This month the TAH bloggers are breaking down all things organization. November is one of my favorite months to get organized. By November I know what’s working in my classroom and what’s not. I use the weeks between Halloween and Thanksgiving to get some new organization in place before the new year.

One of the ways I keep my K-2 autism room organized is by color coding just about everything. In my classroom, all 9 students have a color assigned to them and anything that belongs to that student is that color. Not only does this help my students stay organized, it helps my assistants, too. In this post I’m going to share some of my favorite color coding tools that I use in the classroom.

Colorful Book Bins

These colorful book bins are some of my favorite color coding tools from Really Good Stuff. I have two sets in my classroom. The first set (pictured above) holds our calendar and morning meeting binder, journal binder, curriculum binder, and name writing practice pages. All of these items are leveled for the individual student. The second set (pictured to the right) holds leveled file folders and activities specifically chosen for each student. I have a wide variety of learners in my classroom, each working at their own level. This system allows me to have items ready to go for independently work as well as our daily activities while differentiating what each student is doing and meeting them where they are.

Color Coding Stickers

You need these color coding label stickers in your life! Anything can be color coded in a snap by simply adding a sticker. Avery sells them by the color or you can find them on a large sheet with multiple colors. These are 3/4″ and work on about anything. I add them to anything laminated and they come off easily.
Remember those individualized file folders in my colored book bins? They all get a color coded sticker on them so we know who they belong to. When the student masters the activity, we simply remove the sticker.

Vinyl Stickers

My Cricut and I stay busy in the summer creating vinyl circles that I put just about everywhere in my classroom. If you don’t have a Cricut, check out Etsy! These vinyl circles mark student spots at my table (no name tags needed) and where students sit on the floor.

Binders

All of my binders are color coded by student. These are my data binders and they were found at Wal-Mart ($0.88) and Dollar Tree ($1.00). Whenever it’s time to take data, I just grab the binder I need and jump in.

Task Boxes

For a long time I struggled keeping task boxes organized and functional in my classroom. I love how these Iris Photo Keeper boxes keep all of my task boxes organized. You can see them on my task shelf on the top photo. I added a vinyl sticker, level the tasks per student, and my task boxes are ready to go!

Happy organizing!