Starting the School Year Smoothly

A new school year is beginning. Are we ready?

What comes after summer vacation - a new school year! So now's the time to start planning for a new classroom experience. Now is the time to dust off and review classroom management materials and refresh those "first days of school" lessons. New teachers also need to create these things. One thing that never changes though, is the plan to make each new year better that the one before. Do you feel that way too? Most plans include:

• rethinking the seating arrangement and desk position,  
• planning how to present information - whether  on chalkboard, whiteboard, Smart board or screen,
• creating tiered lessons, 
• developing formative assessments to gauge student levels, 
• and thinking of ways to establish working relationships.

What things can you share to make the first days of school run more smoothly?

Queen Bee

Tips for Getting Organized

How can you organize yourself before the next school year begins?

This summer season is a great time for planning and preparing for the next school year. This is a great time to organize your records and information so that you have smoother sailing during the school year.

Here are two great suggestions that you might want to try:

 Student Organization Binder:

A looseleaf binder that contains a calendar, seating plan, student pix and names, basic student information, conference info, behavior plans, anecdotal reports, etc. is a great way to collate important information and keep it centralized. Check out a great example on the blog Beyond the Grades:

Source: beyondthegrades.blogspot.com via Bayyinah on Pinterest

Here is a visual of a student information binder. 

Here is the URL for a student information folder. 

Please check it out for the exact details: 

http://beyondthegrades.blogspot.com/2011/10/teacher-binder.html. 

Student Lending Library:

Establish a lending library for students. Many teachers have a bookshelf full of books for students to read, but how are they organized? You can develop a list of books using the genre or reading level to differentiate them for students. 

Beth Newingham's Third Grade is a great website that details ways that you can organize your own library. It also gives you a link to Scholastic's readability scale(or you can use the readability scale available on your computer's Word application.)  Please check out the website's Studio 13 link: 

URL: http://hill.troy.k12.mi.us/staff/bnewingham/myweb3/library%20organization.htm

Here is a great reference for establishing your own classroom library

Why not take a little time this summer thinking about how you are going to organize your student information and your lending library?