30 Desk Organisers for a Classroom

As a teacher battling the world of ridiculously huge pencil cases and constantly cluttered desks I decided to make something to streamline the organisation of my classroom.

This project is a "use what you have," type project and its more a concept than an exact process because every classroom is different.

I will walk you through the thought process of what I made and how, with the reasoning and justification for each step. I recommend if you are doing this for your classroom adjust it to your needs.

The first picture is an unpainted and unfelted version of the final block. The second picture is a painted and felted version without the stationary being in it or the felt being trimmed.

• 70 x 40 wood
• A table drill with the following drill bits - 20mm spade, 24mm spade, 9mm standard
• A router and straight 6mm router piece
• A belt sander and 80 and 120 grit sandpaper
• Paint with a paint brush, roller and q-tips.
• Wood glue
• Measuring tools

Cut the 70 X 40 pine into roughly 95 mm blocks.

I used a drop saw with a piece of pine clamped at the right length so all of the blocks were at the same length.

For this I used 70 X 40 mm pine because the width gave a sturdy base that wouldn't fall over easily if knocked and the depth allowed the holes to be drilled deep enough later to hold the stationary secure.

Using the straight routing bit route a groove about 1 centimetre from the one of the long edges. The groove needs to be about 25mm deep to allow the ruler to not fall out but still be easy to grab.

I used a homemade router table for this and set the guide and did all thirty one after another, increasing the depth each time.

It's important to note if you try to go straight to the depth of 25 mm you might burn out your router or damage the wood.

When I did my set of 30 for the class I actually made 35 so that I could test a few different layouts of the holes for the stationary.

I tested a few different layouts but settled on having the eraser in the middle with a pen on each side, the scissors on one side and the whiteboard marker on the other side.

Once I had trialled and error-ed the layout I settled on the layout in the photo. this had the pens at the front because they were most used, the scissors and whiteboard marker at he back because they were taller and the eraser in the middle for ease of access.

I drilled about 30 mm into the wood so that the stationary would stand firm. I did this by using jig to make sure all the holes were in the same location on each block.

I then used a belt sander and sanded all the wood with a 80 grit then a 120 grit sandpaper, I didn't go further than that because they were going to get painted. Using a dremel with a circular sanding bit I sanded the inside of the bigger holes.

After they had been sanded they were painted with a brush and a small roller. I used q-tips to get the paint inside the holes making sure every part was covered. There were two coats of paint put on them, the paint was durable outdoor paint that we had laying around from another project.

As a final step felt was cut up and glued onto the bottom of the blocks (with wood glue) to prevent them banging loudly on the classroom tables. The felt was glued on as larger pieces that were then trimmed to size.