I don’t know about you, but I need my classroom to be a clutter-free and organized space! I consider my classroom my second home, and it’s important to me to have a joyful and stress-free environment! Student Supply Organization Systems are key for maintaining a clutter-free classroom all year long! 

In Part 1 of this Organization blog series, I shared my favorite Organization Systems for teacher materials including paper, read alouds, centers, and more! You can check it out here!

Today, I’m going to share some of my favorite tips for student supply organization! 

Getting Student Supplies Organized

It seems like every year during back to school time, I work so hard on making everything in my classroom perfect. Everything is organized, beautiful, and put away! Then..my students arrive on the first day of school. And with them comes bags and bags of STUFF! I feel so lucky to be at a school that has so many school supplies provided, BUT the clutter can get out of hand without systems in place!

In my classroom, one of my goals is to give my students as much responsibility and ownership of the classroom as possible! I teach them where materials are and how to put things away so that they can be independent. They help keep the organization systems running smoothly and effectively.  

Here are some of my favorite student supply organization systems:

Baskets for School Supply Sorting on the First Day of School

Sorting school supplies on the first day of school used to take me forever! I used to just pile everything up when students came in and waited until after school to sort and put everything away. Now, I have students and parents help me.

 I keep labeled baskets and bins out on the first day of school. Many parents walk their child in on the first day of school and are more than happy to help sort their child’s school supplies into the correct basket! 

I get some of my school supplies ahead of time from the school or during the Open House when parents and students visit the classroom when school starts. I usually get enough supplies to set out a pencil and a box of crayons at each child’s seat on the first day of school (which is all they need for the day!) This cuts down on the chaos of all the extra supplies, and I can slowly pass things out as they are needed. We spend time learning procedures on how to use scissors and glue sticks before I ever hand them out! 

Community/Individual Supplies

I used to always do community supplies in my classroom and LOVED it. I kept caddies with crayons, pencils, glue sticks, and scissors at each table. Students could grab what they needed. Each Friday I would check to see if anything needed to be restocked. Due to the pandemic, we had to make the switch to individual supplies. I give each of my students a zipper pencil pouch to keep their own supplies in. 

Extra Supplies

One of the challenges of switching to individual supplies was that materials seemed to go missing frequently! To cut down on interruptions to teaching and learning, I keep extras of all the supplies students might need so that they can easily access them.

 I also keep a lost and found tub for any supplies that are found on the ground. My students know that they should check the lost and found tub first to see if they can find their missing supply before grabbing a new one. 

Any supplies that I don’t want students to have access to (such as craft supplies) I keep in one of my teacher cabinets! 

Sharp and Dull Pencil Buckets

Another student supply organization system I use are sharp and dull pencil buckets. When a student’s pencil needs to be sharpened, they place it in the dull bucket and grab a new one from the sharp bucket. This minimizes pencil sharpening disruptions! At the end of a day, one first grade friend is in charge of sharpening the pencils in the dull bucket!

You can find the Sharp and Dull Pencil Labels Here!

Student Name Labels for Folders and Journals

One of my favorite things in the world? Labeling all the things! These editable student supply labels make it easy to quickly label student journals, notebooks, and folders! I prep ahead of time before the first day of school by typing my students names and printing on Avery 5263 Labels (10 per sheet). Then once I have all the folders and notebooks, I can just peel and stick! This is such an easy way to keep student supplies organized!

Find Student Supply Labels here!

Take home Folders 

Each of my students is provided with a heavy duty folder that they use as a take home folder. Inside the folder, one of the pockets is labeled, Keep at Home, while the other side is labeled, Return to School. Parents know to check the folder each night when students go home. It is my first graders’ responsibility to check their folder each morning when they arrive for any notes or forms to give to the teacher. 

You can find these fun folder covers here!

Paper Baskets 

On top of our student mailboxes, I keep 2 paper baskets:

• Pink Basket: Papers to Turn In –  This is where students place any notes or forms that they bring from home in their folders. Each morning before starting Morning Meeting, I go through the basket to check and see if there is anything that needs my attention and send any forms that need to go to the office with our classroom messenger. 

This basket is also where students turn in any completed work throughout the day. I try to cut back on papers turned in as much as possible to save myself time! When students complete a whole class activity or morning work I like doing quick checks. The student shows me their work, I look over it, and use a Mr. Sketch Marker to give them a star or smily face. They then put the paper directly in their take home folder! For centers, I love having a grading station for students to check their own work. This helps them to be independent and saves me so much time on grading. Usually the only papers students turn in for me to grade are assessments. 

• Purple Basket: Papers to Pass Out – This is where I place any papers that need to go home with students. I have two Paper Passer helpers who are responsible for checking the basket before we start dismissal. They pass out any papers and students put them in their take home folders!

Classroom Library Organization

My classroom library is hands-down my favorite part of the classroom. Throughout my years teaching I have accumulated so many books through donations, second-hand sales, and scholastic points. It is so important to me that students are able to find books that they are interested in and independently return books when they are finished with them. 

I use library labels from Kinder Craze to organize my classroom library. Each of the baskets in my library has a label. These are printed on cardstock and laminated. Each of the books in the basket has a sticker that I print on Avery Address Labels (30 per sheet). Students can easily look at the sticker and return the book to its home. 

Each week, students have a day to book shop in our classroom library. They take their individual book baskets and start by returning the books they have to their correct homes. Then, they pick out new books to keep in their book baskets for our independent reading time that week. We have many lessons at the beginning of the year (and throughout the year) on selecting just-right books! 

These are some of the systems that help my students and I maintain an organized and clutter-free classroom! The most essential thing for me is to create an environment that feels like a second home for my students, and that my first graders feel empowered in knowing where learning materials are located and can access them in our classroom. 

How do you keep your student materials organized? Let me know in the comments!