Clear Plastic Shoe Box Storage

As an aspiring teacher, I keep dreaming of the day that I get a phone call saying "Congratulations Mrs. Castle, we would want our team of educators."  EEK!  I just can't wait; however, I kinda have to; because I do not have the powers to speed up time.  What can I do between now and then?  Finish my education, build a game plan, and daydream about what my classroom is going to look like.  So far I have found some organization ideas that I think ROCK.

First and foremost, I can see how every teacher will have a plethra of pencils, pens, erasers, stickers, crayons, markers, paint, calculators, construction paper, and etc.  How do you organize it?  One of the best ways that I have seen this done was actually in a teacher friends classroom.  She had all little stuff like crayons, scissors, rulers and markers in the clear plastic shoe boxes that you can get at the Dollar Tree for $1.  On one end and the lid she had a taken the printable name badges from Avery and printed labels with the word of the objects and a clip art picture of the objects on them.  The boxes were neatly stacked and looked perfectly organized. How cool is that?

(I just found this pic on Pinterest, had a hard time finding the original pin, sorry)

I would be giddy if I walked into my new classroom and it was set up like this, SO COOL!  This is great!  Oh, and look at the "Mirror", it is stainless steel framed and used as a magnetic board for little containers with stuff like paperclips.  Just pop a piece of magnet strip on the back and Rock On!

Now, back to what I was saying.  Using these clear plastic storage bins, everything has a home, stacks, and looks GREAT!  

Using this same set up, cut some card stock to fit into these boxes and use as dividers for things like stickers. Just label the top based on seasons, lessons, holidays, etc.  This way all of the stickers are corralled in one box that you can sit up high and out of reach of the students.

I also like the idea of having an award box.  My idea of a award box is using the above two techniques.  I am not a candy giver-outer as awards simply because I can't afford lots of candy.  So why not make some award tickets?  using the divider techniques, you can make some tickets, print them out, cut them up and box them.  This will come in super handy and the students can have some choice. More on a good award system later.

Also, I have seen where teachers have students bring in a box or two of pencils.  Using these shoe boxes, you can write the students name on the box they brought in and keep the boxes of pencils stored away.  When the student needs another pencil, they can go to their box and get one.  Along with the award system, I have more about pencils for a later date.

Do you get what I am trying to say here?  These clear plastic shoe boxed with lids stack great, provide a organized system that students can easily follow, corral loose tools, and just plain ole store items for later use.  When labeled properly and with clear instructions, these boxes should be a great addition to any classroom.  You can even have a student assigned to make sure that all the items are put back where they belong and the boxes are placed where they belong with the lid on properly.

The uses for these boxes are limitless.