What the heck is a back-to-school first? Well, you’re going to find out! Each day this week, I’ll ask a question about a back-to-school first. Share your answer with the rest of us, and three things will happen.
- Other teachers will learn what you do.
- You’ll learn what other teachers do.
- Your name will be entered in a one-week, back-to-school giveaway!
This is a weeklong event, which means that each time you comment, your name is entered in the giveaway. A weeklong back-to-school giveaway? That’s a back-to-school first!
Okay, here we go!
| What is the very first thing you do when you return to school after summer vacation? |
Smiles,
Diane
PS Comments for the one-week, back-to-school giveaway must be received by midnight August 22.
Congratulations Elizabeth and Tracy! You’re the winners of our giveaway!
Check e-mail and catch up with other teachers that I haven’t seen over the summer!
figure out a new way to set up my room 🙂
Check email, print lesson plans, clean out and set up my room. 🙂
I walk in and smile, knowing this will be the LAST quiet moment until the day after school lets out!
The first days back to school I get my room organized, lesson plans in order, and get desks ready for the kids.
What an awesome give away!
I begin dusting everything off and unpacking my boxes!
When I was teaching I would call all of my new parents about two weeks prior to school opening and welcome them and their child to my classroom. I would introduce myself to the parent and then I would speak to the child and introduce myself to him or her and tell them how happy I am to have them in my class this year and I look forward to seeing them on the first day. No business talk just a hello.
The first thing I do is smile:)It is the way the room smells when you come back after summer break. It always makes me think of the first year I got my own classroom. Nothing compares to that feeling. Then, I get to work organizing and setting up the classroom.
Unpack and put away all the new stuff I bought over the summer.
I drop my things in my room, marvel at how much I have to do, and then go visit with my colleagues (i.e. procrastinate).
Rearrange the room to give it a fresh new look!
I greet the other teachers and we have a meeting to discuss what the plans are for the new school year first half. Then its time for me to get organized and get things ready for my kids.
I rearrange my desks and unpack my books.
Chat with other teachers to learn how their summer was and then unpack boxes and study the room to determine how I want to set up my room this year.
Clean, organize and freshen the look of the room. I love how nice it looks before the kids enter!! Much like the feeling of my sons rooms right after we clean-doesn’t last long! Can’t wait to have the room filled with little voices!
I went in my classroom today to figure out how i will decorate and reorganise my room this year.
I also print some labels with rainbow on because my classroom is a Rainbows classroom this year.
I want it bright and colorfull.
Arrange and rearrange my classroom furniture then unpack all my boxes. 🙂
I tackle my overstuffed mailbox!
Take it all in, then get to work arranging and rearranging until I get it right, then I unpack everything!
Well we work all year round, but to get ready for a new year after summer school. I rearrange the class room and give it a nice clean look and work on my lesson plans for the next half of the year.
My first thing was to sit in the middle of my classroom and imagine how my new school year would be different from the last. I would then rearrange my room to meet the changes.
The first thing I do the first day is unpack all of the millions of things that I made, bought, collected over the summer for my classroom. I usually have at least 2 carloads to get back to school!
I make a list of my students home address, call them to set up an appointment, and I make home visits.
Allowing our kindergarten learners to meet the teacher on their own home turf puts them so much more at ease. It also helps to build a strong home-school connection.
I stand in the middle of the room and take a in a big breath. I start to visualize how I want the room to look this year and what are the changes I want to make from last year. Then I sit down! Just thinking is enough for the first day!
I think about what worked well the year before and what didn’t – organization wise. So then I try a new room set up that I think will help with “centers” like Reader’s/Writer’s Workshop.
After catching up with the other teachers that are in the building early, I always set up the desks and chairs. It makes the room look “right” and it also gives me a lot of flat spaces to help organize!!
Rearrange the room several times until I get it right.
Redo the bulletin boards.
I unpack everything that I had to put away for the summer and then start decorating. I love back to school!
I like to rearrange the tables first. Then I like to get my bulletin boards going. This makes my room feel like mine again and fresh for the new year. 😉
I go to the office and get my class list and start thinking about the beautiful, new faces that will be in my classroom.
Get the furniture arranged (after catching up with all of my peeps).
Decide if the room needs to be changed and then start cleaning. Once its clean, then I can start fresh for the new year.
I think about the students I will have and then I arrange, re-arrange, and arrange again! 🙂 After I do that probably 8 times, I start decorating, my very favorite back to school activity!
Returning to school, I first, say hello to my Director and co-worker, then we all jump right in, into discussions about our new students,returning students, lessons plans for the month, decorating our school, things we would like to change, add or take away from our program etc. Busy, busy!
Put up my bulletin board outside my classroom, welcoming all of my new students!
The first thing I do when I walk in is look for a working pen and a decent notebook for the meeting that kicks off the year. After that I start dreaming and organizing.
