Mission Organization: Science Materials

Whew! I just spent two days finally getting my science materials organized in a usable way! I went from this (cue sad face and slightly higher heart rate):

to this: (cue AWESOME music)...

I just got a little tired of KNOWING I had (insert various items here) and not being able to find them because they're in the "Chapter 1" bag of tub 1. Talk about frustrating! Plus, I am not one of those people who can go right to the pile they left something under and miraculously find it...I'm the kind that if the peanut butter which is supposed to on the middle shelf of the pantry is moved to another shelf---there's no peanut butter! Don't judge. It's why I must be organized. I can't even remember where I set my coffee cup! (Thank goodness for my observant little kiddos!)

Anywho...if you'd like to know how I accomplished this organizational goodness, here goes:

1. Pilfer left over crayon boxes from a friend down the hall who doesn't want/need them for your small items. (At least that's how I got mine). Get bunches of clear shoe boxes for the larger items.
2. Dig in! One tub at a time, I started pulling things out and placing like items together. I didn't always know if my stuff would end up in a small or large container until everything was out, so a few things I had to rearrange.
3. Download Ladybug's awesome basket labels. Here's where it gets fun.
4. Notice how I have green boxes in the front? The green is for life science stuff. There are black behind them with items that don't really fit in a category, and pinkish red behind them for physical science. They're this way because this is the order in which I teach them. The large white boxes are done the same way. Each label's text is color-coded as well. You might be able to see them here:

I used the font Smiley Monster. Each word has a white outline and the fill is based on which unit the item belongs in (Example: Seeds label has green filled text to go with life science). You might want to save your document as a PDF. This may make it easier to print.

5. Print your labels. I used full sheet label pages and cut each label out. For the labels on the white boxes, I told my printer to print two pages on one sheet, so the result was 4 labels on one sheet. For the smaller ones I told my printer to print 4 pages on one sheet, so the result was 8 small labels on each sheet. 

6. Cut out, affix, and place your containers where you want them! You're done!

I gotta tell you--I am sooooo excited this! No more hunting for things, giving up, and going next door to see if my coworker can find hers :) Want more great organizational goodness? I'm linking up with Asheigh at One Extra Degree for her linky party. Come check it out!