If you're a new teacher you may be wondering what can you do now to prepare for fall when you begin teaching. Even if you're a veteran classroom teacher these back to school teacher tips can help you get prepped and ready for a great school year.
1. Meet With Your Team Before Back To School
One of the best things you can do if you are a new kindergarten or first-grade teacher is meet with your team. These will be the people you'll rely on day to day in school and it's a good idea to make friends with them as soon as you can. Reach out to your administrator to see if they can introduce you or give you your team's contact information.
Try to make a plan to have lunch during the summer to meet your new team. They'll be a treasure trove of information. Your team can tell you about how the school runs, your schedule, dress code, curriculum, and more. If nobody from your team contacts you, reach out to them first! Send a text introducing yourself and how excited you are to meet them. Suggest meeting for lunch or coffee at a nearby restaurant. Chances are they're as excited to meet you as you are to meet them!
2. Plan Your Daily Schedule
One of the first things you'll want to do is plan your daily schedule. Most principals will give you a general schedule with times for lunch, recess, and your special classes like art, gym, and music. Some principals will give you a detailed schedule for your entire day but most will leave that up to the classroom teacher.
Think about the different subjects you'll be teaching and what time of the day is best for each subject. Most teachers prefer to teach language arts (reading, phonics, spelling, and writing) in the morning when students are fresh and ready to learn. Often teachers will plan subjects like math, science, and social studies in the afternoon. Talk to your team about what their daily schedule looks like to get ideas.
3. Take A Tour Of Your Classroom
If you're a brand new teacher you're probably excited to get into your classroom and check it out. Contact your principal and ask them when it's appropriate for you to come in to take a look around. Administrators understand that teachers want to visit their classrooms but oftentimes there are workers in the building over the summer. You'll want to make sure that you're not disturbing anyone and that it's a good time to visit.
When you go in for the first time be sure to take a measuring tape, notebook, and pen. You'll want to jot down the furniture, books, and other materials that are already in your classroom. This is a great time to take measurements in case you want to purchase items like curtains, shelving, or even rugs. You never know what deals you'll find over the summer but you want to make sure it will all fit. Take lots of photos for reference too.
4. Review Your Curriculum
While you're visiting your new classroom be sure to grab your teacher's manuals. Take some time to review them at home. Read through the first few weeks of the back to school curriculum so that you can be prepared for the things you'll be teaching. You definitely want to look at your curriculum before the first week of school. The last thing you want is to be scrambling around without a plan when the students are there.
5. Review Your State Standards
While you're browsing through your teacher's manuals, get online and download your state standards. It's a good idea to print out your standards for every subject and keep them in a notebook. You'll refer to them over and over as you plan your weekly lessons.
Many principals require that you post your weekly standards somewhere in your classroom. Others ask that you post your standards inside your lesson plans each week. You'll want to make sure that every lesson you teach is aligned with your state standards.
6. Plan Your Back To School Classroom Decor
One of the most exciting things for a new teacher is planning their back to school classroom decor. Some teachers like to have a special theme like this crayon-themed classroom. The one thing you don't have to do as a new teacher is run out and spend a lot of money on classroom decor.
Choose 2-3 colors that look nice together and decorate your bulletin boards with those colors. If you want to add some theme elements to your classroom, go for it! But don't feel pressure to do this your first year. There will be plenty of time in your career to gather things for your back to school classroom decor.
7. Arrange Your Classroom
Once you've been given the go-ahead to get back to school and work in your classroom it's time to arrange your furniture. Ask a friend to come in and help you move the furniture around. One thing you want to avoid is scratching your newly polished floors. Your custodians worked hard to make them beautiful and shiny for the first day of school. The last thing you want to do as a new teacher is make your custodian upset!
Before you begin to move furniture, it's a good idea to make a sketch of how you want your room arranged. Think about where you'll put your teacher's desk, how you'll set up your math and literacy centers and where students will sit. If you have a carpet you'll probably want that near the board at the front of the room. This is where you'll do a lot of whole group lessons with your class.
8. Decorate Your Back To School Bulletin Boards
Once your room is arranged you can go ahead and decorate your back to school bulletin boards. Cover them with fresh paper, fabric, or burlap. Add some colorful borders to make them pop. Choose one bulletin board to be your “Welcome Back To School” board. You can make it cute by adding your student's names and cute decorations.
It's not necessary to cover all of your bulletin boards with charts and posters. You'll want to save some of the boards for student work. Some of the things you can put on your bulletin boards are:
- Classroom calendar
- Class birthday's
- Sign-in board
- Weekly standards
- Classroom rules
- Learning center rules
9. Prepare For Meet The Teacher Night
Most schools will have a special back to school evening where parents and students can come to school for meet the teacher night. It's usually a few days before school begins. Have your classroom set up and ready to go before this night so it looks fresh and welcoming to your new class.
Some of the things you can prepare are your sign-up forms and lists and a welcome packet for parents. This packet can have all the information that you want them to know about your classroom including:
- Your daily schedule
- Breakfast and lunch procedures
- Classroom rules
- Homework
- Dress code
- Volunteer information
- Field trip information
- Classroom party information
- Bus schedule
Another good idea is to make a back to school Powerpoint presentation to show at your meet the teacher night. You might be nervous meeting your class for the first time. Following a Powerpoint as you speak to parents will keep them engaged and you on point. Head over here for more meet the teacher ideas.
