Finished

A new school year will begin next week.  I would like to report that in the last 6 months I have been able to clear and organize the clutter in my classroom, but, alas, I have not.  I decided in late May to retire instead!  I gave away many of my materials to teachers and students in my school.  I held a garage sale and sold $1600 worth of "stuff".  I still have a lot of craft supplies and seasonal decorations which I will give to my fellow teachers when I substitute this fall.  Now I plan to organize my craft room at home.  Maybe I will share my progress with that project.
In the meantime,  I will enjoy retirement!

No time to declutter today.  Had to complete our Science Fair Project.  I am very proud of how well it turned out!  Of course the students did the work but I enjoyed planning and organizing the poster.
I was able to clear off three tables and one desk to offer as display stands in the school hallway.
Now when the tables come back. I must not place the stuff back on them!  This will be my first step in clearing the clutter in my classroom!

Here are some photos of our project:

Laser i3 is a program we are piloting
from the Smithsonian Institute.
We did one design challenge and recorded the team results.

We were actually proving Sir. Isaac Newton's
Second Law of Motion. 

There were 8 teams of students who
drew technical drawings and recorded their results.

The "thumbs up" sign identifies teams that met the challenge.

"Thumbs down" means the challenge was not met. 

50% of the teams were successful in meeting the design challenge
while 50% did not.
Students concluded that all teams could succeed if there
had not been a time limit.

Gave up!

I have been a teacher and hoarder for many years.  I currently teach fifth grade and came across a site called "Clutter-free Classroom".  This program offers a step by step way to de-clutter and organize all the stuff I've collected over my many years in the classroom.  So I am going to give it a try.  I am planning to retire in the next few years and would like to leave with a few boxes of meaningful belongings instead of a truck load of stuff to store in my garage!

The first assignment was to photograph my classroom as it is today - a complete mess!  I am truly embarrassed to show these pictures to anyone but I know it is the best way to get me moving and become committed to this journey.  So here are my photos.  

I am fortunate to have a very large classroom with 23 students.

My room is decorated in red, white, and blue with 5 large storage
closets along one wall.

This area is for completed classwork and homework.  As you can see
there is little organization to this clutter.  Many papers are
lost in this area!

This is one of my teacher areas.  It is located in the left front of the room .
I conduct my whole class lessons from this area.
And I can never find a pencil when I need one! 

Our Science Area
We have two classroom guinea pigs named CJ and EV.
Their litter and food are stored under the table.
Our Science program Laser i3 materials are
displayed on the bookcase.
I need to find a better place for the TV!

The sink area houses starter plants and cleaning supplies.
The small refrigerator is empty except for a few
vegetables for the guinea pigs. 

The first closet holds cubbies for extra books
coat hooks, and lots of extra
supplies that are impossible to find when needed.
I was looking for binder rings today and just gave up!

Closet #2 holds another 12 "cubbies"
for students and mainly empty
containers.  I just noticed the wire rack shelf
that I didn't know I had
but I don't remember why I wanted it. 

Closet #3
Arts and crafts supplies
Tools and lots of other stuff!

Closet #4
On the left side are Science materials
On the right are Social Studies and Math manipulatives.
When taking this picture I noticed the bag hanging on the door.
Inside were incentive prizes that I had purchased at the beginning
of the year and had forgotten all about.

I couldn't get into closet #5 but it holds more boxes
of craft supplies.  For Christmas my school made ornaments
to send to Joplin, Missouri, since many residents had lost
everything during a tornado in May.  We made 450 ornaments and I
was able to supply all the materials need to make them.  I had everything
from pom poms, beads, pipe cleaners, bells, foam, ribbon, kits, paint,
glue, buttons, sequins, glass ornaments, pins, etc. to make all the ornaments.
I didn't need to buy anything!  And I still have lots left over!
Games are stored in the white shelves.

My classroom library.  I made adjustments to the shelves so
they would hold two rows of books.
The bottom shelf on the left has come apart and is being
held up by two dictionaries. 

A work table with no room to work. 

The opposite side of the library - not too bad!

Another "teacher" area. 

My desk is in there somewhere. 

One uncluttered area!

Shelves that could be put to better use.

Mailboxes and supply center.

Our mobile computer lab  with supply station on top.