Getting Organized

Soooooo, you've mapped out your curriculum and you're feeling a little sassy about it. Then you turn and see the long to do list and your sassy flees in panic.

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Don't run away! Stay on course and do one thing at a time.


Step one - Get your year organized. Done, you now have a map of your year and you can breathe because you know that everything will be covered in time. Whew!


Step 2 - Get yourself organized.

It is a priority thing. The most important thing is that you cover the standards in an efficient and productive way. Then, you have to make sure that you are mentally and physically prepared for the year. There is a lot to keep up with and you need to be ready. Those children won't teach themselves (Interesting thought though. Wonder how that would look???)

Last year, I was coming back from a long maternity leave and skipped this step because I felt rushed to get ready. BAD IDEA! In payment for impatience, I spent the whole year juggling file folders and little slips of paper wondering if I was losing my mind. I was the Curriculum and Instruction coach for K-5 as well as teaching first grade and helping with the school play. This is also the year we introduced data, data, data and common core. That was quite a bit of paper people.

This year I'm not skipping steps. I've put together my teacher planner to match my classroom theme...PIRATES! How fun. And because I had so much fun creating mine, I just had to create one for each of my partners. Click the pictures below to get your copy. Each picture links to its own document.

1. My schedule goes in the front.
2. Student information comes next (class list, birthdays, passwords, lunch ids, transportation info, emergency #'s)
3. Monthly Calendar Pages (Year long calendar with holidays, etc marked, district calendar, calendar pages)
4. Staff and Team Meetings (paper to take notes, important staff #'s)
5. Common Core Standards (pacing guides, I can statements)
6. Curriculum planning (my passwords for district websites,  technology help sheets)

7. Miscellaneous (blackline masters I use every week, whatever...)
8. Lesson Plans
9. Grade Book
10. Data Book (new for me...thinking current data for the class - STAR Reading, STAR Math, DIBELS, Fluency Logs, Discovery Math, Discovery Reading)

Now I have a one stop notebook that goes everywhere with me and has everything I need. Some may not need all the dividers. I tend to be both slightly OCD and slightly scatterbrained. Yes, it is annoying, so I plan for both states of mind.

Enjoy!