My Montessori Journey

Don't "diss" organization

Did you like my little play on words?  I wanted to write again about organization for a couple of reasons. 

First, I am in the process of reorganizing my craft area at home.  Organizing can be frustrating.  There is always a much bigger mess to get to the finished, organized space.  And I HATE that!!  Having two little boys at home, I have only been able to really work on the craft room in little bits while the little guy is napping or after they are both in bed.  Therefore, it is taking a long time and I really want to be down there using it to CREATE!! So, that's one reason I'm writing this post.

Second, when I started this blog, I wrote quite a few posts about reorganizing my office at the Montessori school.  My favorite organization project was my Cubicals organizer that houses all my seasonal items by month.  When I went garage saleing (still don't know if that's a word or if I spelled it right) the other day, I bought several seasonal items and I wanted to show how they fit into that system.

The left photo shows my September "drawer."  At right, you can see all the things that are stored in it.  The 4 boxes of apples I bought at the garage sale went it there.  And it already had other seasonal items like books, shapes, manipulatives, games, and other activities.  I wanted you to see that those drawers really hold a LOT!  And it's great to have it grouped seasonally.  That way I won't forget what I have because it is all together, ready to pull out when I need it.

Accordingly, the Christmas ornaments I bought at the garage sale went in the December drawer, so I will remember to get them out for either PL or a math activity.  The little glass heart dishes went in February, etc.  It's really a great system.

The left photo shows the inside of the September drawer.  You can see that there is still quite a bit of room to put more things in it.  At right is the contents of the February drawer.  I have several bigger items in this drawer, but they still all fit in it just fine. 

Finally, I wanted to explain the title of this post.  As you can see, I am someone who really likes to be organized.  Even so, I never have things quite how I want them (especially at home).  However, I am still really glad I have a SYSTEM in place.  Yes, it took time and even money, but it is so worth it to have everything where I can easily find it.  In the long run, that will SAVE both time and money.  I have been around people who "diss" organization.  I am referring to the people who say things like, "I can never be organized."  OR "I'm so disorganized."  I just want to point out that organization is attainable to everyone.  Yes, it comes more naturally to some than to others.  We all know which side of the fence we fall on.  But everyone (even the chronically disorganized) knows someone who is organized.  My suggestion here is to find one of those people and enlist their help. Chances are they are dying to be asked (I LOVE to help organize, especially OTHER PEOPLE'S stuff!!) and you will benefit greatly in the long run.

OK.............I'm stepping off the (organized) soapbox now.  Hope you enjoyed this post!  If you have any great organization tips, feel free to post a comment.  You are even welcome to email me at the link on the sidebar and send me a photo to illustrate your organizational skills.  With your permission, I will post it on the blog!!

Practical Life storage issues

I received a very good question from Linda in the comments section of one of my posts, so I thought I would reply to it in a separate post.  Linda asked if I am planning to store all my PL activities together as a set when I remove them from the shelf, or will I disassemble them to reuse in other activities.  Without question, I will do the latter.  I store all the parts of the activities separately by type of material (i.e. trays together, baskets together, etc.) so I can easily reuse them in new activities. 

I have mentioned before that I am very blessed in my classroom to have LOTS of great storage space.  In fact, one whole floor to ceiling cabinet is completely devoted to Practical Life materials.  It was set up this way when I arrived.  I snapped some photos of the cabinet yesterday so I could show you.

This photo shows the bottom 3 shelves of the Practical Life storage cabinet.  Directly across from the cabinets is a counter with drawers, a sink, and cabinets above, so I wasn't able to scooch back far enough to get a complete shot.  As you can see, the trays are stored together in a clear plastic tub.  On the same shelf, there are tubs for other types of trays and containers.  The bottom shelf has a laundry basket filled with various baskets.  Large trays are standing upright on the side.  The top shelf of this photo has more containers, jars and baskets.

This shows the top two shelves of the same cabinet with more bowls, containers, baskets and trays.

This cabinet is above the counter with the sink and directly across from the floor to ceiling cabinet shown in the previous two photos.  As you can see, it is used for glass items for the PL area.

There are two of these little storage drawer organizers on the counter with the sink.  They are used for the little things that go into the transfer, dry pouring and spooning activities.

