Help me organize my kitchen desk!

lala5507

I am drowning in kindergarten papers and it's only week 2!  My other dd starts preschool next week...so more papers.  My method when dd was in preschool was to keep a pile on the end of the desk with the important papers on top.  Then go through it once a month and weed out what I wanted to keep.  This isn't going to work with 2 kids in school now.  And I feel like there are so many "important" reminder papers coming home from kindergarten. 
So how do you stay organized?  I'm thinking maybe a some kind of pin board to hang the weekly homework sheet and calendar.  And maybe something like this http://www.homeyhomedesign.com/2013/08/back-to-school-organization-part-1.html for papers that can be sorted later? 

I want it to look somewhat nice/stylish because it's sitting out in our kitchen. 

AmandaJLewis

i had a folder last year that I kept the very important, more long term papers in. Like the class list, the login to the PTA site, stuff that was constant. We would hold onto the weekly classroom newsletter that reminded us of things for that week, but everything else was reviewed and recycled. little projects really had to tug at my heartstrings to be kept. But then again I am a seasoned paper purger.  6 years of daycare sending home 10-15 pages of stuff daily broke my sentimentality down.  With the daycare stuff I just left it in my car and she would forget about it then I would throw it all away once my car looked like a landfill on wheels.

in other words, I am not great at this. hahaha.

egpitt22

Ditto most of what Amanda said.  I keep 2 file folders in a drawer in our kitchen, one folder for each kid.  that contains the stuff I need to keep (calendars, policies, etc)  I will sometimes hang a nice piece of artwork on the fridge, but if it's not hung up it's tossed in the garbage later that night when the kids aren't around...shhhh, don't tell them!
:-O

If it's something that needs to be signed and sent back in, I try to do it that night so that I can get it off my counter (plus, if I don't do it right away and put it somewhere, there's a pretty good chance that I will forget about it altogether!)

rona118

I have a nice size bulletin board I have been waiting month for Dh to hang on the way. Grrrr.

 

bride2003

I wish I had the wall space for that b/c it looks easy to keep organized.

We have letter trays with slots for each kid.  I go through everything when it comes home, act on what is due immediately and it goes back in their bag.  What is due later I file and handle it later.  All the "art" projects that I plan to keep go in their drawer in a 3 drawer wheeled storage tower I have in our other room.  

Luckily, in the older grades they don't bring home art projects until the end of the year. 

I will say that I try to go through our letter tray weekly.  Its my husband that lets his stuff sit and sit & it drives me nuts!  He also will put his keys and wallet on the counter which completely disrupts my organized space!

lala5507

Thanks for help! 
I really wasn't prepared for all the stuff that comes home from kindergarten (I thought preschool had a lot!)  Sight word flash cards, number flash cards, cutting practice papers...finding time do practice all this stuff every day after dd comes home in a weeping puddle of exhaustion is a post for another day.

amyjoy18

We haven't started yet--but at orientation we were required to bring in a 3 ring binder.  The binder will come home with DD every day and will have all the important stuff in it.  From their description it will also house the weekly/monthly schedules; reading log, etc. 

They also assign homework weekly to complete at the family's convenience for the week, so the homework will also be in there. 

A binder might work for you at home too, as long as you get into the habit of looking at it daily. 

I haven't figured out what to do with the artsy fartsy stuff yet.  I have a big plastic tote in the basement full of stuff I saved, but it's overkill.  I wish I could purge on demand, but I'm so sentimental about it (and am not sentimental about other junk and clutter).  I saw on example where file boxes were used for the artsy stuff. Only a few things were kept.  I think that is a good option. 

bride2003

That's one of the reasons I like our kindergarten - 2nd grade - the teachers do alot during the day and while they send home things to practice there is no real "homework".  I think at that age, esp. kindergarten its ridiculous!

MrsAmers

FWIW, in K and 1st grade we never did daily practice or review with Heather. We would go through spelling words 2 or 3 times over the course of the whole week. If she was struggling to keep up, we would have made time to review on the weekends. But IMO, if they get the info presented in clas there is no reason to do more than the weekly packet or minimal review of the material.

lala5507

bride2003 said:

That's one of the reasons I like our kindergarten - 2nd grade - the teachers do alot during the day and while they send home things to practice there is no real "homework".  I think at that age, esp. kindergarten its ridiculous!

