Attention teachers: Here are 4 ways to better organize your classroom

Teaching is an art all to itself. The ability to impart knowledge to young people, and prepare them for success in their future lives, is among the most critical talents anyone can have. Also an art is the ability to get and stay organized, and that's something Pendaflex® has been doing better than anyone for many decades.

Perhaps you're a teacher yourself, or you know someone who teaches and maybe...just maybe...they could use a few easy ideas to help make life in the classromm a little more organized.

To follow are four suggestions:

Use color.
For example, student files can be much simpler to reference if different colors are assigned to the subjects. The reason is, color creates a visual signal that distinguishes one file from another. Pendaflex® makes color hanging folders and matching interior file folders in 13 colors to provide many color-coding options. Another choice includes Pendaflex® file folders, which also come in many colors. You might even want to color match the file folders to the colors of the notebooks, or the colors of the bookcovers, for enhanced organizing efficiency.

Designate "organize" time.
Kids will be kids and most of the time, kids will be messy...if you let them. Set aside a few minutes each day during which students should organize their desks, their personal belongings and anything else that may be cluttering their classroom lives. The teacher should utilize this time to organize his or her own desk.

Take advantage of the walls.
Many classrooms are constantly adorned with decorations, or with recent work that students have done. And that's great. However, walls can also provide plenty of extra space for staying organized. If shelves are already on the walls, use them to neatly store such things as books, binders and other reference materials...rather than taking up valuable room on a desk. If shelves are not in place, perhaps the school's custodial staff should be asked to install them, enabling many more possibilities for productive organization. Also consider a hanging file system. Pendaflex® makes a Mobile Hanging File that is available with 8 pockets The pockets are color coded and can be removed for easy reference.

Label things.
Labels are a terrific strategy for identifying and organizing school supplies, cabinet drawers, storage closets, computer equipment, and a host of other items and places in a classroom. My Stuff Label Bandz™ are a great way to hold together and label stacks of papers, folders, art supplies, etc. They are an ideal complement to every classroom.