7 Back to School Organization Ideas

Are you wanting to get organized for the back to school season? For me, it is so hard to get organized, but once I get there, I feel so much better! Check out these ideas to help with your back to school organization!

Want more organization ideas? Check out my classroom organization idea list on my Amazon storefront!

Back to School Organization Starts with a Calendar

Back to school organization has to start with a calendar, right? Our provided school calendar is digital, so I like create my own calendar! I map out the year in advance, including any school functions, a general outline of topics/units I plan to cover, and my own personal calendar.

This helps me feel like I have a general sense of how the year will go! I made an editable version of these horizontal and vertical calendars, and they’re updated every year! Click the button below to check them out.

Plan Your Management Systems

I use a check in/check out system with my class. Not only does this allow me to see where my students are, but it also makes taking the lunch count a breeze! Having this system in place helps me to feel more organized. Want to see me set up this board? Click the button below to see it on my Instagram!

For more classroom management ideas, click the image below!

Create a Welcome Letter or Postcard

Working on my classroom letter always gets me excited for the school year! I like to mail this letter or a post card to my students when I find out who is in my class. This gets them excited for school too! The letter template is part of a bundle of back to school forms to get organized, like the ones pictured below.

Gather Student Information

Compiling student information is a necessary piece of back to school organization. I need to access this information regularly, so it should be in a safe, convenient place. 

This bundle includes all the forms you could want to gather student information! I like to keep them all in a binder so that I know where to find everything. All of the forms are editable, so you can easily change them each year. Want to check out the bundle? Click the button below!

Create a System for Papers to Copy or Grade

I always have stacks of papers that need to be copied or taken home to grade sitting on my desk. This year I used these clear plastic envelopes from the Dollar Tree, and I love them! The labels ‘to grade’ and ‘to copy’ labels are FREE, so make sure you grab them by clicking the button below!

Streamline Your Paper Collection

I get frustrated when my students don’t turn in their work and I have trouble keeping track of who has turned in which assignments. To make this easier, I typed up a class checklist and printed it on sticky notes! I just stick a sticky note on the key or the first paper I collect and check off their names as the papers are turned in. 

Another way to streamline your paper collection is to have some kind of organizational turn in system. You could use trays for each subject. For example, Mrs. Heeren’s Happenings uses a stackable tray with subject labels (pictured below), or you can ask students to turn papers into a crate in their assigned number slot like the image above. 

Want to try out the class list sticky notes? Click the button below!

Organize Classroom Materials

Gather all the bins! I like to organize classroom books by month as well as my resources. My brain works best when I plan by month, so I keep original copies, model of our seasonal crafts, lesson plans, etc. grouped by month in bins.

The colored bins are from Storex and the clear bins are from Michaels. You can grab these month labels by clicking the button below!

I also like to determine how I will organize classroom materials. Will students have desk trays? Will tables share materials? Do students need to keep all their materials together, or can some materials used less often be kept elsewhere? One of my favorite teacher gifts I’ve received are these caddies from Storex. The cups can be removed, which I love! However, they are on the more expensive side. Because of that, I linked some of my other favorite (and more affordable) caddies below!

• Storex caddies without removable bins (Amazon)
• Really Good Stuff caddies with smaller compartments (Amazon)
• Bullseye’s Playground Classroom Caddies (Target)

These are some of my favorite summer projects to do so that I feel organized when we go back to school. Want to save it to revisit during the summer?