[perrbear16]

This will be my first year teaching & I'm SOOOO excited. I'm being a little impatient & want to start planning things even though it's a month away & I haven't met any of my future co-workers. Is there anything I can start doing now as far as creating forms, binders, powerpoints, etc? Obviously I can start freshening up on the material.

[dearduckyduck]

This is the time to think about how YOU want to run the routine things in your classroom.

How will students turn in their work?
How will students line up?
How will you get their attention?
How will you deal with attendance?
How will you prepare for the week?
Copies daily? Weekly?
Set up your planbook with the dates for the upcoming year.
etc.


Once you think about those routines and procedures, you can start making the things you will want to use.

Can you contact your administrator for a class list? There are lots of things you can do just with the class list.

Desk tags
Name sticks
Attendance magnets
Birthday goodies
Cubby tags


Do you have a theme in mind for your decoration style? Now is the time you can start gathering items / making items at home.

Have fun!

[perrbear16]

Great questions for me to start looking into, thanks! I don't know anyone at the school & I hate to keep bothering the principal. When do class lists typically come out? I assumed we'd get them at in service. I do have a theme in mind, but I'm not sure if we can choose anything we want or if we have to coordinate with the schools theme. This is my first year so I'm pretty clueless about everything lol

[broomrider]

to got to the school and pick up the Teacher's Editions of your major programs (usually language arts, math, and science). Get familiar with the lesson formats and materials needed. Often there are far more activities listed in the Teacher's Edition (TE) than can possibly be used in one lesson and you'll have to determine which will be left out, which will be done quickly, and which emphasized. Your students will help you make some of these decisions as you get to know them and their needs.

Some principals use up all the teacher prep days with meetings leaving very little time to set up your room. You might want to get your furniture arranged, bulletin boards covered, and books and supplies laid out before the official prep days. Everything takes longer than you think it will--especially when you start from scratch.

I spent every daylight hour of Labor Day week end setting up for my classroom my first year (school started the day after Labor Day)because I thought I had time to set up during the preparation days. Ha!

[Youthcantknow]

I want to second broomrider's suggestions. I think it's also OK to make a list of the top couple of things you're most curious/concerned about and ask a secretary. At my school, for example, the only way we know that the class lists are done is by checking the online system ourselves. If you have a school email account, start checking it now in case they're communicating to the staff via email. And keep coming to PT! It's the best support you'll ever find!

[Sam5]

Read Harry Wong First Days of School and start thinking about your procedures. Please be ready to be flexible about them though. If you know a helpful veteran teacher at your grade level( or the secretary will give you the name of one) take them out to lunch and just listen to what they have to say about how the school runs and anything else he or she wants to talk about.

Read your teacher's manuals and student texts cover to cover just to get a feel for the subject matter. If you can't get copies- sometimes you can find them on-line by googling. Look over any curriculum guides the district has available.

Don't buy many decorations until you have seen your room, know what is already in it, and what the fire codes are. Keep it simple. A few bulletin board sets and some chart paper to start with will be enough to start with. Think of a welcome board and a classroom management board you might use.

Congratulations on your first year!

[Oncidium]

You can get your procedures ready. You can make procedure power points so they are ready to show the kids. I mean, according to Wong, you will be exclusively teaching procedures the first week.

Also get the core curriculum for the grade level you will be teaching. See if there are interesting lessons you can put together (books like Kids science experiments could help).

Re-reading the texts with a sharp eye for your grade level is also a good idea. If I knew I was teaching 2nd grade, I would focus on 2nd grade appropriate lessons, just so I would not muddy the waters.