I look through all the children’s files and then I set up home visits.
I always put my tables furniture where they belong so that I can unpack my closets.
I get my list and ask the secretary for the children’s address. I send them a postcard (children LOVE mail) and tell them to enjoy their final days of vacation because it’s back to work!!!
I then unpack and prepare my room making sure one bulletin board remains empty for their work.
Organize my room. We have to empty our classrooms and put everything in the hallway before we leave for summer. Everything gets (literally) dumped back in the middle of the classroom. If I don’t start with organizing, I can’t find ANYthing!
When I had a teaching position I would first try to arrange the desks/tables (which may or may not get rearrange 50 times before the first day). Then I scrub down everything so that it smells fresh and new. From there, I try to arrange learning centers/stations. Bulletin boards are put up around the centers. Once the big stuff is done, then it’s down to the little details that make it all come together – labels, name tags, schedules, student welcome notes, etc. Can’t wait to be able to do this again.
I always declutter. I get rid of the old and bring in the new.
I clean everything first and then start organizing.
I start my ‘to-do’ list as soon as I step foot in my classroom! I’m ridiculously organized and meticulous so my list is a must!
I redecorate all the bulletin boards making it bright and welcoming, and regroup the desks. Then I try to create one board that the students will fill with paper dolls of themselves fitting into the theme for the year. This year it is Sixth Grade Rocks and they will create little ROCKers of themselves for the board. ( I teach Earth Science)
Go in my room and start uncovering all the things I put up and covered for summer break!
Unpack and organize.
I like to arrange my furniture, set up centers, and get everything nice and tidy. Once my physical space is in order, I prepare for the students ( name tags, folders, etc.). Then, I work on lesson plans.
Work on bulletin boards, organizing the classroom, and decluttering. Have a great year!
I first organize my furniture to create my many centers necessary for my preschoolers. I then make calls to my parents to set up my home visits.
Drag all the furniture back into place -usually putting at least one scratch into my shinny floor. Oh well you got to break it in somehow.
I reorganize, redecorate, and redo my space. I can’t have it the same as the year before. When my space is set then everything else falls into place.
I go into my room and just try to visualize what I want in to look like. (I like different every year)
Then I start to put the furniture in place before I start to unpack everything.
I clean all shelves and toys. Then, I unpack and and put away stray toys or papers in the proper place.
I visit with others…go out to lunch to catch up! Basically that first day…getting nothing done at all!
I have to say that I am very lucky! At my school, we are asked to make a map of our classroom and after the janitors clean and wax they put everything back in our rooms according to our maps so I have very little arranging to do! The first thing I do is uncover bulletin boards and computers and begin taking out of the closet all those things which had to be stored and start setting up the classroom. I love the beginning of the year, everything is so clean, shiny, and organized!
My husband helps me rearrange all the classroom furniture that has been dumped back into the room after floor waxing. This year my files cabinets were left in the middle of the room!
The first thing I do alone is clean out closets and scrub down shelves. Uncluttered and clean…the only way to start the new year!
What wonderful ideas I have picked up before sending my comment. Since we are a year-round daycare I have to pick and choose my cleaning, sorting, pitching (oh I need a teacher closet!) time carefully. Today was that day to get started. I sorted and sanitized toys, put up another bulletin board backround (I’m using wallpaper samples to piece together two boards) and using regular bulletin board paper on the main one. Tonight I am exhaused, but very satisfied with the progress made.
O like to sort through my books and check for needed repairs and books that haven’t been usef in several years. Then decide what I will put in the hall that goes woth our schoolwide theme for the year.
I open the door to my classroom and just look around…literally just look!!! At how clean it is and then I realize that nothing is where I left it. So I reorganize and unpack everything for a new year. I love putting bulletin boards together and one thing I really take pride in is my classroom library! It is huge!!! It usually takes me a day to do just that because we are required to pack up each year, so I enjoy sitting around (with the music on, of course) and putting my books back in bins and color-coordinating the bins and shelves!! This year since i am teaching a new grade I will have to swap out a number of books. I always feel like after the first week, summer becomes a distant memory. 🙂
I clean and organize!! I teach Kindergarten and the toys always need a good cleaning.
I walk into my room with a “give away box” and fill it with anything I haven’t used in two years to give away. I have a very small classroom and I just can’t keep everything. If I don’t think it is helping the kids learn, outdated or has been replaced with something better then it goes. I wish I could do this at the end of every school year, but i am always in too much of a hurry to get on with summer 🙂
Arrange my room furniture so I can ‘live’ there!
The first thing I do is fix my bulletin boards and find out the names of my students so I can fix birthday and sign in charts.
I agree about stading in the middle of the room and scoping it out. Deep breath, and begin the “where did I put that?” process.
