The Last Week of Summer

Technically I still have one more week before the teacher back to school meetings begin, but since I am planning to spend part of every day this week in my room getting the space ready so I don't have to stick around after the meetings beyond some finishing touches, I considered last week the last real week of my summer vacation.

I spent most of last week camping with my family and a long time friend of my boys. It was relaxing and the perfect way for me to unplug and recharge before the start of the school year. While I was away, my school secretary emailed me the names and addresses of all the incoming fifth graders so my partner teacher and I could send out welcome postcards. She and I planned to have them out in Saturday's mail. So when I got home on Thursday night and discovered I had left my half of the postcards at school, I knew that meant I had to make a trip into my classroom on Friday.

Since I was going in anyway, I took some Mr. Clean Magic Erasers and used one to scrub six shelves in the built in bookcase in my room and the counter above them. I applied as much elbow grease as I could, spending close to an hour on just six shelves. I did watch a layer of grime come off, but I was still unable to get them to really look clean. It was mildly disappointing, but not all that surprising. I reiterate that white is not a good color for classroom furniture.



The water after 2 shelves (note the spots that would not "erase")

The only other thing I did at school last week was to label my paper bags for my fifth grade survival kits and put the items I have ready for them near them on a desk in my classroom. The survival kits are generally my last finishing touch before school actually begins.

Some items still need to be created and purchased for these

I took my postcards, metallic permanent markers, and the first set of Scholastic book order forms for the year home to work with while I did camping laundry. I really only meant to address the postcards and put names on the little metal buckets for the school's theme on Friday afternoon. I did both of those, but while scrolling through my Facebook I came across a Momastery post that I wanted to print and modify for use in my classroom next year.



That's a lot of buckets to fill!

Aren't we cute?

And then another post caught my eye, this time for an editable classroom procedure booklet from Teachers Pay Teachers. I have an interesting relationship with Teachers Pay Teachers in that I almost never spend money on the site. I have downloaded several freebies, since every seller is required to have at least one free item.  Mostly I look at the previews of items for sale and then decide to either do without or make my own version rather than spend money. Maybe that's why my own Teacher's Pay Teachers products are so few and far between. Now that I get so many ideas from other sellers I don't feel right adding my latest creations which are based on the ideas of others.

The sense that I could make my own version of whatever I needed has kept me from using a classroom procedure booklet in past years. I love the idea, but have never taken the time to make my own. But I took the plunge and spent the five bucks to buy Teaching in Room 6's version to edit it and make it my own... which then took the rest of Friday evening and all day Saturday. But the time spent was well worth it. I am very excited to go into this school year with procedures clearly defined and on paper for students to refer back to, and to even pull out and show parents should the need arise. I had at three parents tell me last year along that their child did not know when and where to turn in assignments, even though there is a standard procedure I had taught and followed for months before any of these conversations. If such conversations happen going forward, I can have the student find the correct section in the classroom procedure manual and read it to his or her parents!

Checking my school supply list, emailing and texting my partner teacher, and even sending one email to my principal later, I have a draft that might be ready to print, staple, and hand out to students on the first day of school. But I think I'll wait just in case the urge to continue editing strikes me again soon.

The first printed copy

There will either be lots or no more posts from me this coming week, as I work to set up my classroom space while keeping things running smoothly on the home front. My greatest fear in starting this blog is that I wont' find the time to write for it once school begins. We will soon find out whether or not my fear is valid.