Holy crap. It’s August.
Summer, WHERE DID YOU GO? I swear I was just packing up my room (what feels like last week) and now here I was this morning, setting things up in my classroom for the first day back.
Back in May, as I was finishing up year 12, I did a blog post on how I finish each school year – while also preparing for the upcoming school year. Now, there isn’t a TON that I can get prepared at the end of a school year for the following year (you can read about what I prepare here), but there is enough that I can get done so that when I come back in August my “to-do” list isn’t nearly as long.
In August I am able to get back into my classroom, I receive my teaching schedule in the mail, and I’m able to see the students on my IEP caseload. Today, while I started to unpack and started setting up for the first day, I figured I’d show you everything else I like to have finished before the first day is here. I have also included links to some of the resources.
Before I get started, I do want to say that we do have four mandatory in-service days coming up. Today was not mandatory. I went in to get started on my classroom, on my own time, and tackle the things I absolutely needed done before anything else.
Let’s start with Grand Central Station – AKA my classroom entrance. This is where students come in and out (obviously), use the sign-in sheets, read the lunch menu (super important for high school students), read any other important goings on in school that week/month, store their cell phones, collect their bell ringers, read the Calendar Quick Write for the day, look for missing papers they forgot to put their names on… you get the picture. Yes, I know it’s August and I set my Calendar Quick Write bulletin board dates for September, but real talk we will only be in school three days in August and I don’t see the point of setting up for August to just take it all down.
I typically print sign out sheets in May for the upcoming year (both my basic classroom and resource room), but this year I knew my name would be changing. I wanted these to be printed for the first day (as I go over classroom procedures) and in a place where students could easily access the clipboards. I found this plastic bin at Target and it works perfectly on this cart by my door.
This cart is new and I’m SO excited about it. If you have social media, or if you go to Michael’s often, you have seen this cart plenty of times. I’ve looked all over for something exactly like this. It’s perfect for me to store the sign-in/out sheets, have the students store their cell phones during class (in a drawer that I will label specifically for this use), and it’s also where I will be keeping extra papers that they might need for their regular class inclusion binders. I will also be storing the Calendar Quick Write pieces that I’m not using in a drawer – and I’m sure by the end of the year I’ll find more to store. This would be the perfect opportunity to say follow me on Instagram to find out what all I will have stored on here by the end of the school year. I want my students to be aware of where everything they might need is stored in the classroom.
The janitors have cleaned my room and set my desks back up for me – exactly how they were. That’s a huge score.
Moving along to my front white board area. This is where teaching three different subjects, in one period, four times a day will be going down this year. It HAS to be organized come the first day. Mostly for my sanity. The shower caddy is a staple to my white board. This is going to be the fifth year I have been using it. I still believe Target sells it. I’m not sure how I used a white board before this caddy. Seriously though. I keep my markers in a little cup, tip side down, so they don’t dry up fast on me. I keep a plant on it, because plants make me happy. Fake or not. I will hang ringlets on it based on what’s being taught. Usually they are my Writing Reference Rings. I feel like I use those the most. Also, I keep my “Bitmoji Rating Card” here so my students can see how I am doing for the day. It’s something fun we started last year. I say “we” because I teach high school learning support. The students I get when they move to 9th grade typically stay with me until they graduate. I will also be displaying an Allergy Awareness poster here. I do have a student with a peanut allergy.
Below my whiteboard is the little roller drawer cart. It’s great for keeping track of work I plan on doing with each class period, each day of the week. I have REALLY tried maintaining the habit of printing all materials on a Friday that I will need for the following week. Sometimes this isn’t realistic, but I always try. I will put work for each of these classes in their respective drawer, starting with the first day of the week on top. My students know that I keep their daily work in these drawers as well. It’s come to the rescue quite a few times when I’ve been absent unexpectedly and my students have had to help out the substitute or when I could only e-mail plans that said “today’s work for each period can be found in the drawers under the white board.” Right now I just have each classes’ welcome letter/syllabus, classroom contracts, and activities for the first week back. Thankfully, classroom contracts and activities for the first few days were prepped in May. Once I saw the schedule of classes I was teaching I printed new welcome letters/syllabi and added them to their respective drawer.
