Teaching elementary music is the best, but there’s so. much. stuff. Picture books, puppets, manipulatives…. It’s a lot to keep track of. We lead such busy lives that it’s important that we can find anything we need as quickly as possible. And when you are fortunate enough to have a lot of resources and teaching materials, you run the risk of forgetting about some of your gems if they’re not organized.
Books
Picture Books
I keep my picture books alphabetized on a couple of shelves in my storage closet. However, the best way I keep track of them all is on the app BookBuddy Pro. A couple of years ago, the fabulous Katie Wonderly posted on her instagram about this app for teachers. Scan a book’s bar code to add it to your inventory, and apply tags that will help you in searching for what you need. For example, I have books tagged by concept, season, vocal exploration, etc. When I’m lesson planning, I can go into the app, search by whatever concept I’m working on, and find what I need. Game. changed. BookBuddy Pro is worth every penny of its $4.99. Though there is a free version, it has a 50 book limit.
Teacher Resource Books
Also on these shelves, but separated from the picture books are all of my song books and other teacher resources. I have tried to keep them organized by grade level and/or resource type. I don’t have these entered in BookBuddy, but I regularly refer to them during lesson planning.
Concept Teaching Materials
Iris scrapbook containers are my favorite for holding all the resources for various concepts. I have a container for each rhythmic and melodic concept, as well as for ukuleles, recorders, and instruments of the orchestra. Flashcards, centers materials, visuals, and other teaching materials. go in their concepts’ containers. I just use binder clips and sandwich bags to keep things organized within each box. Honestly, the containers are pretty pricey at about $10 each, but never buy them at full price. Whenever they go on sale for $4 or $5, I stock up at Michaels and use my teacher discount. The labels on the outside are permanent vinyl (because I’m extra 😉 ). However, return address labels or file folder labels from the dollar store will do just fine.
Other manipulatives, such as seasonal materials, props, and the pocket for Lucy Locket, go in larger containers. Seasonal and holiday items are grouped together, and other items like bouncy balls and the doggie’s bone for Doggie Doggie go in another container. Anything that doesn’t fit in the containers (for example the cookie sheets for my cookie centers) goes on the shelf above them.
Puppets
Okay, I’m sure I could do better with how I organize my puppets. But to be honest, I haven’t changed it because it works for me. I keep all of my puppets in one large clear container. Actually, this photo is missing a few of my puppets that I need to bring back to school from teaching at home. I’ve recently put the finger puppets in a freezer bag within the container, just to make them easier to find. What about puppet trees? They’re great! I just never found the need for one in my classroom.
I guess the moral of this blog post is that you need to organize your teaching materials in whatever way works best for you and your space. These examples are just how I personally organize my materials, in case these ideas also work for you. But please don’t feel bad if you do things differently. As long as you are able to easily find and grab what you need, you’re good to go. Whether that includes filing cabinets, apps, and/or puppet trees, you do you! What are your favorite ways to organize? Leave them in the comments below.
Happy teaching!
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