How's my classroom lookin?

Well, it's July.  Firmly in the grip of summer.  Not supposed to think about my classroom, or teaching, or students.  Nope, not in the month of July.

I went into my classroom today, to work on decluttering.  I thought, with the garage sale coming up, there might be items there I could part with.  I think I'm much more of a hoarder at school.  (I think most teachers are, but maybe that is just me trying to feel better about my own tendencies.)

So I opened the "toy cupboard", a place where students can look for quiet games and books when they are done with a quiz early.

before: maybe a bit cluttered

I was determined to look at everything with a critical eye.  On first pass, I organized the books into categories, but didn't really part with things.  And it was obvious that I needed to pare down the quantity of books--or a student couldn't find a book quietly.  (Isn't declutter the step that must precede organize?)

I decided to open up and really assess.  Many of these books I have had for years.  Titles that were appealing-- "Math Wizardry for Kids" or "Overcoming Math Anxiety"-- but that didn't get used.  My goal was to cut the number of reference-style books in half.

after: there's even room for a decorative mug of bookmarks!

I won't say it was easy.  But I stuck to my goal, and that made it more clear-cut on some books: in order to keep "The Number Devil", some other title had to go away.

the discard pile

Most of the removed books are already in the garage sale pile and a couple are going to a middle school teacher.  Funny thing, I can imagine doing this same exercise again in a year.  I will keep an eye on what actually gets used from that cupboard, and think about what else I can let go of.  (Gosh, I sound like a Born Organized person there!  Where did that come from?)