Be Prepared

School is right around the corner. We all know that preparing for the school year can be very stressful.  If you’re anything like me, you rearrange your furniture 5 times; spend countless hours looking on pinterest and blogs for bulletin board ideas; your hands begin to cramp from labeling everything with your new students’ names; the list goes on and on.

My school has an open house before school starts. That night I give my parents an introduction letter about myself; information about my classroom management; and forms for them to fill out and return.  My first year I was so worried about setting up my classroom that I almost forgot about all the paperwork and I was rushed to get everything finished the night before the open house. I didn't want to make that mistake again! Last summer I worked on the forms for open house.

Creating the forms over the summer had multiple benefits. I was able to space out the work over a few nights, which let me have time to think about the wording and layout of my forms. I was also able to go back and look at the forms to see if I forgot anything. It also saved me time because I wasn't stuck with multiple teachers waiting in the copy room the day of open house getting frustrated with the copiers for jamming. I guess slow and steady does win the race!

This also gives me motivation at the beginning of the year because I get to cross something off my list of things to do within my first 15 minutes of being back at school!