First thing i like to do is clean and organize the room. Then i like to unpack any materials i have packed away for the summer. Set my furniture up and begin to label cubby’s, tables, and shelves.
I turn on the radio then begin to arrange the furniture. I unpack my books and personal items to make me feel at home. Then I can hopefully begin lesson planning.
I like to put up my bulletin boards.
First I take a deep breath, then I like to unpack, declutter and organize. This year I will have tables instead of desks so that will put a new twist on how I set up.
After I face the fact that my Summer is almost over, I start to organize my desks and furniture. Next, I redecorate my hall with a welcome back theme bulletin board. I LOVE to organize and decorate so it’s never too much of a chore for me.
Take a deep breath and start arranging the furniture so that I can begin to set up my centers. Then I decorate the room and “rehang” signs, calendar, etc… I love teaching and I love MAILBOX. After I get organized, I look at my to do list that I have used each year thanks to helpful tips from my mailbox books!!!
Clean. I have to clean the room. Remove all the cobwebs. Wipe down everything. And then I can start setting things up.
First thing I do during the summer is to think about the changes I want to do even before getting into the classroom. Then catch all the great sales at office supply stores, and buy what I need for during the year plus Christmas and end of year gifts. When I get to the room, I first arrange the tables and talk to other teachers. If I really want to concentrate I work with the lights off for one day, cause no one thinks I’m there, I really accomplish and feel good, the rest of the days I go in are nice and easy then.
I always start with a DEEP cleaning of my classroom. Then I start moving furniture. Decorating is next.
I’m ready to start my wonderful year!
The first thing I do is arrange furniture, empty my lockers and put things on the book shelves etc. and then what I love to do. I begin to decorate bulletin boards and make sure the classroom is bright and happy. I always try to come up with new themes and buy decorations to match the theme esp. for locker names, desk names and welcome bulletin board.
I like to go through the things I have stashed away from last year to sort out anything I haven’t used for a long time. Once I have cleaned out the cupboards, then I have room to organize and put away any new items I have purchased.
The first thing I do is move all my furniture back in my room setting it for that year. Our floors get cleaned between summer program that ends this week and the beginning of September. Then I set up cubbies, bulletin boards, and centers for first days. Then after each set up I pray over each students cubby for a successful year. I believe God in control helping each one of my children suth special needs.
I’m going to be honest here. The first thing I do is talk to my friends. I’ve been at school A LOT this summer, so my room is pretty much ready. I like to work in small chunks during the summer. I always start with arranging furniture, and then organize the hidden areas (cabinets, desk drawers, etc.) I save decorating and the fun stuff for last.
Even though my room is ready, I still have full to-do list.
As the computer teacher, I see every student in the school. So I try to rearrange and refresh my lab with a new theme and decorations each year.
I always unpack and arrange the furniture.
This week I started to do a complete clean up. I work all year around. The summer program will end this week. The new school year will start on September 6th. So I have two weeks to work on files, update info, make new name plates, A WELCOME BACK theme. And with the help from the MAILBOX I am ready to play, sing and just have FUN! FUN!FUN!
Have a Great Year Everyone!
Elizabeth
I love to get the new school supplies unpacked. It’s like Christmas!
I clean up, unpack, then decorate.
I like to do a new theme each year so i think of a new theme then start looking for ideas on how to decorate my room.
CLEAN!!!!!
Organize my desk!
I try and get my most recent class list and label cubbies, mailboxes, desks, file folders, daily-five journals, science journals, writing journals, poetry notebooks. I also try and get my desks arranged according to the number in my class for easiest mobility for everyone. It can vary from 17-25. I get my Daily Five ready. Reread through the book so I’m ready to go on the first day. Bulletin boards go up last as I’m able to keep background paper up. I only change when they look really faded. I get out my first week file folder and Open House file folder and start copying so I am ready.
Pray & Clean. In that order.
Organize!
Reorganize all the things that I spent a week putting away for the summer!
This year, it’s try to put away everything I have accumulated into my new classroom that has NO closet and NO cabinets…just 3 bookshelves. Hmmmm….suggestions?
Put all the furniture and stuff back in the classroom in some order cause they clean the floor and remove everything..then we just cleaning everything and make a plan to what we will do to have the room ready in four days…But totally worth it..
Get really organized! So organized I won’t recognize myself!
Get the room ready!!!
I put away everything I took home. Then I start on bulletin boards.
i STOP BY THE OFFICE TO CHECK MY MAIL, SAY HELLO, AND THANK THE JANTORS FOR DOING A GREAT JOB. NEXT ITS OFF TO THE ROOM FOR CLEANING AND ORGANIZING IT.
I like to put my furniture in place 1st, and then put up at least one bulletin board.
I send postcards to last year’s students reminding them about what great students they are and wishing them well in the upcoming year. Then I get to work organizing my classroom.
I pick up my mail and send out my welcome letter.