I was thinking about what I would do if I didn't have all the storage I have.  I know that is the situation for many of you.  I certainly did not have this much storage in the classroom in my previous Montessori school.  We had a large unfinished basement in that school and there were some wooden shelves which housed some of the community PL items, but most of our materials were stored in open boxes on the floor.  Anyway, I think I would consider investing in some of the storage containers with drawers on wheels like the one I used in my office (scroll down so you can see the photo in that post).  You can get ones that have only 3 drawers so each drawer is deeper.  I would use the largest one for baskets, and the others for trays, containers, and the little stuff stored in ziploc baggies.  Another advantage to using this type of storage is that you can stack them if you remove the casters on the bottom.  That way you can store quite a bit in a small amount of floor space.  In my previous teaching assignment, we used two 3-drawer units stacked one on top of the other to store all the books we had printed and made from Reading a-z (which is a WONDERFUL resource; if you haven't heard about it you MUST check it out!).   

Setting up the classroom

Well, the painting is finished in my Montessori classroom, so tonight I headed up there for a few hours to start getting the shelves and tables arranged.  The photos below will show what I accomplished.  It feels really good to have it looking like a classroom.  This weekend when I go in to work on it, I will be able to focus on getting materials on the shelves!!

The above two photos show what the room looked like when I started tonight.  All the shelves and tables and chairs had been pushed into the center and stacked up to leave the perimeters open for the painters.

These two photos show the same views as those above, but now (hopefully) they look more organized.  I will try to describe the thought process I used as I set up the space, so scroll down for more photos and descriptions.

This will be the practical life area.  The longer table at the far end was donated to me by a friend.  I am really thrilled with it.  I am planning to use it for food preparation work.  You can't see it very well, but I set up the little table just in front and to the right of the food prep area with two chairs.  I did that on purpose so that a child could do a food prep, then invite a friend to share with them at the little table.  To the left near the food prep area are two shelves which will hold the "messy" and "wet" practical life work.  You can also see the paint drying rack and the edge of the easel near the front of the photo.  The shelf with the white top will be used to set up group snack and the shelf perpendicular to it will have "non-messy" practical life work.

I have left this area open for our "line".  I haven't put the tape on the floor yet, obviously, but this is where it will go.  There are two shelves on the right that are facing towards the open space (they are back-to-back with the practical life shelves in the above photo).  These shelves will hold sensorial materials, as will the shelf on the left in the foreground of the photo.  Lots of the sensorial materials are used on rugs, so it is good that there will be lots of floor space right near the sensorial shelves.  In the left upper corner of the photo you can see what will be the math area.  For those of you who are not familiar with Montessori, it is recommended that the classroom be set up so that practical life flows into sensorial which flows into the math area, followed by language and culture/geography.  So..........this is what I was trying to do.  The blank wall below the window will eventually have my calendar on it and that is where I will sit when leading the large group.  The low table shown will either be used for a demonstration table, or it will be placed on my "peace" rug against the back of one of the math shelves and will be used for the "peace" table.  More on that once it's set up.

This will be the math area.  I am excited that I was able to designate four shelves to math plus the bead cabinet, which is the taller shelf in the back left corner.  My concern in this area was to leave some space near the shelves for math floor work, but also to have table space nearby.  Once the children are here using the space, I will be able to tell if adjustments need to be made.  They need to have easy, unobstructed access to materials on the shelf as well as being able to move around without tripping over children doing floor work.

This photo shows what will be the language area.  Just to the right and out of sight around the corner is the math area from the above photo, to give you perspective.  The two shelves under the window will have language materials, and the stand to the right of them is for the metal insets.  The shelf in the foreground faces towards the window and will also have language work.  At the end of this shelf (you can't see it in the photo) is a small table which will hold the sand tray and sound books.  More on this when I get the language shelves set up.

The three shelves you see near the bulletin board wall here will hold cultural and geography materials.  To the right in the photo is the map stand.  To the left you will see one of two rug holders.  I wanted to be sure to have rugs nearby for the maps, as they are always done on the floor.  I also wanted to be sure to leave an open space near the map stand to allow for floor work in that area.  Not all Montessori classrooms would have a bulletin board.  However, this one does.  I am planning to use this board for posters/pictures of the cultural and science topics we study.  That is a main reason that I wanted the cultural area to be on this wall.  Of all the curricular areas, the cultural/geography/science area probably lends itself the best to having posters and information displayed on the wall.

