Organisation and Routines

How to Boost Classroom Organization Now in 8 Easy Steps

teacher writing on a whiteboard to teach a group o children seated at a table. Windows on white walls behind her. Low visual noise on the walls to represent the blog post topic of classroom organization.

Rome wasn’t built in a day. Just remember that from the outset. 😊 classroom organization doesn’t necessarily take a lot of time, but that time may be spread out.

When I organized my classroom I often looked at the classrooms of other teachers in my school and compared my classroom to theirs.


But I compared my classroom to the classrooms of teachers who had been at it for decades.


And they were still making tweaks. How would I catch up? Never, obviously. And then, there was the deadline for getting things organized

As the first day of school approached, I was told, “Whatever isn’t finished now waits for next school year.”  

Of course, I decided to try it anyways.

Well, she wasn’t entirely right.  I mean, I did reorganize my entire classroom mid-year that one year, so it isn’t impossible.  😬

But I won’t do that again either.  😂

Like anything else, don’t expect perfection in the first year.  Or any year necessarily.  

Accept that it may never feel fully done, and then it gets a whole lot easier.

1) Classroom Organization Reflects Philosophy of Classroom Management

Creating the “bones” of the classroom was challenging for me, and I wanted my space to reflect my philosophy of classroom management

  • How do I facilitate students working together?
  • Where do they spend time just “hanging out”?
  • How do I set up storage in a way that nurtures student independence?
  • Where does my large classroom library go?
  • How do I fit in all the desks in a way that supports collaborative learning?
Dirty rose coloured background with an image of a table set with a mat, coffee cup, coffee pot, and potted plant and text that reads, "Effective classroom organization with the teacher in mind"

2) Create a Classroom That Supports Teaching

With the help of some suggestions from others, the physical structure of my classroom took shape.

  • Bins with labels and binders full of units were lifesavers. 
  • My digital files on Google Drive were hyperlinked for easy navigation.
  • Five bins, one for each weekday, were created ready for the appropriate day.
  • A file drawer was filled with work for early finishers
Image of 4 green and 1 white bucket labelled Monday to Friday.
Buckets labeled for each day of the week.
File drawer with early finisher activities.
blue card board mailbox with 30 slots, and papers in the bottom 6 slots.
Mailbox for students take home papers.

You can see from these images that I am not talking Pinterest perfect organization, but it was extremely functional. These details, and others, created the framework that I needed to work effectively. 

Next I created the classroom I imagined.

  • A table on wheels used for demonstrations was sheltered under the extended counter
  • A counter along the window was installed ready to dry paint or to put out things for students to explore.
  • A cuddly loveseat and loads of bookshelves sectioned off a lovely reading area
  • There were labeled buckets everywhere to  promote student independence
  • I set up a post office for students to take their work home

I created systems to make each day easier. For example I put the materials to teach a lesson into the bin for the appropriate day.

Each night before I left I would organize the bin with what I needed for the next day. The last thing I would need went on the bottom of the bin.

This made it easy for me to sleep (quite literally). 

If I called in sick, I could quickly email a more thorough lesson plan to the secretary to hand to the sub. The lesson plan just provided more detail and background information.

3) Establish Clear Routines and Procedures

With my systems in place, the next step in classroom organization is establishing consistent daily routines for transitions and materials. Having a bucket for daily needs is part of my routine and part of both my physical and mental organization.  I know that if it works for me it is a blessing to my students as well. 

My students needed to know where to find the tools and materials, and to know how, when, and why to access them quietly and independently.  So, I developed, taught and practiced those routines and  transitions during the first weeks as a part of organizing the culture and ambience of my classroom. 

4) Create Special Areas

Then there are those extra special areas:

  • A couch and reading nooks; creating cozy spaces where students loved to read together. 
  • Strings with paper clips attached to the ceiling waiting to suspend stars, butterflies and kelp forests
  • Several areas where students could choose to work quietly.

