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Classroom Clean~Up {Organizing my Unit Bins}

May 30, 2014 by Mary Amoson 14 Comments

Organize Your Unit Bins
Hi. My name is Mary and I have a problem. It is a collection of bins.
Look at all my unit bins!
Each bin contains the materials, games, activities, and books to cover a science or social studies topic.
I love being able to pull down one bin for a week’s topic and  have all the needed materials at hand.

My Unit Bin Problem

But, with Daily 5 and my classroom using so many books for long amounts of time, my nice NEAT,
highly ORGANIZED bins become…
well this.
Unit bin that NEEDS to be organized...
 I tried to sort through all my “stuff” and organize one bin at a time, but it was taking FOREVER.

The Plan

So on my first day of post planning, the bins and I had a meeting.
This is how it started:
Spread out my bins and get organizing!
I took ALL my bins and laid them out on my carpet in order of use.
I started with August bins like “Back to School.”
Then I continue using my curriculum map to lay out the bins in order.
I also removed those white papers I use to LABEL my bins and
place them beside each bin.
Cleaning out my bins, and changing what goes in which

Bin By Bin

Next, I open all the bins and start laying the materials that are out of place on top of the correct bin.
lay out materials that go in each bin to organize them
I continue by going through EACH bin and returning it to the way it should have been.
next, go bin to bin and sort!
{Notice this bin has a LOT of Chicka Chicka Boom Boom books.
These were kept in my classroom library until I use them in my classroom.}
Because I add new materials all the time, I have to adjust the content of my bins.
This is one reason I always start at the beginning of my year.

Purging Is Needed

If a bin is too full, I know I might need to purge materials.
As I build and purge content, I have to redo the labels.
In the past, I used full page labels and placed them inside the bins.
When I clean out bins, I have to change labels too.
 {Notice the changes I made on some of the sheets.}

Labels Are Needed

Once EVERY SINGLE BIN as been sorted through, purged, and organized…
I print out new labels and lay them on top of the correct bin.
NEW lables on top on bins
{I didn’t have time to add graphics for such this time around.}

Organize Your Bins

I put the new label inside the bins and place them in order on my shelves.
NEW labls in bins... they don't have to be pretty to work.
{I put theses on the SIDE of the bin instead of the front to make it easier to find the content.}
Here are some more bins.
Up close look at bins that are labeled and organized
 Needless to say,
I am so glad that I so happy these bins are completed and organized.
The Comic Sans font and lack of pictures does bother me…
but I can handle it until I can fancy them up.
I hope this post helps you to get ideas to organize your bin in your classroom.

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Filed Under: Organization, Teaching Tips

Comments

  1. Deb Weaver says

    May 30, 2014 at 3:17 am

    I love this idea. I'm going to attempt it this summer. If you don't hear back, you'll know I got lost in the rubbish! lol

    Reply
    • Mary Amoson says

      May 30, 2014 at 11:45 am

      I am loving the word rubbish!

      Reply
  2.   says

    May 30, 2014 at 3:27 am

    Love this idea! I need to do it with my items.

    Reply
  3. Jennifer Padgett says

    May 30, 2014 at 4:34 am

    What a FANTASTIC idea!

    Reply
  4. Dawn Bright says

    May 30, 2014 at 11:24 am

    I need to do this, but get overwhelmed just thinking of it! Seriously, how long did it take you?

    Reply
    • Mary Amoson says

      May 30, 2014 at 11:46 am

      Sweet Dawn… A few hours! Several hours. I would say 5.

      Reply
  5. Jennifer White says

    May 30, 2014 at 3:01 pm

    Looks great!
    Jennifer
    First Grade Blue SKies

    Reply
  6. Maribeth Rohrbaugh says

    May 30, 2014 at 11:57 pm

    what size are the bins you are using- I want to get it right the first time I attempt this! :0)
    Maribeth

    Reply
    • Mary Amoson says

      June 1, 2014 at 12:40 am

      Let me look in my room or in walmart to get it right…

      Reply
  7. Marilyn Andersen says

    May 31, 2014 at 12:42 pm

    I wish I could pay you to come organize my units!!! Ug!!!! Such a big job!

    Reply
  8. Rapinder Rai says

    May 22, 2016 at 12:17 am

    Looks great!! i use empty paper boxes and organize by months. One file per month and one box.

    Reply
  9. Antje Herron says

    June 10, 2016 at 7:38 pm

    This is the best I have ever seen. Easy, organized and you covered a lot of topics. Would love to be a kindergartner in your class.

    Reply
  10. Cara Brandon says

    June 21, 2016 at 11:47 pm

    I like that the bins are smaller and easy to lift when they are full and heavy. I’ve been doing the bin system but with huge storage boxes and it has become a pain to get the bins down. I wish I had a huge shelf to store all of them. Ugh organization is tough!

    Reply
  11. Donna says

    July 24, 2016 at 5:46 pm

    Love your ideas. I’m switching from 2nd to kinder. I used to have color coded bins from Office Depot- they’re usually on sale/clearance for $8 just when they have their back to school spend min. $5 for the 1 cent specials- win, win! I have orange for soc. studies, pink for math, blue for science, etc. With 2nd grade we only had 3 or 4 units for each, so the bigger bins worked great. I guess I need to get some new bins! 1 thing I did was put a clear page protector pocket on the outside of the bins, then I could slip the paper telling what was inside in it instead of trying to slide it inside or have it get ‘crunched’ when adding stuff to the bins.

    Reply

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