Keeping Community Supplies Organized {A.K.A. The Joys of Having Tables in the Classroom}

I LOVE having my students sit at tables in the classroom.

LOVE.

I'm a social person and so I don't mind my students having a more social atmosphere.  We departmentalize so students don't need a desk full of their own stuff.  And, we don't sit at our tables a whole lot because we're up and moving for Daily Five and writing workshop anyway.

But... one thing I don't love is juggling the organization of classroom supplies.  Since we don't have desks, and our seat sacks are full as it is, we have community supplies at each table.  I have a love/hate relationship with this.  I love that things are within reach and easy to get to.  I love that we share.  I hate that caddies can't stay organized.  I hate that sometimes one table has 1 highlighter while another has 12!

Over the years, I've tried a variety of things... plastic bins from the Dollar Tree, caddies with compartments like the kind you organize your cleaning products in, and finally found something that I LOVE from Lakeshore Learning.  I can't find the exact thing I have on their website, but it's similar to this one {click here!}. 

It came with cardboard organizers and has a shelf to hold our white boards and mini-offices.  It's all primary colored and such a great way to organize!

However... after years of use, the cardboard organizers were falling apart and, anyway, I went to a blue, pink, and green color scheme.

So... I took them home and spraypainted the holders pink.

Then bought metal and plastic containers (thanks, Target!!!).  This worked GREAT but students still had scissors where I wanted crayons and pens where I only wanted dry erase markers.  GRRRR!

The other week at... you guessed it... Target, I found little tiny clothespins in the Dollar Spot.  So, I made little tiny labels, laminated them, and glued them to the little tiny clothespins!

Now, everything is neat and labeled with no excuses for messy table caddies!

So, there you have it!  How do you organize community supplies in your classroom?