Organizing Group Supplies

After seeing how much you all liked this classroom desk arrangement, I knew I needed to share this idea I saw on Pinterest that could easily be added to that arrangement (or to any group, really). 

The idea:

Autumn over at First Grade Teacher Lady came up with a great way to take her groups to the next level:

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I seem to be in a plastic drawer kick lately. Every time I go to Walmart, I end up buying a wide set, or a tiny set, or a medium set with little drawers on top... you get the picture. 

How To Use It In Your Classroom:

Besides my obvious obsession with these drawers, I think this is a great idea because it keeps all of the supplies that the group might need throughout the day right at their fingertips. No more wasting 5 minutes to pass out journals or markers. Just have that week's group leader pass them out to their neighbors. 

It also keeps their desks from overflowing (though let's be realistic: you are still going to have that handful of kids who somehow find five million random little objects to cram in their desk, right?!) 

If you use the L-Shaped desk arrangement in your class, you could easily use the casters that come with these drawers to make this mobile. They could be rolled to the side when you want to use that spot for your chair during reading groups. (It would also make a great side table for you when you're teaching your small groups.) 

Hmmm.... you could even have one of these in the corner of your room that you roll around with you for small group teaching. It could house the materials you need for teaching your small groups with math supplies in one drawer, reading in another and writing in the third.

We use these drawers at church to house Legos and other building toys. When the lesson runs short (or the service runs long), the kids get to pick a drawer and take it to their group to build until their parents come. This could translate into a great storage system for your indoor recess games or toys.

Do you see now why my house is dangerously close to becoming overrun with plastic drawers?

They have so many great uses!

These are similar to the ones that Autumn uses in her class (I've never seen that top organizer on one before... might just have to add this baby to my rare plastic drawer collection):

But these might work too if you have a need for a few smaller drawers instead of 3 large ones:

What tips do you have for organizing the supplies for each group?

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