Children are not, by their own design, organized creatures. While some children seem to come by the "organizational" gene naturally, most of them must learn these skills if they are going to be organized and uncluttered. Organization is not something that is often worked into the traditional curriculum, but students need these skills to be successful in school, and in life.

Here are some ideas to help you teach organizational skills to your students.


Why Teaching Organization Is Important - Benefits of Increased Order, Decreased Clutter

When you have standards and tests to work towards, carving out time for teaching life skills like organization is not always easy. Yet these skills are vital to your child's success, not only in school, but also in life. Once learned, organizational skills impact all areas of life. Here are some benefits that your students will enjoy when you give them the time to learn organization.

• Decreased Classroom Clutter - When students are organized, they are going to be tidier. The more tidy the classroom, the less stressful it will feel. Teaching children to be organized automatically decreased classroom clutter, which benefits everyone.
• Less Stress - It's stressful to not know where your things are, and being disorganized means you will spend much time and energy looking for missing items. Organized students are less stressed and more ready to learn.
• Fewer Missing Assignments - You know how frustrating it is for you as the teacher to have a student who can never find the assignment she says she did. Imagine how it feels to the student and parents? Organizational skills can put a stop to these missing assignments.
• More Time - Clutter, missing assignments and stressed students take time away from your role as a teacher. When you can teach your students to be organized, you will decrease the amount of time you spend on these non-learning activities.
• Better Grades - Organized students tend to have higher grades and complete more assignments than those who are disorganized.
• Better Self-Esteem - With organization comes higher grades and more completed assignments, and with that comes higher self-esteem and confidence.
• Better Prepared for Adult Life - You likely know an adult who is not organized. They often appear flustered and frustrated. By teaching children to be organized, you can help them be prepared to be organized adults and void the pitfalls of clutter and disorganization. These are the types of life skills that teachers need to instill in their students.

For more information on the importance of organization, visit:

• 25 Reasons for Being Organized
• The Advantages of Organizational Skills
• How Cleaning and Organizing Can Improve Your Physical and Mental Health
• Importance of Being Organized for Students 
• Organization as the Key to Academic Success

The Link Between Organization and Math Class

Organization is something that teachers in all subject areas can focus on to encourage student success, but there is a direct connection between organizational skills and the role of the math teacher. In fact, students who have struggles in math often show this by having struggles with organization. When they can't be organized in other areas of life, students become confused and disorganized in math when working through multi-step problems. In math class, these organizational problems can manifest when students:

• Cannot complete sequencing problems with multiple steps.
• Become confused by multi-step problems
• Become fixated on individual elements of a problem rather than the final goal
• Become unable to identify relevant information and information that is not needed to solve a problem.
• Have no ability to understand whether or not their solution is appropriate for the problem.

Also, many concepts taught in the math classroom have organization at their basic core. From writing out steps to word problems to learning visual-spatial skills, students can gain valuable organizational skills in the math classroom. For this reason, it is the role of the math teacher to spearhead this organizational instruction.


Visual-Spatial Skills Instruction

So how can the teacher – particularly math teachers - go about teaching organization? Can you have a lesson plan specifically on organization? While technically you can, and it may be valuable to do, you can also teach students to be more organized by teaching them valuable visual-spatial skills and use an applied approach to their learning. Some students are strong visual-spatial learners, while others need a little more instruction in this area.
Visual-spatial processing is "the ability to tell where objects are in space." Math relies heavily on visual-spatial processing. Even a simple math problem, like 2 + 2 = 4, requires a student to be able to perceive where numbers are on a page and how that placement affects their ability to solve the equation. Math teachers can help students excel in school and become more organized by spending some time teaching these skills. Here are some lessons based on grade level that can help.

