Organize Like a Pro: 3 Tools to Tame the Teacher Paper Trail

I don’t know about you, but I often would look over at my desk at the end of the school day and be overwhelmed with how messy it was. Ultimately, it was the stacks of papers I had everywhere that made it so cluttered. 🤪 I finally found some solutions that gave my papers a designated space, and this helped me find them quickly AND made my teacher desk organized 😍

I’ve tried lots of carts and drawers, and am here to share what I have found to be the best paper organization solutions!

1. Organize your Papers with a 10 Drawer Cart

The 10 Drawer Cart is my personal favorite when it comes to organizing papers in the classroom. 

There are 10 drawers so you can organize all of your copies for the week and have extra drawers for things like RTI, WIN, Grade, Copy, File, Sub Plans etc. 

AND I love that you can add labels to customize each of the drawers to match your classroom theme. 🙂

Simply search ” Boho Rainbow 10 Drawer Cart Labels” or “_____ 10 Drawer Cart Labels” on TPT and you can find several options to match your classroom theme!

If you love the look of these labels, grab a set of my Modern Calm Colors 10 drawer cart labels here! 

I purchased my 10 Drawer Cart from Michaels, but I’ve also seen it at TJ Maxx, Ross, Home Goods, and Amazon.

2. Organize your Papers with a Sterilite 3 Drawer Container 

I know that the 10 drawer cart isn’t for everyone. In that case, the Sterilite drawer container is another great option! This one is basically a 3 drawer version of the 10 drawer cart. It can fit nicely on countertop, bookshelf, or anywhere else in your classroom.

No matter what you prefer, you need some place to store your papers. Whether that is one of these drawers or a simple three-slot divider you keep on your desk! 

⭐️ Bonus tip– these drawers are nearly the same size as the ones on a 10 drawer cart, so you can purchase any 10 drawer cart labels on TpT and they will fit your Sterlite 3 drawer container too!

If you like the look of these boho rainbow labels, grab them here! This picture is from @firstiescomefirst21 on instagram.

3. Organize your Papers with an Essex Rolling Cart

This cart is another one of my favorites, because it doubles as a paper organizer, and an extra workspace with the fold out table top.

This one is great because it has four drawers for paper (and they fit larger scrapbooking paper) and that it has two large drawers for misc. items such as rulers, markers, crayons, base 10 blocks, clocks, etc.

I purchased my Essex Rolling Cart from Michaels, but found the same one on Amazon too! It is a little more expensive from Amazon, but I link it in this blog post in case you don’t have a Michaels in your area.

If you don’t have a place to organize your papers yet, grab my favorites from this blog post.

Editing your Labels to Organize your Papers

As I mentioned above, there are SO many labels on TpT to fit these carts / drawers. I recommend searching for editable versions so you can customize them to fit your classroom system. All of the labels in my classroom decor packs are text-editable so you can edit the text and font (or use the same font I include for you!)

I want to share an example of a system I loved in the classroom and then help you walk through creating a system of your own. 

In my classroom, I loved having everything copied and prepped a week ahead. (Or at least, that was my goal!) But, this strategy only worked when I had a place to put all of Monday’s copies, Tuesday’s copies, and so on. 

✨Therefore, the labels I chose to use for my classroom were mainly days of the week! After that, I added “Grade”, “File”, “Copy”, “Sub Plans”, and “Misc.” to fill the rest of my 10 Drawer cart. 

I have seen other teachers use specific subjects as labels, or a mix of both! 

Hopefully these simple tips will give you some paper organization ideas!

I LOVE bringing easy organizational items into all classrooms! All of my classroom themes include many editable labels of various shapes and sizes to fit your carts, bins, plastic containers, and any other organizational item you use in your classroom! 

If you notice there is a label size that is missing, feel free to reach out and I’d be happy to create it for you!

If you are using a different classroom decor theme, don’t worry! 

There are SO many organizational labels on TpT. Simply search for “___ editable labels” to match your current classroom decor theme. 

Have fun organizing! 🌈

Also, if you are looking for more tips on how to edit and set up your printable classroom decor, check out my blog post- 7 Steps to Setting up your Printable Classroom Decor.