I don’t worry about tidying up my desk too much until those mandatory four days. I’d rather tackle the bigger projects that need to be done to help make the first few days back run smoothly. Well, as smoothly as they can. However, I do have a little area on the side of my desk I like to get set up. I keep my mini fridge here (plugging it in before those four days is on top of my “to-do” list – I’ll need to keep my lunches cold) and use it as a little shelf for all of my teaching materials /manuals, progress monitoring supplies, and testing materials for when students come to my room to test. I believe I bought the black bins last year from the Dollar Tree. They’ve held up very well. Above that, I keep a peg board to house all sorts of random things. Fun things that I keep on key rings go here so they are quick for me to get to. Once I get my school calendar, as well as an updated calendar of when grades are due, I will slide them in the plastic pocket charts here to hang. I like for this to be set up so that as soon as I receive these two calendars I can immediately slide them into their new homes.
On the wall behind my desk, and slightly to the right of my desk (if that makes sense?), I have another small shelving unit. I purchased this one at Target last year. I keep my large binders here that don’t fit anywhere else (those are last year’s binders, this year’s binders are still at home being worked on). I also like to keep items the students need, and items I like to keep a watch over. I set up the pencil sharpener, the calculators, and in the bins I keep “the good” highlighters, pencils, pens, markers, etc. (c’mon, we all have a set of “good” supplies that we don’t use all the time so we keep them stored away). The rolling cart next to it I ordered two years ago from Amazon. Ignore the GIANT cracked bottom drawer. Saying my students are rough on my things at times is an understatement. I like for this to be set up for the first few days so I can show my students where they can turn completed work in, where they can turn work that stills needs finished in, where they can find extra writing paper, etc. I label the drawers making it easy to find what they are looking for.
The back corner of my room is probably my favorite spot. I keep a book shelf back here, our puzzle table and stools, and as of this year our little couch and lap desks. I purchased the couch and lap desks this year from Target. I’ve always liked the idea and look of flexible seating, but it’s not practical in my classroom. For close to ten years now I have had a student who needs to be able to navigate their wheelchair around my classroom. I don’t (and can’t) want random seats scattered around my classroom. However, with that being said, I do like to offer additional seating for those of my students who do like to sit somewhere other than a desk. Inserting my idea of “flexible seating” here, haha. I use stools at my puzzle table that students can move around the room, but then must place back under the table before they leave my room. The lap desks will come in handy for the students who wish to sit on a stool and write (which to me doesn’t sound comfortable, but hey – we’re all different). The couch is tucked away in a back corner and easy to get to by ALL of my students. The photo might be slightly deceiving, but there’s room to navigate around the table.
I use the bookshelf to store resources my students will need based on what I am teaching, as well as extra odds and ends to help them with learning. I have decent closet space in my classroom so I grab the resources out of the closet from storage when I need them and display them here. Sometimes it’s novels we are reading, task boxes we are working on, etc. I also keep personal white boards here, extra mini charts, rulers, and other random supplies. Basically if I know my students need something, I will put it on the shelves for them. I like for this corner to be ready to go come first day. I like to go over my “flexible seating” rules, explain what they can find on the shelves, talk about when we build the puzzle, and any other things I am probably forgetting to tell you all right now.
Lastly, is my back wall. This is not exactly and ideal spot for a white board, so I use it as my assignment board and where I keep extra resources they might want to take with them for help. This year I will be teaching in my classroom for four periods, I will have one testing period, and I will be co-teaching for two periods. I divided my white board into five sections – one section for each period I am teaching and then one section to attach extra resources to – i.e. mini charts, flip books, flip folders, etc. We are asked to display our learning targets in our classroom. This will be my third year displaying my learning targets this way. Next to each target I will write that class period. It’s easy for anyone who comes into my classroom to see and it’s easy for me to see and then read to my students the learning target for the day.
That’s it! Well, kind of. The only other MAJOR things left to get ready before the first day are my binders/special education paperwork. I actually work on them at home, and then bring them to my classroom during our four days of in-service. I finish up anything with them during those days. This blog post was for sure long enough. Sorry! So, I will do a follow up post with how I prepare my binders for back to school.
Stay tuned!