Organizing all of our "Stuff"...Part II

So, you thought I had forgotten about part II, did you!?  Oh no, of course not!  Here's the story behind organizing all of our stuff...part II:

About the time I decided I needed to organize ALL of my books, I also happened upon this website: http://www.clutterfreeclassroom.blogspot.com/ .  Needless to say, I went a bit crazy with the organizing!  I'm just being honest.  I WENT CRAZY!  I finally had to admit I had a real problem when I found myself printing out labels for my LABELS!  But, since there is no twelve step program for organizing gone overboard, I kept organizing and created a "teacher binder"! 

This just gives you an idea of how thick my "teacher binder" really is!
Crazy, I know!

The original idea was PURCHASED from the Clutter Free Classroom web site (I only adapted this for my preschool use).   I used the basic set of forms I purchased (VERY affordable) and then added and created the forms I needed for preschool use.

As early childhood educators we know that there are many routines that require procedures when multiple adults are working in the classroom.  In order to make sure everyone is on the same page and following routine procedures in a way that is appropriate for our program, I created a list of 24 general procedures for our classroom. 

While many of these are simply our general program procedures, I added some that I felt were important to address with any new teacher associate and for guest teachers to view when they are new to the classroom. Here are the 24 procedures I ended up writing out:

1. Anecdotal Notes
2. Attendance
3. Bus
4. Cod Red (lock down)
5. Daily Notes
6. Diapering
7. Dismissal
8. Face to Name (a school district form)
9. Fire Drill
10. Gentle Technique
11. Gym
12. Incident/Hurt Alert Forms
13. Key words
14. Meal Forms
15. Outdoor Nature Classroom
16. Red Alert
17. Sanitizing Schedule
18. Sensory Breaks
19. Sign-in Sheets
20. Small Groups
21. Storm Drill
22. Team Meetings
23. Transition Out of Classroom
24. Transition from gym or outdoors to classroom

This section of my "teacher binder" starts with a list of all of the procedures.  Behind this is a page or more as to how to correctly follow each procedure.  This gives me a very quick way to work with new teacher associates on how to handle specific circumstances.  Here's a quick example of one of the procedures I wrote:

                                 Anecdotal Notes

Sticky notes are located in the drawer near the door.

Small Group time, outdoor learning, lunch and center work are all good times to take anecdotal notes

Examples 8-9-10  At Sm. Groups Tommy said "choo, choo" and pushed the car on the carpet. (teacher initials)

Anecdotal notes need:  where or when this happened (small groups, lunch...etc.) what the child did, what the child said (if any) number of times child did this (if more than one)

Anecdotal notes should NOT have: any opinions (he liked to paint, he was fussy, she wanted to play) should NOT describe feelings (he felt left out, she was mad/sad/upset) 

Anecdotal notes should be kept short.  These are just a quick snapshot of what the child did and said.

Place the completed anecdotal note in the child's folder.  Try to figure out what section the anecdotal note would fall under.  If you are not able to fit it under a section, put the note on the back or on a blank sheet.

This binder not only holds the Procedures information, but just about all information a guest teacher would need when coming in to the classroom. Therefore, it's left on my desk each night in case I would need a guest teacher the following day!   I may have gone crazy organizing, but that new teacher associate or guest teacher may be thankful for all my crazy work! 

**This post is linked to Rainbows Within Reach classroom organization linkie!