Tidy Tubs for Messy Desks

Back again today with another helpful back to school tip!

How many of you use interactive notebooks in your classroom? Yup, me too! I love using them throughout the day with my kids. I think they are a great learning tool in the classroom and we use them as a resource for reviewing the standards we’ve learned and as a reference tool for my students. These notebooks foster independent learning and encourage students to take control of their own progress and reflect on a concept. It’s that metacognition that you’re trying to aim for…thinking about their thinking!

BUT, they are messy. Drive you bonkers cause you find a gazillion little pieces of paper everywhere ALL THE TIME. I know my littles do their best in “cleaning up” but sometimes they just make a bigger mess trying to carry all their little scraps to our big recycling bin in the classroom. What’s a teacher to do?! I’m so happy my students are reflecting on their strategies and assessing their own learning.  I also love that it’s a way of documenting student learning, BUT OH THE MESS! That’s when I said to myself, “Get ahold of yourself Monica Geller!”

Are you laughing at me yet?

So here is my solution to the paper mess. Create a tidy tub for each table so students can throw away their trash as they work and one person can walk the tub to our recycling bin. TA-DA! Or more like DUH!

So there you have it my friends! What do you use to keeping student tables tidy? I’d love to hear what works in your classroom! If you’d like a copy of my tidy tub labels for free, just click on the image below to download a copy. I have a few fonts and templates in case your kids don’t read the cursive fonts too! :)