Preschool Visual-Spatial Lesson Plans

• 5 Activities to Strengthen Your Child's Spatial Intelligence - These are simple activities you can do in the classroom or at home to help young children understand spatial connections and grow their spatial intelligence.
• Exploring Spatial Sense - This early math lesson plan uses treasure hunts to teach geometry and spatial skills to 3 to 6 year olds.
• Marshmallow Fun Day - This math day focuses on spatial understanding using marshmallows to get kids involved in hands-on learning.
• 6 Activities to Improve a Child's Spatial Awareness - These activities are intended for parents, but they may provide ideas for preschool teachers looking to build spatial awareness in their students.
• Counting Games - These counting games are played online and help students build numeral understanding in a visual way. Numeral understanding is a key component of preschool spatial learning.
• Sorting Objects Into Baskets - Organize objects by color, shape, size or other factors will help students learn better visual-spatial skills.
• Early Childhood Lesson on Five Geometric Shapes - This preschool lesson will teach children about shapes, which is a key factor to future understanding of geometry concepts.
• Discovering Shapes and Space in Preschool - Understanding that things take up space is part of visual-spatial processing, and this lesson will help preschool teachers approach this concept.

Early Elementary Visual-Spatial Lesson Plans

• Building Map-Reading Skills - Map-reading is a key component of visual-spatial learning, and this lesson helps introduce map-reading skills into the elementary math classroom.
• Strategies and Activities to Develop Spatial Awareness and Intelligence - These early elementary activities use maps and globes to develop spatial awareness and intelligence.
• A Heart Shape Math Puzzle - This activity gives kids 20 triangles to fit into a larger heart shape, which requires spatial reasoning and geometry skills.
• Learning About Shapes Math Activity - This hands-on lesson plan uses crafting materials to teach kids about shapes and geometric concepts.
• Take a . . . Geoboard - This introductory lesson shows the value of using geoboards or pegboards to develop visual/spatial skills in students.
• Pattern Activities for Kids - This series of activities help kids get better at identifying and copying patterns.
• Patterns, Patterns Everywhere - A lesson plan that uses math and literature to explore the idea of patterns.
• Visual Perception Skills Worksheets - Printable worksheets that focus on visual perception skills.

Upper Elementary Visual-Spatial Lesson Plans

• Mirror Symmetry Drawing - Symmetry is an important visual-spatial concept, and this lesson plan will teach math students in upper elementary how to draw in symmetry.
• Geoboard Challenge - This fourth-grade lesson challenges students to create specific figures on geoboards as they develop a better understanding of the properties of shape.
• Geoboard Activities - This collection of activities explores a number of geometric concepts using geoboards.
• Design a Space Using Models - This lesson plan for third or fourth grade has students design a space using area models.
• Mathematics of Cartography - A series of resources that help students understand how math and mapping are connected.
• Stained Glass Tessellations - This math lesson plan for grades 5-6 explores tessellations while creating stained glass replicas.

Middle School Visual-Spatial Lesson Plans

• Geoboards in the Classroom - This unit uses geoboards to explore middle school geometry concepts in a hands-on way.
• National Library of Virtual Manipulatives - A large collection of online manipulatives that help teach geometry concepts in grades 6 through 8.
• Hands-on Activities in Geometry for Middle School - This selection of activities uses manipulatives to engage middle school students in better learning about geometry concepts.
• Introducing Tessellations - This hands-on computer-based lesson introduces the concept of tessellations to middle school students.
• What Are Fractals - An art and math lesson plan unit on fractals.
• Classroom Polyhedral Activities - A collection of middle school activities on the subject of polyhedral figures.
• Middle School Spatial Reasoning Lesson Plans - This selection of lesson plans looks at spatial reasoning relationships in the middle school level.
• Freedom Quilts - Quilting is highly mathematical in nature, and hits lesson explores the patterns and math concepts in a quilt.

High School Visual-Spatial Lesson Plans

• Try Engineering Lesson Plans - Engineering is a highly visual-spatial career, and these lesson plans look at many different aspects of engineering for high school students.
• Hands-on Engineering Activities for Your Classroom - Another collection of engineering activities for the high school classroom.
• High School Engineering Class Activity: Design an iPad Case - This video lesson teaches real-world problem solving skills that involve visual-spatial skills.
• 8 3D Printing Lesson Plans That Reinforce STEAM Learning for Students - This fun activity uses 3D printers to reinforce spatial reasoning for older students.
• Flip, Turn, Slide: Adventures in Transformations - This lesson plan helps students understand the concept of transformations.

