While many fellow teachers of mine choose to have a summer job, go on extravagant trips, or take an AQ course, I chose to stay at home and simply relax. For some reason...this isn't working out for me as well as I planned. It's only been the second week of summer, and already I feel swamped with unpacking/cleaning our new apartment, sorting through mounds of teaching materials from the year (picture below), and catching up on appointments that were missed throughout the busy school year. Suddenly, I realized, I only have four more weeks until I go on my personal 'extravagant' trip (to BC!). And then, guess what! It is basically time to go back to work.. ah, the summer is short. Low and behold, I still have a Summer To Do List for teaching for these next four weeks. Just some things I hope to get done before I begin a new year of teaching. While these items are not detrimental for starting a new year of teaching, they are simply helpful ideas for organization. Perhaps this will help me keep on track a little bit more this year...and perhaps it could help you too!
This weeks project
Summer To-Do List:
1. Pre-planned Supply Lessons
All throughout the year it was my plan to make supply lessons. While I am thankful to say I had no days where I had to call in the morning sick, If I had, I would have been scrambling and stressing trying to come up with a supply plan. It is just not worth that extra stress. This summer, I plan on making these supply lessons for at least 3 days of classes. While, of course they will have to be adjusted according to the time of year and what the students are currently learning, some good basic plans will still save so much time!
2. A basket of children's books ready to read with lesson plans/activities.
Whether it be for creative writing, journal entries, a tie to a math or science lesson, or a start to an art project - books are your best friend (Especially in Grade 2!) I already have a basket of books, separated into seasons and topics (Wait for future blog post to see how this was done!), which was very helpful for me throughout the year, to quickly pick up a book when I had the time to read one to the students. The pre-made lessons/activities to go with it, would just be so much more helpful! I plan on starting this soon, and will blog my ideas throughout. Below is a picture of my current basket of books, which I also hope to fix up quite a bit! (As you can see, the basket is a little small... :)
Basket of books (Could use some updating...:)
Most times, I've considered pinning an idea on Pinterest to be a planned bulletin board idea. However, I want to take some time this summer to take those ideas (with my own creative spins) and actually get them ready to simply place on the bulletin board for when the time is right. Bulletin boards can be an added stress during a busy time of report cards or grading. I would love for that stress to be diminished, just a little.
4. Organized Binder of Ideas
Not much to add here. I hope to make an organized binder for Language Arts and Math. While of course, the curriculum binders are already set, there are many times when some extra activities are needed for further learning. This binder will be great to have throughout the year to also add any new ideas I come up with.
These four things will definitely keep my next four weeks busy. I plan to blog about each of them as I work through them. This is my first step into getting over my procrastination. Wish me luck, and maybe even join me! :)
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