Prepare for the Year with Classroom Planning A-Z

01 July 2015 / 3 comments

Can you believe it is already July? This is Melissa from Teacher Treasure Hunter and I am having a fabulous (and busy!) summer. We've already made a family trip across the states to visit family in Boston and we made stops at Philadelphia and Washington D.C. I'm so grateful that my children were able to visit some of the famous landmarks of the United States and gain a greater appreciation for the founding of our country.
Make Way for Ducklings! Boston Public Garden
We've also hosted a big surprise birthday party for my mom. Still to come - a trip to Vegas for the TPT conference and celebrating 20 years of marriage. It's a big summer!

The themes for this month are *Professional Development *Problem Solving *Prepare *Play. The theme of prepare was especially relevant for me right now as I get ready to switch grade levels. It's a bit scary to leave your comfort zone. I've taught 1st grade for 7 years and will now be teaching 3rd. Most of the students had me for 1st grade so I have to make sure that NOTHING is the same or they will call me on it! That I know! So, I am re-thinking everything from classroom decor to homework. It's almost like being a new teacher!

While I was thinking about preparing for a new grade level the idea of an A-Z list popped into my head and I wondered if there were enough items for each letter. As I started jotting down notes, I was pleasantly surprised by how many topics I came up with and how neatly they fit with each letter.

Of course, there were a few that were difficult. I was mulling over "z" and asked my son what words I could use for this project. He immediately said zombie! What??? Wait...that just might work...

I also asked him about "x" and said that I already had thought of Xerox. He said "what is that?" LOL! So, then I asked my other son and even gave him a sample of how you could use the word and he had no idea. I admit that I haven't heard the word used for years, but I did think it was kind of still something that was public knowledge. Apparently not! So for all of you teachers who are younger than *cough* Xerox was the name of the company that made copy machines and many people used that word for copy - kind of like you use the word Kleenex for a tissue. Let's move along now that I feel ancient!

I've created this FREE downloadable document to help new teachers or those who are at a new grade level or school. Other teachers may still find it useful to review some of the things that we need to think about and prepare over the summer break. It has a lot of links to freebies, blog posts and articles. What would you add to the list?
Click on the link to go to the download
Thanks for reading and I hope that you have a fabulous summer break! If you are looking for some fun professional development come join us on the weekly Twitter chats. I've been having fun participating in #TPTChat on Sunday at 8pm #TeacherFriends on Tuesday at 9pm EST and an oldie that is starting up again - #3rdchat Wednesday at 7pm EST. Search for @TTH_Melissa to follow my twitter account and join the fun collaboration.





3 comments:

  1. This is so great! I am not a new teacher, but I have my "To Do" list in my notebook, and needless to say, your list is much more thorough! Thank you for sharing:)
    Janie
    Are We There Yet?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for sharing your back to school ideas. I don't even want to think about BTS right now! July is too early. We start back the first week of August, so I am sure your ideas will come in handy.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks for sharing your back to school ideas. I don't even want to think about BTS right now! July is too early. We start back the first week of August, so I am sure your ideas will come in handy.

    ReplyDelete

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