Tot School Organizing

My "school" setup for Xander got a major overhaul last week.  I have been struggling with our set up for a while and am so grateful to have a solution.  Xander was really getting to the point where I wanted to be able to offer him more trays each week.  However, while I loved the the shelves I had before, they really limited the number of trays I could have.  I looked for some way to add another tray to each cube, but didn't find anything that used the space well.  I also thought about a drawer cart (like this) but have no place to put it in that room.  A big part of the problem is that I have a big room, but use it for my bedroom, Xander's bedroom, my office, and Xander's school area (when I finish grad school and get my own place again I hope to dedicate a room to Xander's school). Anyway, I wasn't finding a solution, so I made the three hour trip to the closest IKEA.  After much debate and back and forth, I ended up with three TROFAST units, which seemed to fit the space the best.

Before

After

I love the versatility.  I can have about 8 trays going, plus a couple of shelves for puzzles, and an extra shelf, and still have some storage.

While I was at it, I did a bit of sprucing up in other areas of the room.  This is where I used to keep some of Xander's tot school things.  The binder is where I put the page from his Tot Packs.  I had some shape related books and the bin held dry erase markers, an eraser, his minibook from the current theme, pocket chart phrases, shape cards, 3 part cards from the current theme, and his car and train for the highway shapes.

Before

I bought this little three drawer container from target to organize the things from the bin.  Granted it isn't a huge change, but it will shave me some time digging.  

After

One drawer will fit the mini book and simple puzzles, one will fit the pocket chart phrases and 3 part cards, and the last will hold the dry erase markers, eraser, and car.

I still use a checklist to help keep me on track.  I made a sheet with boxes to check for each tray and type of activity I hope to do during the week.  I also have a place to check off when we read new books towards our book challenge.  I put little hooks on the bookcase above Xander's desk and try to check things off as we go.

I also picked up a neat little shelf on my trip to IKEA.  Here is Xander trying to help hang it.

Little man, big level.

The end result of Xander's little corner.  I absolutely love it!  For now the shelf just has a few books that go with our theme.  When we get to letters (working on the materials for this fall), I plan to put letter related materials on the shelf.  I feel like it really rounds out the corner.  I also love that his table is light enough I can pull it out into the room and work across from him.  I also keep his pocket chart there for easy access.