Two Stars and a Wish – Tips for Back to School
Welcome to Two Stars and a Wish, hosted by Mandy’s Tips for Teachers. This is a blog hop that will give you some great and very useful ideas ideas for Back to School.
My 1st Star Idea involves school supplies. Every year on the first day of school, my kids arrive with all their stuff. Piles and piles of it, it’s overwhelming to say the least. I find it very difficult to sort through all that and still be dealing effectively with my new batch of kids and all that goes along with that. Here is a look at just a fraction of my supplies on the 1st day last year.
I had so many other things to deal with that morning that I just left everything in a pile at the front of my room and ended up sorting it at the end of the day. Took me a long time. So…. never going to do that again. My Star Idea – This year, I asked my parents to make a quick trip to school in the days before classes begin, so that they can drop off supplies and give me any other information that they need to. So much easier and neither of us will feel rushed. It also gives me a chance to check and make sure that each child has what they need and nothing has been forgotten from the list.
I try to be as organized as I possibly can on that 1st day. But, there is always so much to do. When I take a look at my classroom on those first few days back before the kids come, I start making list after list of things I want to get done. The list ends up being so long that I never get through it all. My 2nd Star Idea – this year I decided, before I left in June, that I would get cracking on my list right away. So this summer, I have taken a bit of time to organize my classroom from home and I know that this will save me time in the long run. Here is a bit of what I’ve done.
Getting my book baskets ready. I have some now, but they really needed a facelift.
Getting my reading folders and notebooks ready, labels and all.
And finally, getting my Teacher planner ready!
My wish – to improve my ability to assess my kids quickly. I’ve noticed that it takes a while to really size each child in my class up, so that I know what kind of learner or reader or thinker or little person I have in my possession for that year. This school year, I hope to get on that more quickly right from the first day of school. I use this Pack to help me find out what interests my kids and it gives me an idea of how they think/work right from the get go.
Just click on the pic for more info.
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For more Star ideas from over 40 different bloggers, please browse through the link up below and choose a topic that interests you. Thanks for visiting!
July 27, 2014 @ 2:03 pm
so…. can I just say I wish I had this school supply problem a lot of you have? haha. I work at a very low income school (which I LOVE), but only about 3-4 of my students bring school supplies each year, and it's usually not even the full list. My first paycheck disappears quickly, hahaha. I hope you're enjoying your summer!!
Katie
Dirty Hands & Lesson Plans
July 27, 2014 @ 4:42 pm
Hi Leslie! I've missed you! I get to go back to first grade this year! Yahoo! I love your book bins and the cute little labels. I also love your teacher planner pages. Did you make them and are they available on your TpT? Have a great start of your year!
Corinna
July 27, 2014 @ 5:32 pm
Love your book baskets. I also love your back to school packet. That is now on my wishlist and I will be purchasing for sure!
Jean
Diving Into 2nd Grade
July 27, 2014 @ 10:07 pm
I LOVE the labels for your lesson plans! Too cute! I'm working on that this week. Your back to school packet looks fabulous. Good luck with the upcoming school year.
Stellar Students
July 28, 2014 @ 12:58 am
Your book labels and folders are absolutely beautiful! I'm eyeing that back to school packet!
Sally from Elementary Matters
July 28, 2014 @ 7:08 am
Great ideas Leslie ! I love your book bin labels….heading over to TPT to see if they are in your store 😉
August 5, 2014 @ 6:50 am
I love your blog!!! Is your teacher planner available on TPT??? I would love to have it!!!! Thank you!!!!