Your students aren’t the only ones starting to get a case of summer fever. With standardized testing winding up, longer days, and warmer temps, the end of the school year is in sight. Follow these tips and tricks for packing up your classroom to put a neat finish on the current school year and save yourself time and stress at the beginning of next year. A little extra planning now will make your job so much easier in the fall!
1. Write out a back-to-school supplies list
Take a few minutes to write out your supplies list now while you are sitting in your classroom and have a visual of everything you will need. If you try to do this during the summer you are more likely to forget some crucial items.
2. Put up next year’s bulletin boards
If you know that the custodians will not be touching the walls when cleaning over the summer, you can save yourself some time next year by putting up new bulletin boards while you are removing this year’s old ones.
3. Get Your Back-to-School Activities and Lessons Ready
We all know how busy and stressful the first week of school can be. Make your life easier by preparing your first week’s activities now.
Here are some ideas on creative icebreakers, goal-setting lessons, and first week-of-school activities:
Activities to try the first week-of-school
Five cooperative learning ideas to try the first week-of-school
Goal setting for the best school year
4. Draft a schedule for next year
Now is the perfect time to think about things that worked really well this year and things that didn’t go quite as planned. While these thoughts are fresh in your mind, take some time to draft an outline of next year’s schedule. When you start planning your lessons in the fall, this draft will be a terrific resource that will make your planning a breeze.
5. Organize!
Save yourself some sanity and be sure to label everything very clearly as you pack up your classroom. On each box, list its contents and any notes on where the items were located in your room. Be sure to number each box (i.e. 1 of 10) and write your name and room number on each one.
6. De-Clutter
We all have tendency to save things for later. Toss, purge, donate, and de-clutter everything that you will not need next year. This includes any worn out materials such as broken crayons and torn books and items that were not used at all last year (i.e. project materials that you never got around to finishing). Starting fresh will help you feel more energized for the new school year.
Have something to add? We’ve love to hear from you! Share your thoughts and ideas in the comments below!