Lesson Plans on Organization

Visual-spatial instruction is a key component of organization, but what about organization itself? Can you teach organization? The answer is yes. If you aren't sure where to start, here are some lesson plans that can help you start to teach your students how to be organized.

• Learn NC: Lesson Plans on Organization - This resource has lesson plans on organization for all grade levels.
• Organizational Skills and Techniques to Use - This lesson targets junior high students and provides practical techniques to get and stay organized.
• 6-Trait Lesson Plans - Organization - This lesson plan focuses on how to teach children to be organized.
• Learning to Be Your Own Homework Coach - This lesson plan from The New York Times teaches kids to take charge of their own homework and organization for homework.
• Basic 12 for High School: How Are Your Organizational Skills? - This lesson unit helps high school students think through the organizational and time management skills they need for success.
• Organizational Skills Lesson Plan for Elementary School - This lesson plan teaches organization, its benefits and how to implement it.
  

Teaching Organization and Students with Special Needs

Students who have special needs, especially those with attention concerns like ADHD, need a little additional help and support to be organized. Because of the challenges these students face, they may not be able to understand the basic concepts of organization the way others do. To help improve their confidence and reduce frustration in the classroom, you need to give them the skills to be more organized. Here are some tips that can help.

• Write down all assignments - If your student has the instructions in writing, he or she can't forget the assignment. Use an assignment book that is more difficult to lose than a sheet of paper.
• Use colors - Color-coding books and supplies by subject will help the student be prepared for class with all of the necessary supplies.
• Invest in visual tools - Children with attention or sensory struggles need visual tools to stay on task. A picture map of the child's schedule, for example, will help them stay on task throughout the school day. A visual homework map will ensure that homework is completed as desired. The more pictures you can make for the child with special needs, the better organized they will be.
• Help with cleaning - If a student's desk or backpack becomes disorganized, step in to help. This clutter can send the special needs student into a tailspin, and often the child has no ability to deal with the mess. Schedule regular cleanout times.
• Clearly label everything - From the homework basket to the place for pencils, clearly label what you can in the classroom to help the disorganized special needs child stay engaged and aware.
• Partner with parents - Partner with the child's parents to ensure you are both working together to help the child be and stay organized. This has to be a partnership, so you know that the parents will follow through with your plans at home. Enlist the parents to check assignment notebooks and ensure that the work is getting done as assigned.
• Make it a team effort - These kids are not going to be naturally organized, so enlist the help of their peers. Make it a team effort, awarding points to the class for being clean and organized.
• Break it down - If a project seems too large or overwhelming, help the child learn to break it down into manageable chunks.
• Tackle one thing at a time - Kids with special needs are often easily overwhelmed. Rather than trying to tackle the entire subject of organization, deal with one problem at a time until it is addressed well.

For additional information about organization skills in the special needs classroom, visit:

• ADDitude: Secrets of the Organized Student
• LD Online: Organizational Skills for Students with Learning Disabilities - The Master Filing System for Paper
• Teachers Gateway to Special Education: Organizational Skills
• My Aspergers Child: Organizational Skills for Children with Aspergers and High-Functioning Autism
• Kid Companions: Teaching Organizational Skills to Individuals with Autism
• Teaching Organizational Skills to Students with ADHD
• Organizing Your Special Needs Child

Additional Resources
Are you looking for more help on teaching organization and visual-spatial understanding? Consider these resources:

• Concordia University Nebraska: Teaching Spatial Literacy
• Free Virtual Geoboard
• How Teaching Spatial Skills Could Be Apart of a School's Strategic Plan
• 10 Tips for Improving Spatial Skills in Children and Teens
• Spatial Reasoning Tests
• Preparing Students for High School and Beyond
• Child Mind Institute: Organizational Skills