This is the reading area.  To the right in this photo you can see the corner of one of two cubbie shelves.  This wall is just to the left of the one in the photo above of the cultural area.  I am so blessed to have such a well-equipped classroom.  I love the miniature sofa, chair and ottoman.  The wooden book rack is also very nice to have.  In this photo you can also see the other rug stand.  It is located in a good spot to grab a rug for the sensorial and math materials.  Just behind the book rack and rug stand is another shelf (top left corner).  This will be my art shelf.  It is located just off the tiled area and there are tables nearby for little artists to use for their drawing, cutting and gluing. 

So............there you have it!  I feel really good about the set-up.  I am sure there will be many adjustments, but this is a great start!  As always, I'll keep you "posted" about future developments in the classroom. 

Office overhaul near completion

Well, after a few more hours organizing, the office is pretty close to being how I want it.  As I looked at the title of this post, I realized that I need to make one thing clear:  the previous teacher in this classroom left the cabinets and office VERY well organized.  My work over the past several days has been focused on getting things organized MY way.  I have a very particular way I like things to be placed and organized that is unique to me.  I wanted to make sure no one reading this thinks that the place was a mess, however, because that could not be further from the truth.  In fact, I have been the one making the big mess.  But......that's how I organize best.  So there you have it.

OK........today I bought 2 shelves at WalMart for $16 each.  I thought that was a really great deal.  I also bought 6 natural canvas bins at WalMart.  These come in sets of 2 for under $10, also a great deal.  I have several of these at home.  When I purchased them, I wasn't sure if I would use them to organize books or thematic units.  Once I got up to the school, I decided to use them for my thematic units.  Previously, my units had been stored in HUGE ziploc bags and stuffed in those large Rubbermaid tubs.  Now they are out of the tubs and bags and on the shelf.  I have snapped a photo below of one of the shelves with the 6 canvas bins on it.  I am planning to make little labels for each bin (there is a place to slide in a label on the front), and knowing me, I'll probably add ribbons or something to the handles to spruce them up a bit.  Right now, one bin is empty.  I know I will create more units over the course of the year, so it will be filled soon, I'm sure.  There is plenty of room on top of the shelf for more bins, but I am thinking it might bother me to have open-topped bins on top.  So.......I may use the top of the shelf for the continent boxes I plan to make.  I will probably use those video/photo storage boxes for the continent boxes, as I've noticed several other people have done.  These should stack nicely on top of the shelf.  I haven't decided what to do with the other shelf.  I am probably going to put it out in the waiting area and make a parent resource library on it where parents can check out books.  We'll see.  So....here are some photos that show what's been happening the past few days.

Here is the $16 shelf and the bins.  They actually hold quite a bit.  At home, I use these bins to hold books (they hold LOTS and don't tip over), cars, and little toy animals.  The units I have in the bins so far are:  Birds, Human Body, Plants, Reptiles, and Ocean/Fish.  Any of the larger books that go with the units are placed in the magazine organizers, sorted by unit.    See the following pictures.

For now, I have 11 black magazine holders that hold the non-fiction books to go with each unit.  Today I also added some fiction books that are related to the themes.  Books too big to fit are just squeezed in next to the appropriate magazine holder.  On the shelf below the book holders, you can see my monthly notebooks that I referred to in a previous post.

Here is a little tool drawer type organized with little stuff like safety pins, brads, etc.  Each drawer is labelled and they are in ABC order from left to right.  LOVE IT!!

This is one of two 3-drawer organizers that are holding things like pencils, markers, crayons, certificates, stick-on nametags, etc.

This organizer on wheels fits PERFECTLY under my little desk that was without drawers.  So......it's not taking up other valuable floorspace AND now my desk has drawers.  (BTW:  See those lovely bundled colored pencils in the fourth drawer down?)

Finally, here is the close-up of the picture on top of the cubbies.  It says, "Every child is a different flower--and together they make this world a garden."

More organizing..........forgot the camera!

I just got back from spending about 2 1/2 hours at Montessori again.  However, I forgot to take the camera today.  Sorry!  I will take it up tomorrow and snap a photo of the picture above the cubbies.  Today I spent organizing my professional books and non-fiction books.  I am using black magazine holders to sort my non-fiction books by category (i.e. birds, mammals, ocean/fish, cultural, art, etc.)  This system will work well, I think.  I also finished labelling all my little drawer organizers. It makes me so happy to have little labels on everything.  I will post photos of those tomorrow too. 

I am really loving the cubby organizer.  I took a bunch of my seasonal stuff from my last Montessori gig up today and sorted it all into the various drawers. I am thinking about buying another one to store science and geography units.  The drawers really hold a lot. 

Guess that's all for today.  I am almost finished with the office reorganization and the next project is the classroom.  How exciting!!

