Teachers are especially devoted to their work. They often spend a lot of their spare time and money buying and creating extra supplies for the classroom to help make the learning experience for students better.
But there are a lot of creative teachers out there who have thought of some ingenious ways to both minimize the expense of supplies and better organize the classroom. Some examples include unique hacks for organizing missed assignments, checking out classroom books to students, and using reward beads.
Here are 75 of the most brilliant hacks teachers swear by.
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1) Vertical storage space
A shoe organizer seems ideal to store the kidsโ headphones or anything really. The possibilities are endless.
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Instagram/TinaTeachingTreasures
2) Glitter shake
Everyone knows glitter is a teacherโs nightmare! Next time try using salt shakers to control the sprinkling.
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Instagram/Purely Primary
3) Paper covers
Use dry-erase paper covers to save printing paper, plus time and money. This way you can use the same exercise many times with different groups.
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Amazon
4) Storage space
You can create individual storage space for each student by arranging cardboard magazine holders as shown in the picture.
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Pinterest/Clutter-Free Classroom
5) Sticker Holder
Always keep losing your stickers? Try a binder ring, hang them on the wall, and make sure you never lose them again.
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Purely Primary
6) Silent hand signals
Do students raise their hands or call your name for various reasons and interrupt the lesson? Hereโs an idea of silent hand signals you can teach them at the beginning of the school year.
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First Grade Fresh
7) Class rules
Always set the rules of the class at the beginning of the year. And be consistent throughout!
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Upper Grades Are Awesome
8) Colorful erasers
If you think whiteboard erasers are too boring for your classroom, you can use fuzzy socks instead!
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Amazon
9) Tap lights
Tap lights are a great idea to indicate when itโs OK for students to interrupt. You can also use red and green ones so that they act like traffic lights (red: you canโt interrupt; green: you can).
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Mrs. Adoโs First Grade Spies
10) Tissue dispenser
During the flu season, you can buy an under-shelf tissue dispenser so that kids donโt touch the tissue boxes and spread the germs.
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Pinterest/Cognitive Connections
11) File sorters
Old file sorters can work just as well as an iPad mini station. Itโs so easy.
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BuzzFeed
12) Pair them up
Nail polish is a great way to mark pairs of electronic devices, such as USBs and mouses. It makes sense!
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Instagram/Purely Primary
13) Sharpener
A tried-and-true trick to help a student calm down is to give them a bunch of pencils to sharpen.
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The Polka Dot Patch
14) Prizes
Use some old trophies as temporary rewards for hard-working students. See how motivated they will be.
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BuzzFeed
15) Reading guide
Use laminate strips and highlighter tape to make reading guides that will help your students focus on what theyโre reading.
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InnovativeInclusion
16) Market sets
Marker sets can be easily kept together if you use duct tape around them. Thatโs a good idea!
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Keyla Castro
17) Homework organizer
Use a vertical pocket organizer to save room and to make it easier for you to see how many homework sheets/notebooks you have collected.
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BuzzFeed
18) Cell phone parking spot
Provide a spot where your students can safely โparkโ their phones and return them at the end of the lesson in exchange for the respective number.
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BuzzFeed
19) Quiet toys
Hand out quiet toys to students who need to fidget with something in order to concentrate.
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Want it All
20) Pencil dispenser
Repurpose your old straw dispenser and turn it into a pencil dispenser. Doesnโt it look fancy!
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Mrs. Liretteโs Learning
21) Classroom keepers
Organize the photocopies and materials youโll need for each day of the week in a classroom keeper.
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Amazon
22) No more annoying sounds
Just attach open tennis balls to the ends of chairs and desks and youโll never hear the annoying squeeching sounds again!
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BuzzFeed
23) Teacherโs took kit
Stay extra organized by making your own teacherโs tool kit where you can keep all your stuff and know exactly where to find what.
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BuzzFeed
24) Phone prison
Phones shouldnโt be out during class; everyone knows that. For those phones that are out without permission, thereโs the phone prison!
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BuzzFeed
25) DIY palette
This is such a cool palette you can make with materials you usually have on hand. Also, it tends to make less mess!
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Smart School House
26) Therapy animals
Therapy animals can work wonders with your students on tough days. You should definitely try it if you have the chance.
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BuzzFeed
27) Recycling
Recycle cereal boxes by making board games and other lesson materials out of them.
