Wow Us Wednesday ~ Classroom Organization Link Party!

It's that time of year! We're recharged from summer break and ready to get our classrooms and therapy rooms set up and organized for the new year. I'm always tweaking my organizational and storage systems to try to make the best use I can of my small space and it is so much easier to do when unpacking after summer break.

I love cruising Pinterest and blog hopping to check out classroom organizational ideas. Here are a few of my recent faves.

I took a couple of weekends last spring and converted all my files to binders. Totally worth the time!

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Space Saving Game Storage

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Using photos to cue clean-up.

This blog has tons of great ideas!

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Orlanda and I want to see YOUR space! We thought it would be great to start a Classroom Tour Linky Party right here at the Dynamic Duo so that we can have a one-stop bounty of classroom tour goodness.

So, snap some pics of your classroom or therapy room and post them here. The link party will be open from now until Wednesday, September 4. If you don't have a blog to link to and still want to share your photos, follow the directions here. And make sure to "like" your faves. We will feature the top 3 "liked" entries in a follow-up post.

We will start the party off with a quick tour of our rooms.

Here's Kelley's SCORES (Social Communication & Resource Program) room. My room was designed to be a physical therapy/occupational therapy room. It is divided into two parts with a glass wall in the center. I have placed the sensory area on the larger half of the room and the academic area on the smaller half. It is definitely cozy, so we have to be very diligent about keeping it clutter-free and using space wisely. For storage, I have brought in a few bookshelves and melamine cabinets from home and am able to stash them in a little alcove right outside of my classroom. I'm so lucky that my administration lets me do this. Otherwise, I would be a crazy person!

My room is set off down a short hallway right off the front entrance from our school. 

We have a welcome sign to let folks know where to find me and my TA (Mrs. McBride ~ who is BRILLIANT and I couldn't live without her!)

My make-it-work-in-the-hallway storage system for social thinking/behavior tools and all the literacy materials...

Shelves for math materials...

Our awesome Playmobil school for role playing and wire drawers with stress balls, puppets, & carpet spots. Under the blue tablecloth is our makeshift kitchen (mini fridge, microwave, and rubbermaid drawers full of snacks).

Our sensory area.... we LOVE the cocoon swing from IKEA - it is so much cheaper than specialty catalogs and so great for those calm down moments we all need sometimes! I do need to pump the seat back up - a student told me yesterday that it was hurting his "leg pits". So funny! The shelves contain books, fine motor activities, visual and auditory activities, and a "cloud sand" tray.

Our yummy calm down tent & hippity hop ball. The tent is filled with a blanket, pillow, beanbag chair, and a handful of stuffed animals. The big stuffed animals are filled with beans to serve as a calming weighted item.

A computer for my Teaching Assistant and the students to share. You can see through the little doorway our academic learning area.

On the academic side of the room I have my work nook. I try hard to keep down the clutter and visual noise, but it is hard! A big goal of mine this year is to TRY to keep my desk clean. It's day 3 of school and I'm not being very successful thus far. :(

As you can see, we keep our florescent lights off and have lamps scattered around both sides of the room. It is so much more calming! Here is the work area and storage for currently-being-used materials for academics and social thinking groups. On the side of the cabinet we are trying a stamp card this year instead of a sticker chart for showing whole body listening during groups.

Here's Orlanda's Speech/Language Therapy room...

Here are the friendly guidelines for our get-together:

·  When you link up, please grab our button and include it somewhere in your post. You can find it on the sidebar. Thanks!

·  Please check out other great bloggers and leave them some comment love!

·  Please make sure that your link is directly related to a classroom tour, organizational tip, or organizational product.

·  Please join the Dynamic Duo as a blog friend. Follow us by email (on the sidebar) or through your blog reader. That way you can make sure to get the most up-to-date posts.

So, get your classroom tour ready and join the party!