How to Organize Your Supplies

 

Science teachers have a lot of stuff. Not only do we have text books and regular classroom supplies like paper and pencils, we also have all of those lab supplies. The more content you teach, the more supplies you have, so middle school science classroom often have tons of stuff to cover earth science, life science, and physical science. The good news, of course, is that it’s highly unusual for a science teacher to have to switch classrooms over the summer (unlike our LAL and social studies brethren). The bad news is that you might have inherited a disorganized mess of materials and supplies and are struggling to tame that wild beast. Here are my best classroom organization systems for science.

Daily supplies

Middle schoolers don’t always bring their school supplies to class. (Sorry, didn’t mean to start today’s blog with such a shocking announcement.) I used to fight it – “Go to your locker and get them” or “You have to finish this activity at home” or, even worse, “You get a zero for today.” I don’t fight it any more.

If you haven’t seen the SNL skit “Y’all won,” go see it now – here’s a link!

I have too many important things to take care of that I just can’t worry about things like colored pencils and glue sticks any more. So I used some of my lab supply budget for school supplies – I bought a ton of colored pencils, scissors, glue sticks, tape, paper clips, rulers. Here’s how I organize them to keep a loose grip on my sanity.

Things like colored pencils, glue sticks, and scissors get used several times a week because I use interactive notebooks in my middle school science classroom. For these items, I organize them in a caddy like this one and place a complete set of supplies on each lab table.

To keep the caddies organized and pencils sharpened, I assign a supplies supervisor for each class period on a rotating job list. (Check out my blog on classroom jobs here.)

I create a “Pick up station” near the door of my classroom for items students should pick up when they walk in. That’s where I put handouts and even sometimes lab supplies like magnifying glasses or tubs of play-doh.

Occasional supplies

For classroom items that only get used once in a while – rulers, compasses – I store them in a plastic rolling storage cart like this one. I also store frequently used lab supplies here – things like straws, skewers, magnifying glasses, play-doh.

This is especially handy because it gives me a flat surface on top for larger materials that need to be stored like bins of clipboards or boxes of markers.

Lab Supplies

For most labs, I assemble all of the materials and consumables in a wash basin like this one, a cafeteria tray, or a dish pan. The day before I plan to do the lab, I place the materials each group will need onto a try and students return the tray to its original condition at the end of the lab when I can refill consumables.

I buy enough pans so I can set up for 2 classes at a time. This minimizes the frantic clean up and set up at the end of each period.

Another job in my rotating job list is lab supply coordinator. This person distributes lab trays and collects them at the end of the period.

I like this method because it reduces the amount of walking around in class. With organized systems in place, students are less likely to get injured or fool around.

Storage of lab supplies

Hopefully, you have lots of cabinets to store glassware and larger lab supplies from year to year. One way to organize your cabinets is to have one cabinet for each unit – maybe a cabinet with all of your earth science materials, and another cabinet with your DNA models. Some teachers prepackage each of their labs and store them as a unit but I’ve always found that I need some materials – beakers, for example – for multiple labs and just don’t have the budget to purchase extra.

Filing Cabinets

In days gone by, teachers had giant binders and filing cabinets filled with hard copies of every resource, notes packet, test, and lab. Of course, now we store all that digitally. But I still have my old filing cabinets.

I use the most convenient height drawer for daily handouts. I print a few weeks of handouts at a time and then store them in chronological order in this drawer.

The second drawer holds my laminated docs – task cards, wall signs for scavenger hunts, words for my word wall. I try to keep these in chronological order but I’m not always successful at that.

If you’re lucky enough to have another drawer, its great for file folder games and game pieces and escape room locks.

Keeping it organized

Of course, no organization system works if you don’t put things away when you use them. I label heavily – every cabinet is labeled and many shelves inside the cabinets are labeled. This not only helps me know where everything goes but it also lets me give some responsibility to my students as they learn what’s expected.

There’s nothing worse than coming in to a messy classroom on Monday morning, so I make it a practice to do a quick reorganization every Thursday or Friday just to put things back where they belong. That also gives me time to breakdown labs I’m finished with and begin to set up for next week’s activities.

What did I forget? What other organizing challenge do you have in your science classroom?