Desk organization for school?

[amandabea]

I still struggle with organization and a lot of how you describe Sarah is familiar to me. Anyhow, two things that are working for me are: (1) using multiple colored half-cut (?) folders for filing - the kind where you slide papers in but can still see the top half of the sheet. They are very similar to file folders, but bc I can see what's in them, it just makes putting things away/organizing easier - you could get a few of each color to coordinate with the various subjects and she could slip the papers into the appropriate colored "folder" and keep them neatly stacked on her desk to put neatly away later. Notice that I didn't say "file", filing doesn't work for me - stacking/piling does. And (2) using a flat filing system - where things get stacked flat into seperate flie slots.

I'm on blackberry now, so I'll try to post pics or links later to explain better.

[sste]

If you can make it work with the size of the storage box/crate/multi-purpose bin you can also get accordian and other files in legal size - -this will address the paper edges/glued stuff sticking out issue.

Good luck!

[niccig]

I tried my medium sized multi-purpose bin in a plastic file crate that I have. The multi-purpose bin is a hair too long to fit in the crate on the letter size end - it might fit better in a different crate though - it was just too long to fit. But it does fit if you flip the crate and put the multipurpose bin in as you would a legal size file. There's even a gap on the side of a few inches that could be used to put something.

HTH

[egoldber]

Thanks for trying! I'll have to take a good look tomorrow and play around a bit in the stores.

[egoldber]

So I wasn't able to get into the classroom until yesterday. Here's some pix of her desk "box":




In the front of the box is her pencil box and a small container for crayons. It actually wasn't as bad as I feared it might look, but you can see that stuff can easily get jammed in there and then be hard to find. Compared to some of the other kids boxes though, hers was really not that bad.

The teacher recommended this one: http://www.containerstore.com/shop/o...uctId=10006265


I think another parent must have bought that one because it was not like any of the others in the room. In fact, DD told me it belonged to a classmate of hers who is the child of another teacher in the school, which I find amusing for some reason.

I told him about my idea of getting something with solid dividers vs hanging folders and he thought that was a good idea. We are off to Staples and The Container Store today.

[niccig]

Beth,
I hope you can find something that works better for your DD.

And I have to say - why the heck do 3rd graders need a filing box by the desk to keep all their school work? At that age we had a desk with a compartment underneath, a few notebooks and a pencil case. It's just crazy the amount of work they have.

[JTsMom]

But for whatever reason she is feeling rushed/harried and so either does not file things away as the day goes on and has a huge pile at the end OR she is stuffing things in her box willy nilly to get the next set of materials out. The teacher says that she gets 5, 3 and 2 minute warnings for subject transitions, so I am not sure what the issue is.

I think this is the key. Even though he's giving the warning, it's not working for her. Can he go stand by her desk when he gives the 2 or 3 min warning for a few days straight as a cue? If she's not packing up, maybe he can give her a subtle reminder signal of some sort without calling attention to her?

I tend to try to cram in every last second of work, then not have time to clean up,. Re-training myself like that might be the most effective strategy for me.