Check my mail. Dust. Vacuum. Visit. Move my desk. Admire my list of students. Arrange student desks according to how many I get this year. Make name tags and attach them to desks. Sit at each desk and pray for that child. Get rid of clutter. Get rid of old books that aren’t appealing to the children.
I start to set up my classroom!
I put my furniture into place. Once that is done…I feel like I have accomplished something and the year is OFF to a good start!!!!
I totally agree with Gina K. Once the furniture is in place, things start to feel like they are falling into place. 😉
I do a little happy dance to be back in my classroom finally and start setting up! 🙂
I set up my classroom library and set the rest of my room up around that space. I love looking through all the books and thinking of all the activities I can do with them. It’s gets me very energized!
First I say Good Morning to everyone and welcome them all back. I thank the custodians for all the work they did over the summer and then I get busy setting up my room! Once I get some of my favorite objects out and up, I begin to feel at home away from home again!
I like to start with room arrangement and think about locations for centers.
The first thing I do is make postcards for my new students telling them how EXCITED I am to meet them!
Then I start setting up my room, labels, arrangement, and adding all the fun centers for them to enjoy!
I go to the office and say Hello to the office staff, then check out my room key. After that I make sure to say hi to the custodians. Then I get started unpacking my room. I usually come in a few days before many of the other teachers. When they start to come for thier keys I say hi, and ask about thier summer.
I greet the other teachers and staff and ask what they did over the summer. My classroom is used all summer by the daycare staff so I usually go in and start clearing it out and straightening up. Then I touch up and paint the walls, wipe down all the cubbies, shelves and toys. Now everything is clean and I can start setting up for the new year.
I am a preschool teacher, so i dont really have a summer vacation. But i do have to get my classroom ready for the start of a new school year. I redo all my decoratings and posters and make sure to wipe every thing down.
In the school system where I work, most teachers go back to their classrooms 2 or 3 weeks before the first teacher designated day. It takes several days to get the classroom clean, arranged, bulletin boards up, books unpacked, etc. There are usually so many meetings the first week back, that you don’t really have time to work in your room. So it is mostly done on your own time. On the first day back it is fun to see everyone again and meet the new teachers.
The first thing I do (weeks before preplanning) is to get my room furniture arranged, my books unpacked and returned to their proper shelves, and make sure that everything is looking neat and clean. I roll a cart down to the bookroom to retrieve books and other materials for my kids. I check to make sure that all of my belongings were returned to my classroom after the floor was washed and waxed. Only when the room is neat and orderly can I begin to think about planning lessons, etc.
Lately, I’ve started unpacking and trying to plan how to set up my new room (this is the third year in a row!)…I like to clean and freshly organize my room. Maybe next year I can do that, instead of move and setup a new room!
I clean, eventho a throughly clean up the year before. I live in the Southwest and everythin ets dusty. I move out as musch as I can into the cortyard and vaccum and dust and scrub. Then i start moving in.. Its an extra step that pays off 🙂
The first thing I like to do to start a new year is to set up my room in a new and fresh way. I try to remember what centers and traffic areas did not work for the previous year and then change them. This year my class is much smaller so I was able to make some big changes.
I pull all the paper off the furniture and replace all the roach traps. Yep….roach traps. 🙁
CLEAN. Lots and of cleaning and organizing.
I arrange and clean the furniture, then I unpack my books and set up the computers in the room.
I wander the halls to find any other colleagues who have come in to set up their classrooms and spend some time catching up! Then I head to my room to unpack and uncover all of the things that I had to put away just two months before. 🙂
I clean the entire room from top to bottom to start fresh and clean. Then start decorating and arranging a new, fresh room for the new year 🙂
I like to sit back and think about how I would like to set up my room and then set it up. Next, I like to start writing the students’ names on their books and desks!
organize, organize, organize… everything run smoother when you know where everything is, and then just enjoy the excitement.
I walk into my room and think how organized was I when I left for the summer. This year I am rearranging my room, so the first thought was where do I put my desk so I can see the whole room and be seen from the doorway.
Organize and Inventory materials
When I first come back from summer break I like to unpack my room and decorate.
I sit and ponder what the classroom set up should be!
This is my first year teaching!!! I have been in my room all summer, slowly getting ready. I will see what happens when I return next summer 🙂
Clean out my desk! I MUST feel organized. Then I clean out cabinets where I kinda “threw” things in during the school year.
The very first thing I do when I get back to school is to move my furniture around. I change it every year for some reason too!
I sit in my room for a minute and figure out a plan for where I want everything. Then start moving it all.
I unload all the things that I bought at the Back-to-School sales and then figure out what exactly I have…which is probably all the stuff that I just bought. I can’t help it, I get excited!
I make a check off list of all the things that need to get done before my students come. Writing everything down helps me stay organized.