Making good progress........

I spent quite a bit of time on the office at Montessori again today.  I feel really good about what I got done, and I'm trying not to get bogged down and overwhelmed about how much is left to do.  Like my cousin says, "If you're going to eat an elephant, take it one bite at a time" (or something like that).  My WAY COOL project is completed and I have to say it really turned out great.  I am posting the pictures here with a description of what I did or used.

Yesterday, I purchased a Cubicals organizer by Closetmaid from Target.  Several teachers at my school have them and I have been scheming about this since I found out I was hired for the Montessori position.  The fabric drawers were purchased separately (also at Target).  Since there are about 9 months of the school year and 9 drawers, I have labeled one drawer for each month.  That way, I will have a place to put all the activities for that month ahead of time and I can just grab the drawer when that month comes around.  I debated about using all natural colored drawers and sprucing each one up with seasonal ribbons.  However, they were out of the natural drawers last night, and I thought the different colors would give the office some pizzazz.  I picked the drawer colors by what colors kind of go with each season.  I had to really stretch for a few months (i.e. I used green for October) because I only had limited colors to choose from.  But I really love the way it looks.

Here is a closer-up photo of the drawers. 

Here is a close-up of the September drawer.  I used tags labelled with Creative Memories month stickers and tied them on with string.  Then I tied on seasonal ribbons to each drawer pull.  My oldest son helped cut the ribbon and really enjoyed working on this project with me. 

Here is the September drawer pulled out with some of the activities inside.  In addition to seasonal activities, I plan to place any science, geography, or cultural materials for that month in the drawer.  For example, we will be doing Living/Nonliving, Plant/Animal work in science in September and continent study for geography; so those materials will end up getting filed in the September drawer.  Additionally, I may put the birthday certificates and crowns for each month in the drawer ahead of time so they will be ready for the year.

Above are photos of a few more drawer handles.  If you would like to see more close-ups of the other months, post a comment.

And finally, I wanted to post this photo of the office looking a lot more organized than yesterday.  It is coming along.  I have a little left to do in here, then on to the classroom! 

Color Sorting (for adults!)

I spent a few hours at Montessori again today, but wish I had been there longer.  I wanted to complete the office reorganization, but I didn't have enough time.  Hopefully by the end of the weekend, that space will be pleasantly organized to my liking.  I did make a lot of progress, however.  I pulled out all the miscellaneous office supplies and sorted them by category.  I had a little helper (my oldest son) for the first hour or so until Daddy picked him up to go grocery shopping.  He helped me sort all the colored pencils by color.  I know that is kind of over the top to some of you out there.  However, there were all these boxes of colored pencils and I felt that in the long run, it would be easier to have them sorted by color so I wouldn't have to look through multiple boxes for the color I need in the classroom at any given time for any given work I put out.  So, there you have it.  Plus, it makes me really happy to see all those little bundles of colors.  Here are a few photos to show what's happening so far.......

Here are all those pencils dumped out on the floor. (I like to organize by dumping everything out in a big pile and then sorting it into neat little groups.)

Now is that beautiful, or what?  I mean, seriously!  The pencils are all grouped by color and placed into a drawer organizer.  Eventually the drawer will have a little label on the outside called "Colored Pencils".  Just the thought of it makes me all giddy!!

The above three photos are here for a reason.  I wanted to show the "before" shots so that by contrast the "after" shots will be even more amazing and impressive.  Plus, I just wanted to show how much more work I have to do.  I went to Target tonight and bought my organizer.  I am hoping to get it put together tomorrow.  And let me tell you, when I finish, it is going to be WAY COOL!!  (At least to me, and that's the most important thing, right?)

Digging in.........(or out as the case may be)

Today was my first official day of summer vacation. At a reasonable hour (about 9:00 a.m.), I headed up to my new classroom at the Montessori school. In my new set-up, there is an office area for me next to the classroom, with a storage room right off the office. The storage room has a wall of floor to almost-ceiling cabinets which are filled with materials. It is a true blessing to have such a nice physical space and such a wide range of materials.

My goal this morning was to pull everything out of all the cabinets to see what materials are there. In the process of doing this I reorganized and regrouped some things and threw out a few materials that were very old and in bad shape. I am thrilled to have some of the traditional Montessori materials that I have never taught with before such as the bead material and the bells.  It felt good to see what is there.  It gives me a better idea of what to tackle next.

