Kick off for Week 2 Clutter-Free Classroom

This week is all about planning.

Our task: "Develop a plan for decluttering your space and compose a list of "non-negotiable must purge" rules."

She suggests getting a 3-ring binder to help organize. Luckily, my love for 3-ring binders has led me to already have a few extras lying around.

Our blog prompt for the week: "What is your plan for decluttering your classroom?"


Ugh...where to start?
She stresses the following 4 things:
You can't organize clutter.
The less you have, the less you need to manage.
Your trash is (quite possibly) another person's treasure.
There is no value in an object that isn't being used.


I cannot agree more with these statements! Being a teacher, I think it's naturally pretty easy to keep things "just in case." You "never know" when you might teach another grade where that file might be useful, or you "might" have a student who might find that sheet or lesson helpful...and on, and on. 
My husband gets frustrated from time to time because I keep things (even at home) because you "just never know when we might need them!" So, starting with decluttering my classroom is a good start that will *hopefully* carry over into my home and help me get rid of useless stuff.


So my plan of attack...
1. Get rid of anything that I haven't used in the past 1-2 years. This means trash, donate, etc. Just get it out of my room. Don't "file it away for later." Just get rid of it.
2. Anything that I have used and might still use, get rid of extra copies...I really only need masters and can make copies and such when I need them.
3. Get rid of anything that really needs to be "replaced."


Her post yesterday was discussing ways to get rid of things in your classroom. Instead of putting things to the side and saying you'll get rid of them, but picking them back out again, get them physically out of your classroom. Her question for the day was: "What do you think you'll do with the stuff you no longer need, use, or want?"


Well, I followed her earlier instructions and got some bins with a gift card I got from one of my kids for Christmas. When I went in today, I put the clothespins with the "Keep," "Trash," "Recycle," and "Give Away" on the bins. I think most of the stuff I don't want/need will go in the garbage. Since I haven't been teaching that long, I really don't know if I have anything of much value to other teachers.


As a side note, I worked on my new bulletin board for this quarter today...here's a little preview. We're going to be discussing North Carolina's role in the Civil War.