Fun with Character: Mix it Up

Another way to help students to understand and appreciate order is to create disorder in the classroom. Make some changes in the classroom that show disorganization. Ask students to get things from their normal place and be flustered when the item is not there. Do this for several items in a row until they get the idea that the misplaced items were on purpose. Ask them to look around and see what else is amiss. Have them help in setting the classroom back to the way it should be. Sometimes students will take your carefully ordered space for granted. This gives them a way to appreciate your orderliness. End the activity by having them organize their desks/lockers. Hold a discussion on ways to best organize study spaces. If they have desks at home, are they organized? What are some ways you can bring order to a space and make it easy to maintain that order so that a month from now, the space is still orderly? One of the quotes for this month is “Cleaning and organizing is a practice, not a project.” By Meagan Francis. Discuss this quote regarding the practices needed to keep the classroom space and their personal space orderly.

To process this activity, ask these or similar questions:

• Were you surprised when you couldn’t find things in their normal place?

• Do you have an appreciation for being able to find what you want when you need it?

• What habits do you need to have to keep things orderly?

• Does it make you want to put things back when you are done?