5) Reduce the Visual Noise to Support Mental Clarity 

I toned down the “bones” of the classroom:

  • Neutral backgrounds for bulletin boards
  • White or gray shelving for all of my resource binders, classroom library, and teacher library
  • White and green buckets for holding math and literacy tools and activities
  • Wooden crates for the classroom library books
  • Mini anchor charts for classroom expectations posted where they would be useful

By reducing this visual noise the student art work really stood out creating a space that really represented the students.

Image of students art, made of objects from nature, then a frame was placed around their creation and a photo was taken. These images have been posted on a beige bulletin board.
Neutral bulletin boards
image of grey cupboards on top of a ros of gray shelves for classroom organizaiton, on top of cubbies holding hooks for jackets.
Neutral shelving
Wooden crates hosted on white bookshelves and containing a classroom library as a part of classroom organization.
Neutral wooden boxes in the classroom library.

Note the green and black binders amongst the white binders on the shelf in the middle image. Initially I needed so many binders that I used any binder I could find. Over time, I transitioned to all white binders, and you can readily see the difference using the white binders makes.

6) Blend Classroom Community With Classroom Organization

In addition to nooks and crannies for reading, I was intentional about building classroom community during instructional time. 

  • Desks in groups of four with new seating plans each month to promote new friendships
  • A student chore chart that worked on a rotating buddy system
  • Routines like “Rock, Paper, Scissors” for problem solving things like sharing
  • Easily and independently accessible interactive activities for free time
  • Supporting  inclusion with readily available tools for any one to us any time they wanted to

7) Support Differentiation with Classroom Organization 

My classroom organization created an inclusive and differentiated environment using some of the items already mentioned plus others :

  • Binders in their desks to teach organization for executive functioning support
  • Reduced visual noise to minimize distraction
  • Seating arrangements to build classroom community in preparation for collaboration
  • Small anchor charts to support memory (see below) and classroom expectations
  • The post office (seen above) held differentiated writing papers.
Icon for Printable Anchor Charts available to purchase in the TPT store of Engaging Curiosity.
I find small printable anchor charts posted where they were immediately required worked best . Find them in my store here.

7) Support differentiation with Classroom Organization

My classroom organization created an inclusive and differentiated environment using some of the items already mentioned plus others :

  • Binders in their desks to teach organization for executive functioning support
  • Reduced visual noise to minimize distraction
  • Seating arrangements to build classroom community in preparation for collaboration
  • Small anchor charts to support memory
  • The post office also held differentiated writing papers.
  • Routines and buddy systems to support executive functioning
cream coloured background with a green strip at the top with text that reads, "How to Boost Classroom Organization in 8 Easy Steps: Effective Classroom Organization for the teacher, establish clear routines and procedures, reduce the visual noise, organize seating arrangements, proactively supporting students, and more . . . "

Fitting the Pieces Together

My classroom took a few years to establish as I tossed out some of my ideas and incorporated new ones. I started with the essentials of the physical structures, and then explored different ideas.

The classroom organization of the physical objects in the classroom (desks, binders, tools and resources) supported the less tangible parts of my classroom organization like classroom  routines and procedures. And all of these things were integral to my instruction and classroom management. 

Of course, I had many more systems that worked together efficiently and effectively.  All of these systems and classroom organization made classroom management so much easier.

So, if you don’t know where to start; start with seating arrangements.  

I would love to say start with organizing your own materials. However, the truth is that the students will be there the first day.  All of your materials will not be. 😉

Step one done. Bite sized chunks will get you started.  Now, only look at other classrooms for inspiration.

Classroom organization is an essential part of effective classroom teaching. 

For more on classroom organization download my FREE classroom management checklist today.

You’ve got this. One step at a time.

green background, text overlay reads Download the FREE classroom management checklist here. Images of the pages of the checklist.

Related posts that I have referenced throughout this post.

What is classroom management? Why is it Important?

Tales of : Why is Differentiation in the Classroom Important?

Why Are Classroom Routines Important? Manage Transitions Now

Writing Workshop or Writer’s Workshop: How to Combine Them for Success! 

How to add inclusive strategies for ADHD in the classroom

Classroom Routines 15 steps for How to Achieve Counting Collections Success

Eleven Important Examples of Classroom Expectations and Rules

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