The Classroom Purge

Thoughts of next school year are never far away in the summer. Especially this summer for me. I will be at a new school in the fall, so this summer is being spent organizing and purging my school things. I'm finding it is not as easy to do as I thought it would be. Going through a box of math manipulatives I find a use for every item. Sigh. So I have had to use this list to determine what to keep and what to say goodbye to:

1.  Is there a purpose for this item? Could it be used for teaching a lesson or independent practice in centers?

2. Have I actually used this item the past 2 years? Even if it is useful if I haven't actually used it then it needs to go. I give it a 2 year window because sometimes you can't use something because of certain children or the children's interests did not support the use of that item this year. 

3. Does it fit in the environment that I create in the classroom? This year I can only use natural baskets, shiny metal plates and containers or tough clear plastic containers, so unless my bright primary colored containers can be used in the cabinets to keep things stored and organized I have no use for them. 

There are probably a few more criteria that you could add to my list and if there are let me know!  

Comments

  1. ChristinaJuly 4, 2013 at 2:02 PM

    I understand! I have to go through all my items and get rid of them. I like the criteria you created! It might help me decide to keep, sell or give away items. My daughter actually accuses me of being a teacherhoarder!

    ReplyDelete

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