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    Community Supplies: How And Why

    written by Greg Smedley-Warren
    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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    May 25, 2023 20 comments
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