Laura Starnes over at Kinder Kraziness is having a linky party to share ideas on how we all back up or store our data. I’ve enjoyed checking out how others organize their files and thought I might have something to add to this conversation. Organization is a bit of a gift of mine.
Last year for Christmas my parents gave me a 1 TB portable hard drive. It has SO MUCH Space!!!! I love it!
This portable hard drive marketed by WD Elements is fairly reasonably priced. Not only do I have my school files stored on this device but there’s also room for all of my music and photographs. I have many, many files downloaded onto this little drive and I don’t think I’ll ever run out of space. There’s just no way!
I split the hard drive into 4 or 5 different categories: First Grade Files, Photos, Music, Spirit Week, and Kindergarten Files from when I used to teach Kindergarten. The First Grade files is then split up into subcategories. (See below.)
Each of these folders is split up even further. I always keep my portable hard drive with my laptop and transport my laptop between home and school. When creating or downloading materials from other fabulous teachers I save them in the file that makes most sense and that I will most easily find it again. Have questions about my subcategories … Just leave it in a comment.
Hope this helps someone!
To see how other teachers are organizing and backing up their files follow the link below ...
< /a>
I've been teaching first grade for the past two years. The first year I kept the same basic room arrangement as the previous first grade teacher and had desks. Our rooms are fairly narrow and there was only one way I could arrange the desks having 16 students. And there was not much room to move. I spent a lot of time that year teaching my kids how to keep their desks neat inside and it worked pretty well for most of them. Only the really messy kids had trouble. 
This year I had 16. Seven students were able to sit at the kidney table and six sat at the rectangle table. I also have a table that I placed at the back of the room for the math area. There are four stools up to this table and the remaining three kids sat at this table when doing their work. I originally planned on starting the year with kids choosing where they want to sit to work ... the whole less seats than kids theory, but I just couldn't get it to work. There were too many times I wanted everyone's eyes and the dimensions of the room made it difficult for this to happen. I might try again next year. This year I tried getting everyone's attention using a clapping pattern. Then they would repeat back to me. I'd like to try a 
For the past couple of years I have continued to have community supplies in a centrally located area of the room. I buy supplies at the beginning of the year with my classroom budget so in the past this has seemed the most natural way to handle them. However, I get frustrated by the lack of ownership kids feel over the supplies and therefore how much supplies get trashed. I would like students to have their own supplies next year which they must replenish by "buying" from me using their Balekbucks they earn by turning in homework and doing their class jobs.