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Instagram
28) Reward beads
If youโre tired of giving hard-working students the plain old stickers, you can level up your game by giving them a set of โsmart beadsโ to wear for the day.
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Middle School Frolics
29) Glue hack
Everyone knows that kids love to waste glue sticks! So next time just soak sponges in glue and have your students use those instead!
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Instagram
30) DIY tissue box
Make your own tissue box by using a candle holder and toilet paper. You just take out the cardboard from the center and pull the paper out. Genius, isnโt it?
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Pinterest/Teacher Hacks
31) Eco-friendly
Cut down on plastic in your classroom by using highlighting pencils instead of highlighting markers.
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Amazon
32) Bulletin board hack
Instead of using butcher paper as the background of your bulletin board, you can use fabric. This will help you save paper. And it will last longer.
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Primarily Speaking
33) Keep them in place
Toothbrush cases are a great idea for those of you who want to make sure kids wonโt be losing their pencils all of the time.
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Instagram/The Bright Sunflower
34) Individual phone prisons
Dollar-store zip-lock pencil bags can be used as individual phone prisons, where students can put their phones themselves to make sure they wonโt be using them during class.
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BuzzFeed
35) Gold pencils
Keep a box of golf pencils and hand out to students who have forgotten theirs. Theyโre inexpensive, and you wonโt mind losing them, plus students tend not to keep these ones.
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Amazon
36) Easily group students
Use colorful stickers to group students at each desk. This way, when you want a number of students to do something, you can call them by color.
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Owl-Ways Be Inspired
37) Questions parking lot
Reserve a spot where students can stick notes with questions and feedback so that you know who hasnโt understood something or has questions.
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Math Coachโs Corner
38) Paintbrush hack
Keep paintbrushes in a great condition by soaking them in hair conditioner. That should work!
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Scholastic
39) โI wish my teacher knew โฆโ
Have a jar on your desk along with some sticky notes throughout the year, so you can always find out something new about your students.
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Instagram/Pencils & Playgrounds
40) Marker tip
By using Velcro you ensure you wonโt lose your markers, at least not as often as you used to. Plus, if the tip points downwards, they will last longer.
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Lucky Little Learners
41) Class economy
Kids can earn class dollars if they behave themselves, which they can use to buy prizes from the class store. Kids who misbehave can be asked to give class dollars back to the teacher.
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Core Inspiration
42) Pencil grip
If some children still havenโt figured how to properly hold a pencil, you can ask them to hold a cotton ball or small rubber between their ring and pinky fingers.
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Teaching Ace
43) Lost property bucket
This might not stop all students from giving you stuff, but at least youโll know where to put it.
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Rachel a Tall Drink of Water
44) Pencil stash
A trick to help you lose fewer pencils during the school year is to create an arrangement with magnetic clips in which students sign out a pencil, return it, and erase their name. Simple, right?
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Instagram/Missy Crafty Math Teacher
45) Water drawing
Have kids draw on a blackboard using water. This way they practice their fine motor skills and they donโt make a mess.
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Kingdom First Homeschool
46) DIY prize-punch
This teacher made a punch-it wall so that when a student collects a number of stickers, they punch one of the cups and get their incentives. See how you can make it here.
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East Cost Mommy
47) Extra storage room
Bucket seats make for extra storage room, which teachers always need! Plus, they provide fancy seating!
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Room 4 Imagination
48) Coffee pod holder
Use an old coffee pod holder as a stand for play-doh. Very practical and useful!
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Instagram/Jen_Rece
49) Now, what?
Keep a bunch of activities that early finishers can do, so that they donโt get bored.
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Tuned Into Teaching
50) Ink seal
We all know that when we write on plastic, it tends to go away very easily. So hereโs a trick: Seal the ink using clear nail polish.
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The Learning Tree
51) Student center
Make a center for students who may have forgotten supplies at home. The center can include pencils, paper, a stapler, tape, etc.
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BuzzFeed
52) โIโm done. Now what?โ
Some students who finish their work early may need something to do while other students finish assignments and tests. Create an โIโm done. Now what?โ board that gives them options to, for instance, read a book, write in a journal, or use math flash cards.
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Hanging With Mrs. Hulsey
53) Display student work
Reward students for good work by posting it on a special display board that features colorful scrapbook paper and clothespins. The pins make it easier to switch out work each week.
