Energize and Organize: Maintain an Organized Desk and Locker

Although kids may appear organized at home, a peek into their desks or lockers may surprise you! Even an organized kid can create chaos in those small, often neglected spaces. 
 
ELEMENTARY AGE
If you’re concerned about the state of your child’s desk, contact the teacher. Perhaps she could hold an “organize your desk” time once a week or month that would benefit all of her students. If your child needs extra attention, ask the teacher if you could stop by before or after school some day for a brief desk tidy-up.
 
Teach your child to take home food containers daily, toss garbage, purge papers that are no longer needed, and keep important take-home papers in a certain folder. See what type of order makes sense for your child. Perhaps she associates colors with certain subjects, so notebooks and folders could correspond to those. Maybe she likes all the notebooks on one side of the desk and the folders on the other. Or perhaps she prefers the items she uses in the morning on one side and afternoon items on the other. Whatever makes sense for her is okay, as long as she understands and maintains the system.
 
MIDDLE AND HIGH SCHOOL AGE
This age can be more challenging for parents to help, because you’ll likely not be invited into the school by your student. But you can assist by providing helpful locker accessories like an extra shelf and a magnetic pencil cup and memo board to make staying organized as easy as possible.
 
Discuss ways to organize your student’s things (see prior paragraph) in a logical order. Encourage frequent clean-outs. If it really gets out of control, give her a large garbage bag and have her bring everything home over the weekend. Spend time helping her to sort, purge, and rearrange. She can return the organized items to her locker on Monday.
 
ALL AGES
Inventory students’ school supplies at least twice a year and restock anything broken or used up. Check in frequently to see if their desks or lockers need tune-ups and help as necessary.
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​​​​​​Remember, if you need assistance and support with your family life, home and/or office organization,  you are cordially invited to contact ...
Donna LaRoche, M.Ed., Professional Organizer Serving Cape Cod, MetroWest and Eastern Massachusetts     Contact:  617.640.2366    www.energizeandorganize.com