It's not homework in the traditional sense of the word.  Just cutting practice, sight word practice games.  It's just hard, at this point, she is SO exhausted when she comes home that anything extra is like pulling teeth. 

AmandaJLewis

lala5507 said:

bride2003 said:

That's one of the reasons I like our kindergarten - 2nd grade - the teachers do alot during the day and while they send home things to practice there is no real "homework".  I think at that age, esp. kindergarten its ridiculous!

It's not homework in the traditional sense of the word.  Just cutting practice, sight word practice games.  It's just hard, at this point, she is SO exhausted when she comes home that anything extra is like pulling teeth. 

I just cleared out a junk drawer in our house that I had all of our sight word flash cards in, and letter writing practice pages.  We didn't do any of them either.  I guess it was nice to have had DD struggled with any of those things, but she had spent half her day in K, then the other half in daycare. There was no way I was getting her to sit and do flash cards with me after. Not worth the struggle!

lala5507

AmandaJLewis said:

lala5507 said:

bride2003 said:

That's one of the reasons I like our kindergarten - 2nd grade - the teachers do alot during the day and while they send home things to practice there is no real "homework".  I think at that age, esp. kindergarten its ridiculous!

It's not homework in the traditional sense of the word.  Just cutting practice, sight word practice games.  It's just hard, at this point, she is SO exhausted when she comes home that anything extra is like pulling teeth. 

I just cleared out a junk drawer in our house that I had all of our sight word flash cards in, and letter writing practice pages.  We didn't do any of them either.  I guess it was nice to have had DD struggled with any of those things, but she had spent half her day in K, then the other half in daycare. There was no way I was getting her to sit and do flash cards with me after. Not worth the struggle!

Yeah, Dd is in full day kindergarten...isn't that enough??

bride2003

lala5507 said:

bride2003 said:

That's one of the reasons I like our kindergarten - 2nd grade - the teachers do alot during the day and while they send home things to practice there is no real "homework".  I think at that age, esp. kindergarten its ridiculous!

It's not homework in the traditional sense of the word.  Just cutting practice, sight word practice games.  It's just hard, at this point, she is SO exhausted when she comes home that anything extra is like pulling teeth. 

Then I wouldn't do it b/c she is exhausted and will get frustrated and could start to not like school because of it.  You know your daughter best & if you see she is way behind or that her dexterity is lacking then sure do some additional work but otherwise its unnecessary (IMO).  Esp. this early in the school year!

billiburrows

Re: the art projects they send home- 

what i do now is take a picture of them and then throw them out. i keep only a very small amount. 

every year i make a family my publisher book and i put those pics in it as well. it sort of helps to cut down on the clutter.

MrsAmers

Ditto Sheila. I would skip the evening stuff for now. She'll eventually be less exhausted, so then you can do it if needed. Or you can always do it on the weekend when she's fresh.

denalea

I am no help in the organization dept., but I wouldn't worry about the supplemental stuff if she's too tired.  She will eventually not be as tired.

I would maybe throw the best stuff in a box and then you can have some resources for a snow day or for next summer if she wants to do stuff then.  Or, at the very least, she can use it to play school.  :-) 

waltsgirl102503

I hang the important things that we need to reference often on the fridge.  (like the lunch menu, specials schedule, etc).  Anything that I need to sign, I do it right away and put back in the folder.  I try to write important dates on the calendar (like PTA meetings, Parent/teacher conference, picture day) so I can get rid of those reminder papers.   And like others, I keep very few art pieces.  I'm just not sentimental.  I keep a few special ones, and eventually most of those get pitched, too.   I don't want to hand them a giant tub of their artwork when they're grown.   I'm trying to be the MIL that my DILs will love.  And I know when DH's parents try to give him his old crap for our house, I don't love it!  HA!

egpitt22

Amber---you are well on your way to becoming an awesome MIL to your future DIL one day!  I hope to follow in your footsteps, as I diligently take notes as I go through life.....

lala5507

I've gotten better with not keeping everything but I am such a sucker for anything with a hand print on it. 

bride2003

billiburrows said:

Re: the art projects they send home- 

what i do now is take a picture of them and then throw them out. i keep only a very small amount. 

every year i make a family my publisher book and i put those pics in it as well. it sort of helps to cut down on the clutter.

great idea ! I did that with Caileigh's kindergarten stuff but just never made the book :P.