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BuzzFeed
54) Bucket seat storage
These bucket seats are genius. They work as special seating and as extra storage when needed.
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Room 4 Imagination
55) Collect homework folders
Get rid of cubbies for collecting homework, and use pocket organizers attached to the classroom wall to collect homework folders. This hack saves a lot of space.
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BuzzFeed
56) Classroom library
Create a classroom library where students can pick out something to read during any free time or downtime they have. You can store books, magazines, or readers in the classroom library.
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Instagram/The Greek Teach
57) Hang inspirational quotes
Mount inspirational quotes around your classroom. You can use scrapbook paper or poster board to write the quotes on.
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BuzzFeed
58) Youโve got mail
Students sometimes misplace their worksheets and papers. To help prevent this, hand out worksheets at the end of the day by using a crate and hanging files labeled with the studentsโ names.
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BuzzFeed
59) Water bottle holder
An over-door organizer could be used to hold student water bottles. This helps keep desks and cubbies free of any potential spills.
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BuzzFeed
60) Create a filing system for copies
Use folders or another filing system to hold the copies youโll need for all of your lessons during the week. You can design or label them in a cute design.
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BuzzFeed
61) Tablecloth backgrounds
You can use plastic tablecloths to create bright background for bulletin boards. The colors are sure to brighten up your classroom.
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M* Print
62) Mini greenhouse
Use a plastic cupcake container as a mini greenhouse. Almost any type of container with a lid can actually work for this purpose.
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An Apple for My Class
63) Use cookie sheets for drying art
You can use cookie sheets to hold drying art. Just stack each on top of the other while the artwork dries.
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Grade School Giggles
64) Crayon holder
Use Popsicle molds as a crayon sorter. Itโs a great way to sort crayons easily by color.
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Teach Junkie
65) Student experts
Choose certain students to be โgo-to expertsโ for a specific subject. For instance, if you teach a lesson for the day on spelling, ask which students understand the lesson and can help others who may need help if youโre busy doing something else. Then write the expertsโ names on the board or hand out expert badges to let students know who they can ask for help. And kids who volunteer as an expert can receive a reward of your choosing.
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Tales of Frogs & Cupcakes
66) Rubber band experts
Just like the last hack, you can give one student at each table or classroom area a rubber band as a bracelet. This letโs other students know that they are the appointed person to handle questions while you are working with another classroom group.
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Amazon
67) Absent work bin
Use a crate or bin to create an absent work bin for students. Label each folder in the bin by name, and insert work students need to make up when they are absent from class.
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Crafty Teacher Lady
68) Bathroom pass hack
To create useful and inexpensive bathroom passes, use nametag holders, stretchy bracelets, and key rings. They work like a charm.
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Nametag.com
69) Instant shelving
Grab a couple of crates, and stack them on top of each other by each set of desks. You can use them as instant shelving.
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Instagram/Courtney Dinwiddie
70) Create privacy folders
Make your own privacy folders. You can cut tri-fold board displays in half, and use duct tape to reinforce them. You can all sorts of designs and colors for the privacy folders.
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Undercover Classroom
71) Book check-out system
Create this genius easy book check-out system. It lets your students check out books quickly and easily.
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Pre-K Pages
72) Parent communication notebooks
These daily parent communication notebooks make it easy and convenient to keep parents informed about classwork, homework, and special projects. Check out how to make them here.
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Pre-K Pages
73) Easy paintbrush cleanup
If your students are doing art projects that call for painting, try this hack. For easy clean-up, put plastic baggies inside paint cups.
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Pre-K Pages
74) Paint pallets
For art projects, you can turn plastic lids and bottle caps into pain palettes. They work perfectly!
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Pre-K Pages
75) Desk caddies
Keep a supply caddie as each set of desks, and color code them. This way students know exactly where to put the supplies back when they are done.
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Instagram/A Primary Kind of Life
Teachers influence many lives each and every day. And the devotion and care teachers give to their students makes a huge difference in a childโs life for years to come. And that care shows in the special way they design their classrooms for maximum efficiency and effective learning.
From providing students with โquiet toysโ to making available all of the appropriate learning tools and organizational strategies, the creativeness of teachers to implement these hacks in the classroom is inspiring. So thank you to all of the teachers out there for their years of dedication!