10. Write Your First Week Of School Lesson Plans
Get one step ahead of the game by writing your first week of school lesson plans and preparing all of your materials. The first few days back to school are very hectic in kindergarten and first grade. Students can get antsy and out of control if made to wait a long time for anything. Five minutes can seem like an eternity to a 6-year-old.
Plan some engaging read-alouds for the first few days of school like First Day Jitters, Stick And Stone, and David Goes To School. You can plan some fun get-to-know-you activities that go with your read-alouds. It's a nice way to ease into the school year. Head over here to see a week of lessons for your first week of school.
11. Plan Your Classroom Management Strategy
One of the most important things you will do as a new elementary teacher is planning your classroom management strategy. Read some good books and articles about behavior management strategies like Teaching With Love And Logic or Conscious Discipline. Student behaviors can be challenging and you will want to be prepared. Have a plan in place for how you will handle unruly students.
You might want to consider some kind of classroom reward system. Some teachers like to have a prize box. Other teachers will use stickers or smelly markers as incentives. One of my favorite rewards were my “Happy Chappy's”. I purchased chapsticks with fun candy scents like rootbeer, strawberry, or grape. When a student was doing a nice job on their work or behavior I would let them pick a Happy Chappy. I would rub a little on the back of their hand and they could smell it as they were working. The kids loved it!
12. Plan Your Morning Routines And Procedures
Think about all of the routines and procedures that you will be doing this year. Make a list of how each situation will be handled. A few ideas to get you started are:
- Will you have homework?
- What will you do at your calendar or morning meeting?
- What will students do when they come into class in the morning?
- What will they do with their daily folder?
- What is the bathroom policy?
Head over here to see 40 different classroom routines and procedures to help you get organized.
13. Prepare Your Math And Literacy Centers
In kindergarten and first grade you'll be meeting in small groups every day for reading or math. While you're meeting with a small group of students the rest of your class can be working at your math and literacy centers. You'll want to plan how you can set up your math and literacy centers and how you'll manage your centers too.
Think about the materials that you'll be using at your centers this year. Hands-on games and activities will give students the chance to practice skills and keep them on task so that you can work quietly with small groups. Now is the time to begin preparing your materials for a year of math and literacy centers.
14. Getting Student's Attention
Plan on how you'll get your student's attention in the classroom, in the hallway, lunchroom, and on the playground. Some teachers use callbacks when they want to get the attention of the entire class. When using a callback the teacher says one phrase and students call back with another. An example of this is Teacher says: “Peanut Butter” and Students call back” “And Jelly!”.
Other ideas are using a bell, whistle, or harmonica to get your students to quiet down and come to attention.
15. Create A Substitute Teacher Binder
At some point in the year, you'll probably need to call off sick. When this happens you want to be prepared with sub plans and a binder of information for your sub.
Take some time before you head back to school to create a binder with the following information:
- Class roster
- Emergency procedures
- Allergy List
- Rules and Expectations
- Emergency lesson plans and materials
16. Begin Collecting Books
Every kindergarten and first-grade classroom needs a library. Take some time over the summer to search for picture books at garage sales, thrift stores, and flea markets. You can begin to build up your library with inexpensive books that will last for years.
17. Purchase Classroom Toys
You will need to have some toys in your classroom for indoor recess on rainy or cold winter days. Most classrooms come equipped with a few books, some math manipulatives, and your teacher's manuals. That's about it. Do yourself a favor and hit up a few garage sales over the summer and buy some inexpensive toys for your classroom. Your students will actually look forward to indoor recess if you have some fun toys like legos, matchbox cars, Barbie dolls, puzzles, and games. You can usually find these types of toys super cheap at garage sales.
18. Make Freezer Meals
Once your classroom is ready to go it's time to think about getting organized at home for back to school. Your first few weeks of school will be hectic and exhausting. Take a day before school starts to make some meals ahead of time. Plan at least 2-3 weeks' worth of freezer meals that you can pop in the oven after school. Your teacher tired self will thank you in September!
19. Plan Your Back To School Wardrobe
Plan your teacher outfits for the first week back to school. The last thing you'll want to do is scramble around in the morning trying to pull an outfit together. Plan comfortable and cute outfits. Get everything ironed, plan your accessories and hang them in your closet ready to go. You'll be so happy that you can just grab your clothes in the morning and head out the door.
20. Follow This Blog
Finally, join the Firstieland community! This blog is written specifically for K-2 teachers and has loads of ideas to help you this year. Add your name to our email list here so that you can get my weekly newsletter. I send tips and freebies each week to help you in your classroom and announcements whenever there's a new blog post so you can keep up-to-date.
We also have an active Facebook group where you can join other elementary teachers. There you can ask questions and connect with other teachers. There are always lots of great tips and advice in the group! You can join our free Facebook group here.
Save These Back To School Tips For Elementary Teachers
Take a minute to save these tips to your favorite back-to-school Pinterest board so you can remember them later!
