Organizing RightStart Math

Sugar River Free School recently selected RightStart Mathematics as our math curriculum. We acquired the full set of Second Edition Math Manipulatives (RS2 Math Set) and the RightStart Mathematics Level A Second Edition Book Bundle (RS2 Level A Book Bundle). Hopefully RightStart doesn't mind us using their images here. Free advertising?

The moment I opened the shipment box full of materials, I KNEW that we were going to need an organizational system to keep sane with this program. The breadth of manipulatives is a big plus of RightStart Math, but it also presents an organizational challenge.

I also knew that I could personally spend all of my time organizing the fun materials and zero time teaching our students, so I committed to teaching at least one or two lessons before approving the purchase of an organizational system.

Two successful lessons down, and I made a trip to Target and discovered the 16.7 qt Snapware Smart Store with Organizer Caddy and Tray Inserts. I picked up a couple of other options to try at school, too, but I was *really* hoping this would be the winner! It features three small, removable trays inserts and a removable caddy.

I brought it to school and tested it to see if I could fit in *all* of the RS2 Math Set. It fits all RS2 Math Set manipulatives EXCEPT the oversized items: Scale, Whiteboard, and Fraction Charts. I will make a separate post about this later.

For our current use, the Snapware Smart Store easily fits all of the materials we need for Level A: books, cds, and manipulatives!  This is great for us right now, as our students just started Level A. I boxed up the other RS2 Math Set manipulatives that we won't need until further down the road.

*Because we bought the full Math Set and Book Bundle, we have even more materials for Level A than you would have if you purchased the Level A Starter Kit, such as the Math Card Games Book, Yellow is the Sun book, and Appendix A pages.

See how it all fits!

Bottom of bin: Most Card Decks, Abacus Tiles, Place Value Cards, Base 10 Cards,
Multiplication Deck in Envelopes, Tangrams, Extra Tally Sticks and Tiles. Clock will be added here when it arrives!

Middle of bin: Piled on top of bottom level of manipulatives: Abacus, Addendum, Card Games Book,  Level A Lessons, and Yellow is the Sun book. Geoboards would easily fit here without the Card Games Book. 

Top level caddy: Tiles, Tally Sticks, and some other items needed for our early Level A lessons.
Counting Bears aren't part of RS Math, but we had them at home and use them!

With lid on.

I hope this helps some other schools and families organize their RightStart Mathematics programs!