Strategy Saturday {looking towards 2016.}

The Saturday of a long weekend has to be one of my favorite feelings - endless possibilities and knowing that I have another day for shenanigans, which is beautiful. This long weekend was so necessary. At this time, this long weekend was needed for everyone. When we go back to school, we will have 5, FIVE, days till the EOGs start and that is mind-blowing. My babes and I have been working so hard to read word problems and practice close reading strategies, and we are tired, so we were all grateful for our three day weekend. 

As the end of the year approaches, we have 14 school days left, it's time to start thinking about next year and how you can better prepare your physical space for success next year! 

Most schools have end of year expectations, and their own checklists to complete, but there are some simple things you can do to make the next year start smoothly! 

1. Purge, purge, purge! My mother is a teacher, but God bless her, she still has filing cabinets full of good ideas and great lesson plans, but in this digital age, it's a lot easier to keep electronic copies and digital files than it is to keep color coded file folders and paper copies, so my advice to you is purge those filing cabinets, center buckets, writing folders - recycle it all! My rule is if I didn't use it this year, I don't need it. 

2. Be selective in your anchor chart choice. Anchor charts are a necessity, especially in elementary grades, but darn, don't those things take up a ton of space! The great thing about anchor charts are that you can create new ones each year to fit the needs of your class. My suggestion for these beautiful learning tools is keep a select few if they are foundation skills, and recycle everything else. Students benefit from helping you create the anchor chart, so look forward to those memories with your new babes. 

3. Organize your library. All good classrooms have a library, but great classrooms have an organized library. Take a few minutes every day from now till the end of the year to label, categorize, and level your library. If you spend the money to create a library, please spend the time to keep it up. Book Retriever is a great app for iPads and iPhones that helps you create an electronic database for books and provides information about their levels (Lexile, DRA, and Guided Reading.) 

4. Give away at  least 5 things. Part of teaching is sharing and collaboration, and we have all started with nothing, so make sure to create a donation box for new teachers who are new to your building or just to share some gently loved items. Great things for donation are boarders, extra organizational supplies, teaching resource books, and extra copies of books for libraries. 

5. Label all your boxes. This sounds silly, but when packing up your stuff create specific labels to clearly identify what is in there. This will make unpacking a breeze, especially if you are in the same classroom, and you know where you keep things. I use blank name tags from Dollar Tree to label my boxes and it quickly lets me see what's in the box, so I can make sure my time is spent well when unpacking. 

I know it sounds crazy to start thinking about next year, but what separates good teachers from great teachers is planning in all aspects. Follow these quick easy steps to ensure an easy start to the next school year! 

Enjoy your three day weekend, loves! 

Until next time, - 

xo  

Strategy Saturday {How to Survive the End of the Year.}

If your life is anything like mine right now, the speed is hyper-drive, and you are just trying to hang out for dear life, while maintaining some sense of professionalism and appearance of having your life together. 

Before you start to say, "Lucy, it's so hard.", "Lucy, I am so tired." - let me tell you one more important detail - 

I have everything I have ever asked, wished, and prayed for and the gratefulness in my heart pours out daily. 

Yes, you read that right - despite my long days due to supervising an after school tutoring program, despite my weekend drives to another city to see my boyfriend, and despite my inability to make it home to my parents, because I had been busy with grad school - y'all, I am sublimely happy (in my Cher Horowitz voice.) 

I completed my first semester of grad school at UNC, and I found it mentally challenging and I was eager to learn, which means I made the right choice. Academics is my only claim to fame - I am as uncoordinated as a baby giraffe and for some reason, Hollywood hasn't rang up your girl yet, so academics is the one thing I am holding onto. When I chose UNC, I was looking for a challenge, and I found it and I loved it. I am mind blown to think that very soon, I won't be someone's teacher anymore, but it's exactly where I want to be. 

In addition to finishing my first semester, I have been supervising an EOG tutoring program at my elementary school, and it has been a great learning experience for my future as a school leader. Coordinating transportation, handling parents and discipline, and ensuring teachers are doing what they need to do has been a great learning experience, and while I am very ready to have my Monday through Thursday afternoons back, I am glad to have received another great highlight for my resume. 

The end of the year is quickly approaching, and when I say the end of the year, I mean our time with students is numbered. I know very few teachers who will take the complete summer off - whether it is for financial or professional reasons, the summers that teachers will have will be short. The end of the year is such a difficult time for so many reasons - the sense of urgency is realer than ever, and all emotions are running high. Just remember: this is what you have been working for. The journey you have been on with your students for the last hundred and something days has prepared for them for nothing but success. Know that when I say success, I am talking about growth and their readiness for their next experience, and nothing to do with their performance on standardized assessments. That is not where the beauty in teaching is - not at all. 

Just remember: to breathe and keep your eyes open, because your time with your students will be over before you know it. Soak in their corny jokes, their endless questions, and their love for you. Every class is special for a million different reasons, and just remember to love them so hard for these last couple of weeks. Also remember, that your worth and their worth are not tied to any test, assessment, or evaluation - if students are walking out of your door with growth, you did your job. Teaching is about growing students and making them better and more capable every day. 

As the year wraps up, be as fabulous as you were at the beginning! 

Until next time, loves - 

xo