(A FUNNY SIDENOTE:  When I was in the office area, I was looking at the desk in there and thinking I would like a more functional one.  The existing desk does not have any drawers and just has a funny shelf below the top.  However, when getting ready to add the link to the bell material, I realized that the desk might actually be the bell cabinet!!  I am going to ask Barb, the consultant from my training center, when we get together later this summer.)

Edited 5/24/08:  On further investigation, I now realize that my desk is not the bell cabinet after all.  It is too tall.  Also, after cleaning and organizing, I am finding that it will be just perfect after all.

After going through the cabinets I was pretty worn out (even though it only took me about 2 1/2 hours of the 4 1/2 hours I had allotted to work today).  So, I headed back to my old school for a while, chatted with a few colleagues, and straightened a few things.  Since I still had time left before I needed to pick up the boys, I went to our two local dollar stores and our local thrift store to see what, if any, treasures I could find.  I scored big at the thrift store.  I found a little Zen sand garden for $4.  It was in the original box and has 2 little rakes, several pretty stones, and extra bags of the really fine sand.  I am planning to add it to the peace corner in the classroom.  I have included a photo below:

I am planning to work at Montessori again tomorrow.  My goal will be to start organizing the office area.  I may head to Target first for an organizer that I have been dreaming of for the office.  I will post about what I get done tomorrow, tomorrow!

Organizing the products of creativity

My oldest son has become a prolific artist during his kindergarten year.  He loves to draw and for the past several months he has taken to drawing things, then cutting out those things.  He likes to draw "figures", as he calls them, from his favorite books.  Then he will take the paper figures and act out the story with them.  As a mom, I really love seeing his creative side blossom.  However, his creativity has resulted in literally hundreds of little paper figures which pile up all over the house and drive me nuts.  I am not the best housekeeper in the world by any stretch of the imagination; however, I do actually like things to be somewhat orderly.  When my environment becomes cluttered and disorganized, my stress level increases tremendously. 

So............I had to come up with some way to organize all this paper stuff.  Originally, I was just stashing everything in gallon-sized ziploc bags.  This worked well for a while.  However, with each passing day, his creations multiply.  Our current system is working pretty well, so I thought I would share it today.  I got a 3-ring binder and made a page protector for each letter of the alphabet.  I made a tab for each page protector using a cut-up mailing label.  Then my son and I sat down and organized all the figures into their respective pockets.  It is amazing to me that he remembers the names of all these things even weeks and months after drawing them (most of them are animals which he drew after reading a few "animal dictionary" type books).

In the same binder, I have 3-hole punched some gallon-sized ziplog bags to contain the pieces of specific projects.  For example, he LOVES every book ever written by Robert E. Wells and has drawn the figures for each story we own.  Each book has its own ziplog bag in the binder, labelled with the book title written in Sharpie marker.   (BTW........if you haven't checked out Robert E. Wells' books, PLEASE type his name in on Amazon.  Every Montessori classroom and home should own these books.  Maybe I will devote a future post just to our dear Robert.)

In addition to the "figures" binder, I have started another binder with page protectors where I file drawings and artwork by both boys.  I try to keep these roughly in chronological order, and, when I remember to, I label the drawing with the date.

I hope these ideas are useful.  If you have any other great organization tips, please feel free to post a comment. 

Getting organized

For the past year (long before I actually had a job as a Montessori teacher), I have been collecting information and ideas from a variety of sources (mostly other teachers'/moms' weblogs).  I have organized these various ideas to use in the classroom by storing them in separate "monthly" files on my computer.  Using Microsoft Word, I organized the ideas by "areas" (i.e. practical life, math, language, science, art, music, etc.) in a document for each month.  Then I printed each month's idea document and placed it in a binder in page protectors.  I have separate binders for each month of the school year (however, I combined August/September).  In addition to the idea documents, I have put any seasonal activities/materials that will fit into page protectors at the back of the binder.  That way everything will be ready to pull out for that month and then can be filed back into the binder at the end of the month.  This system will also allow me to easily add to each month's binder from year to year.  Below I have posted some photos to show you what the system looks like.

Here are all the binders sitting in their box, ready to go to their new "home" (my new school) soon.

Here is a close-up of the labels I made for the spines of the binders.

Here is the first page of the August/September idea document to give you an idea of how I organized that part of each binder.

Here is one of the activities I have made for August/September.  It is from the Kidssoup website.  I am a member there and I highly recommend it.  They have LOTS of great activities and games that could supplement the Montessori curriculum in many areas.