. Patrick’s); (Bottom Row) Misc., Misc., ABC, Science, Math, Music.
Month Boxes:
These are boxes I carry in to school each month (along with the books). These contain little manipulatives and games that I’ve printed and laminated, some have leftover craft supplies. For example, my April box has bug stuff, so there are printable games, some little plastic bugs I use for counters, real bugs in frames or acrylic blocks, real cocoons I found in the yard, some Insect Lore stuff, things like that. I used to organize things by theme, but decided to change to months, and I like this better. That way, I can toss in a game for teaching shapes, or an alphabet game that I want to use that month. Things in the month boxes don’t have to go with a theme. It’s just whatever I want to use that month. Sometimes I have an activity that never got used the whole year because I forgot about it, so I toss it in one of the boxes, and then it doesn’t get forgotten. The boxes are clear plastic file boxes from an office supply store. I bought these because you can always find this same type of box, same size, same shape, and I like consistency. I didn’t write on the boxes, I slipped white cardstock in the front, and wrote the months on the cardstock, along with the theme I chose for that month. I can change those easily if I decide to change my themes.
Big Books & Bulletin Board Sets:
This is a pocket chart stand with some nice storage bags I got from Lakeshore. These bags are great, but you could probably do the same thing with the extra large ziplock bags (they didn’t have those when I bought these). I use these bags to organize big books and bulletin board sets.
These are some extra things I brought home because I’m changing jobs this year. I love those boxes with the pull-out drawers, because you don’t have to stack and unstack boxes to get to what you want. You can also see I have some pocket chart sets hanging from a belt rack on the wall and the long blue thing hanging is bulletin board border storage. In what other profession do people buy so much with their own pocket money?
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Nicely done! I am so glad you added pictures – so I can show my husband and tell him I am not the only one with a huge stash of ‘stuff’!! LOL
I need to do something like that with all my material..thank you for sharing!
I love how you organize by month – I’ve been contemplating the best way to organize, too, and since I won’t be using certain themes each year, I really like the idea of monthly bins. I have large bins for my general craft supplies and label as you do. Just like you said, you can change the piece of paper out much more easily if the contents change.
And I concur about the $$$ – I have a wonderful petty cash budget, but I still find I buy lots with my own money. But you know what? It is totally worth it! (although I won’t complain if they offer me more disposable cash – haha!)
Yay! Lol right now I’m using gallon ziplock bags and diaper boxes >.< to organize. I've been trying to figure out how to handle my growing collection! Thank you.
Wow! I can only dream of being so organized that I would show pictures 🙂
Every year I have a goal to be more organized. I love to see how other people organize things, because my organization skills are a work in progress and probably always will be. Your system makes sense for me and I may be adopting parts of it. 🙂
Oh….my…..goodness!!! This is what I want all of my teaching stuff to look like! 🙂 I will pay you to make it happen…..LOL.
I still organize by theme because our school system uses a high scope educational philosophy and I never know what the interest area will be so I have to keep it all at school. We have no petty cash so all the supplies for books etc come out of my pocket. I have been teaching for 27 years so can you imagine all the stuff I’ve got! I really like the idea of the big books in bags though. I am definitely gonna use than one! Thanks!
I’m so glad to find out that I’m not the only one who stores stuff at home. I would love to have a classroom built to my specifications – tons of storage and built-ins. One can dream!! Thanks for the pictures. After 26 years I am still trying to get myself together!
LOL, Leeanne! Yes, maybe it will help him understand – we’re all this way! 😉
Thanks Patty, Eilis, Andrea for your comments!
Lorna, I like the way you think! If only we could plan our own classroom!
Thank you Stacey, Faith, & Cheryl!
Thanks for the great ideas! My question is, how long do you hold onto things if you are changing grade levels? I recently went from teaching kindergarten in an advanced private school for ten years to teaching pre-k. I can use some of the things I collected over the years but most of it is too advanced. Any suggestions?
That’s a good question, Stacy S., but I’ve always taught Pre-K so I’ve never actually dealt with that problem. Personally, I think this is what I’d do: I would separate the things that are too advanced, but I’d save them in case I ever needed them again. I’d save them in another area or up in an attic. However, storage space could be a problem. If you don’t have enough space at home, and have to rent space, I can’t see paying $50 or more per month to store things for several years that you don’t use. Financially, it would probably be better to sell it on ebay than pay a monthly storage fee. That’s just my thought, but I’d love to hear other opinions on that.
I used copy paper boxes to store our theme related items. I love the Lakeshore boooks bins. Thanks Karen for the great ides.
Thanks, Laurel!
Thanks for sharing your storage pics, they are awesome! It’s like a virtual field trip 🙂
Vanessa @pre-kpages.com
Thanks, Vanessa!
Oh, you are sooo much more organised than I… I also change job this summer and have LOTS of things in the basement for the moment. Thanks for inspiring me to get it all sorted out! And I agree, it’s a shame that we buy for our own money, but that makes it possible to bring the materials with us when we leave. Thanks again!
Oh, Karen! I am drooling from all that fantastic organization (it’s a sickness I have!! : ) If you hit it right, you can find very similar bins (that you use to store your books) in the dollar spot at Target. I saw a woman loading up her cart when I was there last.
Thanks, Carla!
Great job with the storage! My fiancee didn’t fully realize what he was getting into until my school closed this year and I had to bring 11 years of Pre-K “stuff” home. I just showed him these storage pictures and told him that he wasn’t the only one who was having to deal with it! 🙂 Thanks for sharing!
