It’s the end of the year again, which means it’s time to clean up your classroom. Honestly, I actually enjoyed cleaning up my classroom each year, because it gave me the ability to start with a fresh slate each year. However, it does take a lot of time to do and you may lose things in the process. Today, I want to share 4 tips for cleaning up your classroom that I’ve learned over the years of having to pack up my classroom.
Get your students involved
No matter what age your students are, they should be part of this process! I always had one afternoon (sometimes two) where I would put my kids to work to help me clean up the classroom. You shouldn’t have to do it all yourself! Some tasks that young students are great at are:
•Cleaning out their desk
This is definitely a MUST DO for my students! I’ve had desks in Kindergarten for 3 years (yes, it is the worst) but even if you don’t they can help organize whatever supplies they share. I have my students completely empty their desks and go through everything. I have them grab their backpacks and put a few trashcans throughout the room. They either throw away or take home any loose papers they find. They take home their Morning Work Binder (it’s a great tool to use at home over the summer!), their take home folder, pencil box, and then anything else that’s theirs to keep.
Anything that belongs to the school or extra supplies have a pile or bin that they sort into. Once the inside is completely empty, they get a disinfecting wipe to clean it out. They also take off their name tag and can keep or throw it away. I walk around with goo gone and a scraper to try and get any gunk left on the desk off. This typically only takes about 15-20 minutes, so not much time at all!
•Sorting manipulatives, supplies or books
While they are cleaning their desk out, I have designated piles or bins for anything that needs to be sorted or returned to the school. For example, I have my crayon bin where they can throw any loose crayons into. I also have any textbooks in piles that they stack on top. Sometimes I will keep a checklist for each student to mark off anything that they have to return (this is more helpful in the older grades).
They also help me reorganize all the math and phonics manipulatives. I will give 2-3 students a bin of manipulatives. They will dump it out, take out anything that doesn’t belong, and organize it nicely. For example, the counting cubes, they stack 10 colored cubes together. If there is a broken piece, they put that into a bin for me to either fix or toss out. When they find something that doesn’t belong, they deliver it to the correct bin.
•Trying out markers, crayons, and tossing what doesn’t work anymore
My biggest pet peeve is grabbing a marker and it not working! Or a bunch of broken crayons in the crayon bin. We actually do this about 4 times throughout the year, and it helps keep working supplies in our classroom. For this one, we do all the supplies at the same time. They will either have a piece of paper or mini whiteboard (if they are testing dry erase markers). They will toss anything that doesn’t work or has a missing part (ahem glue stick lids) Students actually LOVE this step!
Use ziplock baggies to keep all bulletin board supplies together
Do you have to take EVERYTHING off your walls each year? At one of the schools I taught at, we were required to do this, and it was the most time consuming part. When I came back after summer, I was always missing a piece of the bulletin board, so I needed a better system. You can use labeled ziplock baggies to store ALL the pieces for each bulletin board in one place.
I take off all the letters and pieces, roll up the border, and then take off the fabric and fold it neatly inside the bag. I numbered my bulletin boards so all I did was write the number bulletin board and what the bulletin board was. This saved me HOURS of re-organizing, finding the pieces for each board, and then re-doing it next school year. I just grabbed a bag and was able to do my bulletin boards in no time at all.
Set up an easy transition for back to school by creating a “back to school” section or file
Your future self will also thank you for this too! I had a designated “back to school” bin that I stored everything I would need for back to school time. I always took about an hour to pull out anything I would need for back to school and make copies for back to school time. Usually the copy room is dead this time of year, so I was able to prep the majority of my back to school things. Inside my bin, I had my Meet the Teacher packets, first day coloring sheets, first week plans, hard copies of anything that I would need to send home with parents, and most of the first week’s work for my students. When I got back to school in August, I had the majority of the prep DONE. I just had to tweak my plans and organize it by day.
Create a throw away and give away table
As teachers, we always tend to have a “Monica’s Closet” (if you watch the TV show Friends, you will know what I’m talking about. I had a HUGE cabinet full of games, centers, decor, supplies, and more, that was pretty much overflowing by the end of the year. This WILL take time, but trust me, try to spend an afternoon and go through it all. I pulled out one shelf at a time and sorted everything into three piles- keep, give away, and throw away.
The throw away pile would go straight into the trash. The give away pile would go on a table. I would let the other teachers know that I’m giving away some things that I do not need anymore. For example, if you have two of the same game- you don’t need both! When I was a first year teacher, this is how I got some of my supplies and games. As the years went on, I was able to help out other teachers as well by doing this.
The keep pile would obviously be the largest pile. Once I finished all the shelves, I would sort the pile into categories that made sense for that cabinet. For example, all my ELA centers and games would be on one shelf, all the extra supplies would be on another, etc.
Once this was done, it was so nice coming back to a nicely organized classroom after my summer break. I would much rather spend the time at the end of the year cleaning up and organizing my classroom, than coming back in August to a hot mess! Plus your custodians and maintenance personnel will thank you too!
Let me know if you have any other hacks or tips you could add to this list!
Lindsay says
This is very helpful! Is there a link to download and print, so I can keep a hard copy?
Kristina says
Hi Lindsay!
I don’t have a PDF ready, but will add that to my to do list to add to the post in the future! Thank you!
Lois says
I like the suggestion that Lindsay had of a PDF. Looking forward to it.
Michelle says
I will add that it’s important to keep all those broken crayons instead of tossing them. They’re perfect for little hands that are using the wrong grip or struggling with fine motor, as they force our students to use a tripod grip. In fact, I often break my new crayons in half for this reason.
Kristina says
Great idea! I usually keep a small bin of broken ones just in case!