In our classroom, we have no tables and desks. We do all of our learning and art and work on the floor! Since we don’t have tables and desks, we don’t have pencil boxes or our own supplies. In our classroom, we use community supplies and we share everything! This post shows various versions of our community supplies area because this area changes each year. The biggest reason for the changes is simplifying the supplies we use and keeping this area more organized.
Why community supplies you ask? Well…let me tell ya why! Pull up a chair, grab a sweet tea and I’ll tell you.
Picture it…Sicily, 1928…OH WAIT… I’m not Sophia…never mind.
EFFICIENCY!
Community supplies cut down on lost learning time! Everything is right there. We know where it is. The kids aren’t digging in a desk or pencil box looking for something. So we grab what we need and go! In fact, we are trained to go in a line around our carpet and walk in line to get what we need and return to our seats on the carpet!
SHARING!
Community supplies promote sharing and cooperation which builds community. My kids are great at sharing their materials and I give our community supplies a lot of credit for that kindness. Sharing is something we have to do all day every day so it becomes part of who we are. It’s just what we do.
RESPECT!
Community supplies help us respect and care for our materials. You see, this classroom is not my classroom. Nope. All of that fun, cool stuff isn’t my stuff. It belongs to every single kid who is in our classroom. You see, it’s OUR STUFF! It’s OUR CLASSROOM! And if we don’t take care of our stuff, you don’t upset Mr. Greg. Nope. Worse. You upset your friends. And if you don’t take care of our stuff, then we don’t have fun stuff to help us learn.
So, how does it work?! What’s it look like? What do you have in your community supply area? Well, I’m glad you asked!
So, pretty much everything that students would need to do their work, hippopotamuses (centers), arts and crafts…is there.
The clear containers are from Amazon but those exact ones are no longer available. Click here for similar containers!
The black containers are from Target. The blue boxes are from Wal-Mart.
Of course, community supplies require procedures and expectations and we spend a lot of time early in the year learning how to get and use each supply. I model explicitly how to get a pencil, scissors, dry-erase board, etc. And then I model how to carry the items. Finally, I model how to put it away. And I model how NOT to do it. The expectations for community supplies are high (like all expectations in our classroom)! We take care of our supplies, we carry them correctly and safely, and we keep our supplies clean and organized. And most importantly WE GRAB AND GO! We don’t dig for a certain color or piddle fart around trying to get supplies! GRAB AND GO PEOPLE! GRAB AND GO!
For more information on our classroom arrangement and no tables/no desks, check out these posts:
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20 comments
Love the humor! Why do you call your centers hippopotamuses?
love!
I would love to see a video of you explaining the supplies procedures (all of them really) for the beginning of the school year! As a first year teacher it would be so helpful!
What do you do about students who just seem to always “collect” supplies in their pockets, backpacks, etc?
Oh my…it's a long story but it boils down to people in a central office deciding that using the word “centers” makes some of the kids feel immature. So the people behind the desks decided to no longer allow us to use the word “centers.” The whole thing is silly. Soooo in protest….we decided to start calling them Hippopotamuses in our room!! 🙂
We spend a lot of time talking about the fact that these are not MY THINGS but OUR THINGS and this classroom belongs to everyone. If we break things or take things then we won't have any fun things to help us learn and grow. The peer pressure of making it OURS goes a long way to help those issues. And if it's an issue I will talk to the child privately and even have a conversation in morning meeting about it without ever singling anyone out!
Piddle fart around….OMG were you channeling my grandma?
Sadly our district began requiring us to NOT community share supplies about 5 years ago. I loved it when we shared-so much easier and neater.
I am still exploring ways to make community supplies more efficient in my classroom. what is your advice for community supply classrooms with desks? Thoughts on desk caddies?
You are too funny! You had me at “picture it..Sicily..1928” Love your blog and all of your great ideas! Thinking about slowly implementing flexible seating this year so wish me luck!
How do you sanitize your community supplies such as pencils and crayons? How often?
I just spray with Lysol
How do you sort the magnetic letters in the picture?
Hi Olivia, they aren’t sorted at all.
Where did you find the drawers for the markers and crayons separated by color?
Walmart or Amazon
Do you ever have any parents protest the use of community supplies? I’ve had a few question it because they had specifically purchased certain pencils, folder, scissors, etc.
I explain to them at the beginning of the year how our classroom works. If they have specific items they don’t want other students to use, they can keep them for their child to use at home. At school, it’s all community supplies.
Hi Greg
I love this so much, but I am wondering what else you have stored there. I see that there is some math manipulative and things in the small drawers. Do you have a list of these items any where?
Hi! We don’t have a list of what is supplied but maybe you can zoom up on the picture to see everything!