9 Tiny Upgrades for Managing and Organizing Your Classroom
A neat, tidy, and comfortable classroom is a key contributor to a successful school year (and saving a teacher’s sanity). Below are a few fun, easy, out-of-the-box classroom organization and classroom management ideas:
1. Hanging Curtains
You may not think of curtains as management tools, but making the environment more comfortable by blocking bright afternoon sunlight and heat can actually help prevent some less-than-ideal student behaviors. Cool and calm your classroom with curtains that you can easily hang by yourself!
Check your local Buy Nothing group and thrift shops for free or inexpensive curtains with eyelets or grommets. Then, attach Ceramic Magnetic Hooks along your steel window frames to hang your curtains. Hint: test your window frames first with any magnet to make sure they’re magnetic receptive. (They could be aluminum, to which magnets will not stick.)
2. Covered Lights
The glare and flicker from your LED lights can cause headaches, eye strain, and stress. Space-calming solution: use Magnet Strip to cover them with an approved fire-retardant light filter!
Simply peel and attach a Magnet Strip to the steel frame, such as a ceiling rail, of your light fixture. Then, peel and attach another strip to your light filters. Hint: be sure to position the strips correctly in relation to one another – so their poles attract (rather than repel) – before you attach the second strip to the light filter.
3. Classroom Decor and Dangling Student Art Displays
Hang inflatable or paper décor items from the ceiling, simply by placing Ceramic Magnetic Hooks on steel ceiling rails! Magnets are also a great way to display student artwork from the ceiling – simply punch a hole, tie with string, and hang!
4. Visual Seating Charts
Print photos of your students’ faces, attach a small strip of Magnet Tape or an Adhesive Magnet Dot to the back of each photo, and place them on your whiteboard in the seating arrangement you prefer. When it’s time to change seats, simply rearrange your magnetic photos!
5. Student Jobs or Attendance Tracker
Create a jobs grid – with assignments across the top and student names on one side – on your whiteboard. Then, use a Button Magnet, Magnetic Two-color Counter, or Big Push Pin Magnet to mark each students’ role. Works for attendance check-ins, too! When it’s time to shuffle, simply move the magnets around.
6. On-Demand Learning Centers
Create a manipulative-based learning center anywhere in your room! Simply attach magnets to the backs of your learning materials. For paper or card stock materials, use Magnet Tape, Magnet Strip, or Adhesive Magnet Dots. For very lightweight plastic or foam materials, use Magnet Strip.
If your students are stationed near a steel filing cabinet or desk, stick your magnetic materials to those surfaces. If not, peel the adhesive from another set of magnetic tape, strip, or dots and attach them to any non-magnetic surface in your room (a wall, wooden door, window, etc.) to make it magnetic receptive.
Or, simply hand your students their own Magnetic Dry-erase Boards, and they can learn in their laps…or even on the floor!
7. Whiteboard Pocket Chart Centers
Skip expensive pocket chart stands and use empty whiteboard space instead! Use sturdy magnets, such as our Big Block Magnets, Ceramic Magnetic Hooks, or Big Push Pin Magnets, to secure a pocket chart.
Remember that the heavier the contents of your pocket chart, the more magnets you’ll need to hold it up. (Tip: don’t use the magnets to hold up a center sign or instruction sheet, while they’re also holding up the pocket chart. That can create a bigger air gap, causing the pocket chart to slide down. Just use a separate magnet for the sign, and tuck instructions in a pocket.)
When students are done, you can quickly remove and fold the whole pocket chart center, so your board is ready to be utilized for the next learning opportunity.
8. Homework and Handouts Organization
Keep your horizontal surfaces clean and clutter-free! Instead, use strong, oversized magnets to secure stacks of homework sheets and student work, parent letters, and other important notices and handouts to magnetic-receptive vertical spaces, such as your big classroom whiteboard or the sides of a steel filing cabinet, bookshelf, or desk.
Choose from big plastic-encased magnets that hold up to 10 (Big Push Pin Magnets and Big Button Magnets), 13 (Big Ring Magnets), or 20 (Big Block Magnets) sheets of standard weight copy paper per colorful magnet!
9. Hall Pass and Personal Item Organizers
Never lose another hall pass or misplace your lanyard! Simply place Big Push Pin Magnets or Ceramic Magnetic Hooks on your whiteboard, steel door frame, desk side, or filing cabinet to hang your hall passes, school ID, keys… even your jacket or umbrella. (And check out our Magnetic Hall Passes – they stick right to your whiteboard!)
Magnets are a great way to make all your classroom space more conducive to learning. Visit www.DowlingMagnets.com for other fun ideas for using magnets to teach, display, and decorate!
Tags: classroom decor , classroom decor magnets , classroom magnet products , classroom magnets , classroom management magnets , classroom organization , classroom organization magnets , magnetic classroom tools , teacher resources
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