Glad I could help, Corie! 😉 Thanks for commenting!
wow it looks like my garage. well mostly. I did get some new ideas though thanks.
Thanks for commenting, Kristah!
Very true, Maria. Thanks for commenting!
🙂 I am glad to know others spend most of what they earn back in their classrooms. I think it is a teacher thing…but I can’t help myself.
Wow! I live in a small apartment so I have to figure out how to store all of my stuff in my classroom each summer. But those 2.5 gallon ziplocks are life savers.
Hi, I am always looking for ways to store my supplies because organization is NOT my strong suit. I have been doing Family Childcare for 5 yrs and accumulated a lot of stuff and had not an inkling as to how to store any of it. Feeling very overwhelmed but now am grateful for your pictures and your experience.
Thanks a lot and I am looking forward to getting it together!
Cynthia
Thanks Cynthia!
I would just like to say I wish i could step inside your teacher’s life for just one day. You are wonderfully organized. I wish it was me. If you don’t mind I will be browing your skills to get myself to this point. I’ve been teaching pre-k for about 81/2 years and I could never get myself to this level. Thank you so,so much. Annie.
Wow, thanks so much, Annie!
Thank you so much for the photos, I live and operate a day care in Vanuatu (a very small island in the pacific). Your web site has become a great resource for me!
Thanks, Jaclyn!
Hii. I love your storage solutions. I am already collecting a lot of materials and half of the storage in the garage has my school stuff. Your ideas and storage solutions are so inspiring. thank you. love your pocket chart bags.
thanks for the inspiration. How do you store story props? I have mine in baggies with everything associated , now what?! LOL
Hi Kendie, I have a box for each month, and I store them in there. Each month’s box has all of the materials I need for that month.
Hi! I just wanted to say “Thank you” for being a teacher. There are several in my family (7 actually) and it is a great profession. I noticed the date of this thread and realized that your very first class of Pre-K is graduating high school this year…How AWESOME! Those first years are SO important. Again, thank you. BTW, I love your blog! It gives me a lot of inspiration with my students and my classroom.
Lauren, thanks for your comment! Yes, my first class will graduate this year! I wish I knew where they all are, but I do still see some of them or their parents around town.
Hi i am a homeschool Mother. I am so looking for great organizational ideas and these were some of the best ive seen so far. My son is in tot school currently but is becoming more advanced in his learning already. I am always excited to see his new mile stones. I am going to steal some of your organizational practices. I especially love the month boxes.
You are so inspiring.
Hi! I wanted to know where did you purchase the wooden trays that I see in most of your pictures?
The wood trays come from Michael’s
you are so organized, great ideas. I love your website.
Hi… I am a teacher too. I’ve spend a lots of money for my students and my classroom and I love doing that. I am glad to know others spend most of what they earn back in their classrooms. As good teachers, we will be do anything to our lovely students to make them learning.
Karen some great ideas you’ve put here. It’s so true that which profession people buy so much with their own pocket money 🙂
Hi, Karen–I’m looking for a different way to arrange monthly themes for a new pre-k program, & I like your monthly box idea as well as the themes you have chosen. From the photo, I can see the themes on all the months except November, December, April, May, & June. It wouldn’t be hard to guess, but I’d still like to know your choices for these months.
Your site has been a huge help to me this past semester! What an “idea person” you are!
Thanks for sharing your creativity with us 🙂
On the themes page, you will see a link near the top that says “theme sequence”, click that to get info on the themes I do each month. https://www.prekinders.com/theme/
Yes, I found it! Thank you!
I’d like to know more about how you store the pocket chart sentence strips. I read that you hang them from a belt rack on the wall, but exactly how are they clipped together and hung from the rack. I could not tell from the photo. Thanks so much for your help and for sharing all of your creative ideas with us!
Hi Margie, The strips are clipped together with a binder clip and then the binder clip is hung on the hooks of the belt rack. Hope that helps! Thank you so much!
Thanks for the storage ideas. Are those pull out drawers individual or stacks of three? And where did you get them from? Thanks again! 🙂
Those are individual drawers. I’ve had them a long time. I think I may have gotten them at Dollar General. They are the Sterlite brand.
Where do you have all your stuff stored, in a garage or a separate shed?
It’s in a shed.
I am always amazed at your themes and how you put everything together. I was wondering where you stored all of your materials. I do keep my months in separate containers like you but I have several months in one big container and they are stacked up in a corner of my room. I like the way you do it though and then transfer each month from your home. It is amazing at how much is gathered the more we teach.
Thank you for so many great ideas!
I am thinking about a storage shed for my personal preschool things. My questions are….. 1)temperature regulation? Is it a thing?
2) bugs? Mostly spiders?
3) wet?
My husband pasted this June and I wish he could have seen this! He was always telling me I had too much stuff and it has taken over our finished basement!
Also, in my classroom we have no storage! We have shelves up with our things in tubs by what they are, when we use them and so on.
We have colored sheets up but our shelves are taking up valuable wall space and have thought about putting over the sheets poster board or tact board that we could use for different types of bulletin boards. Thoughts?
Thank you!
Jessica Wankum
Hi Jessica,
I bought a storage shed from a local company that builds nice quality ones. Mine is not temperature regulated — you can do that, but it would be costly and I wouldn’t think it necessary. I don’t have a problem with bugs typically, but you can put out bug bait if needed. Haven’t had a problem with anything being wet — mine was placed on cement blocks so it doesn’t sit directly on the ground, so no flooding. Yes, I too have too much stuff! 🙂 I think it comes from a love of teaching Pre-K and wanting all the cool things to teach with and spark the children’s interest. 🙂