I have always been luckily enough to have a nice space to call by own in my schools. Here’s a little tour of some of my office essentials!
I have always had a white board in my room. This is an older photo (I’ve found much less visuals around it to be more effective), but I still use it every single day. For one, I think it’s important to have a routine, and I have a bunch of kiddos who like to see “Greeting…Share…Game” written for them. But also, visuals help kids learn! So I’m constantly sketching out a social situation we talk about or encouraging kids to draw out their feelings. They love using it too!
Kids are going to come into our rooms dysregulated-it’s just part of the job! Therefore, I think it’s really important to have a box of physical tools, and visuals, for kids to readily grab. I can’t tell you how many times my kids have used this-including a bunch of times when kids come in and “don’t want to talk”. I slide this across the table, and tell them I’ll give them a few minutes to calm. IT WORKS EVERY TIME.
I’m a minimalist, so I really try to keep things I need to those that I use the most. I have a collection of Social Thinking books, Julia Cook books and more, that I use most often, and then, I check out others from my school’s library!
I use these bins from the dollar spot to store things I use everyday or need to grab easily-art supplies like crayons, markers and scissors, glue sticks, or play doh.
For activities that I use often, and have laminated, I have 2 of these cases from Michaels I keep on a shelf. Most of my activities though (if they don’t need lamination, etc.), I keep on Google Drive and print as needed.
I love this bin that I keep on my table. Every day/week, I throw in what I will need for groups and sessions that day, so that I can grab them and they are easily accessible!
Moving on to more of adult things, I love color coding things and making things pretty. I split up my colors into different parts of my role (pink for general/regular ed, yellow for 504’s, green for special ed).
Another example of my
I wish being a School Psychologist came with less paperwork, but that’s just a dream! My motto at school and home is “everything has a place and everything in it’s place…”. I’m still working out the second part, but I’ve found that it’s really helpful for me to make sure every single thing has a place. So, I have this file holder that I can put something that’s coming up in the next few days, or something that someone hands to me quickly!
Along the same rule as above, here are my desk drawers…in pretty organizers from Target! You guys, I feel so much better when I have a clear work area, and things are organized and clean!
And that’s my room! I’m moving to a new school and grade level this year, so I am excited to see what changes will come!