What’s Up Phys Ed Fam!
Don’t you love getting to see inside another PE Teachers equipment room?
Anytime I visit another school one of my favorite things is to go see how they organize things in their gym and equipment room so I can grab a few ideas for myself and hopefully improve the way I do things.
As the end of the year approaches, I plan to get my equipment room semi-cleaned and organization. I inventory my equipment and I thought it would be a good time to show you my PE equipment room!
Touring my equipment room has always been something I wanted to do, but it’s one of those video ideas that kept getting kicked to the back of the line until now.
Hopefully this will give you a visual on how I set everything up, think through it, and some of the changes I’ve made since I’ve been at my school. So let’s check it out!
So there you go, that’s a quick overview of my equipment room, lets break down the video in the post below
Recess Equipment
You can see how in the video above I have all the recess equipment piled up at the end of the year so I can get it inventoried and order new stuff for the start of the next school year.
If you haven’t seen how I do that, you can get an idea of our system by watching the video below
Check out the blog post: How To Organize Recess Bags for more details and links!
Students and teachers return their recess equipment to the gym. I inventory it, and prepare new bags for the next year.
I can see what’s missing and what has been damaged in order to put in the needed order for the following year.
Computer Cart / TV Setup
Another thing I mentioned during the tour was my computer cart that “lives in the equipment room” during the night, but during the school day I roll it out and plug it into my TV to show any slideshows or videos I have planned for the lesson that day.
I try to stay organized by having my computer and other essentials on a cart. At the end of each day, I’m able to roll the cart in the equipment room so it is out the way for the after school program.
To see the whole TV Setup check out How to Setup a TV in a Gym
A few things on the Cart:
- A plastic bin of Tape, Caribeaners and Bungees
- A plastic bin of I Can Statements that we use to put on the wall (see overview below)
- A bin full of Station signs with slips/holders (some tips for stations below)
- For station tips and a free set of 15 printable station signs, check out Tips for Teaching with Stations in PE
Entering the Equipment Room
As you enter the equipment room, on the right there is a quick grab cart I use for prizes, wristbands, fake money, or certificates I need to hand out.
- You can get a template and see a tutorial on how I make the fake money on TPT here or inside of the PE Specialist Membership Resources Library
- We’ll also hand out certificates sometimes to reward students with excellent achievement or model behaviors in the unit we’re in, like “Jumper of the Day” during our Jump Rope Unit, or Player of the Day in our Basketball Unit or the Cosmic Bowling Champion during our Bowling Tournament
Above the storage cart, we have corn hole boards mounted up on the wall and a cart we can use to take equipment on the go if needed.
On the wall I’ve added some hooks to have recess bags with Gator Skin balls inside. I’ve found that have the Gator Skin balls inside the bags instead of a bucket helps to keep their form, especially over a long break in between uses.
I also have an Outdoor Storage Shed in the equipment room I use for office supplies.
I keep my Rope buckets and 5 Gallon Buckets stacked and next to the storage shed.
Large trash bins are great for storing noodles. Rolling Ball Carts are awesome because they are expandable and collapsable. They can be used for storage but are also great for keeping equipment organized when you need it for an activity.
I’ve got an area for extra recess equipment away from my PE equipment. So if a students needs a ball for recess, I can give them one from this bucket until we run out of equipment.
I like to organize my Field Day documents, technology, and prizes in separate clear bins for easy access.
Speaking of tech, if you want to see some of my Technology Tools, check out the post below:
Storing Equipment in Clear Bins
Over the years, a big project for me has been swapping on the equipment that was stored in cardboard box, to these Clear Bins for organization. I make sure to label them and the clear container allows me to see what’s inside the box. I didn’t get them all at once just purchased about 5 of them each year.
When I was making the transition I actually enlisted the help of a few very organized 5th graders who volunteered in one of our Job Prep Programs at my school to help their teachers out during the school day and they counted up and labelled the majority of the bins and equipment for me.
When storing items, try to organize them with other items they go with and put frequently used items (like cones and spots) in easier to grab areas.
That’s the goal for my system and organization, but it’s definitely not perfect!
Having a Jump Rope Cart available is helpful if you need to transport your jump ropes outside or to another location in your gym or teaching space.
Otherwise I like to store them on back of the door, as you can see an overview of below:
I really like having a ladder available in the gym so I’m not having to track down the custodian staff for when you need to reach my stereo, wireless mic settings, TV setup or to put up a Poster on the wall.
- Check out the blog post for an Awesome Wireless Mic
- See my Stereo and Sound Setup Here
The corner of my closet is dedicated to our Gymnastics Equipment (yes I know, we’re super blessed to have so many mats)
If you don’t have Mat Carts you can just do what I used to do and place your mats stacked up on scooters
- Check out How To Teach Gymnastics in PE to see an overview of our Gymnastics Unit
And That’s pretty much it friends!
Again I like to have the clear bins for organization, it helps me find what items I need quickly.
The equipment we are using for the unit stay in the middle of the equipment room while we are teaching the unit. Then once the unit is complete, I place it back where it was.
When ordering new equipment, I like to start with the equipment I need to replace. Throughout the year, if equipment is damage, I’ll make sure to make notes so I can remember to order replacements.
Once I’m done with replacement, I think about cool equipment we can purchase.
Change Takes Time
Last but not least, I know that I am in an ideal situation with an ideal setup and by sharing it I hope that seeing my awesome setup doesn’t discourage you, but instead gives you some vision and a hope for what your equipment closet might look like one day… remember Change Takes Time – I have been working on the PE Program at my school and building up my equipment closet since 2007!
PS – Here are some tips on How to Get PE Equipment on a Budget
Also at the end of the year, pro tip is placing a dryer sheet in your equipment bins to keep them fresh over the summer
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Got some great organization or equipment storage ideas that I missed?
Share them in the comment section!