To Do List for the Beginning of the School
Year
Make New Friends!
 If you are new to the school make it a point to meet your new team, the
office staff, the lunchroom staff, the librarians and the custodians. All the
"stuff" we have to do in the classroom is important, but so is our sense of
camaraderie (is this spelled right!?) and interest in others.
Organizing the Classroom Atmosphere
 Clean off my desk and organize it for the school year
 Finish organizing the classroom library
 Find places for the students to put their new supplies (For example, Kleenex
boxes, computer paper, etc.) These supplies are the ones I will be collecting.
 Arrange the classroom. Put furniture in places that are easy to walk around,
where all students can see the board and you can always see all students!
You may want to think about setting up specific areas/zones with purposes
(library, writing area, etc.)
I have set up my classroom with these specific areas in mind:
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writing center for all of our writing supplies
 reading corner/ classroom library
 meeting area for read aloud and mini lessons
 teacher area for my materials and my computer
 area for student computer (must think about internet drops and
outlets)
 Where will office passes, library passes, kleenex and other important
items go?
 Cover you bulletin boards and put up border. If you have time, decorate the
boards. This should be the last thing on your list! Since bulletin boards are
not stressed at our school, I rarely change mine. One is a math board, the
other is my helpers and I have one section that I haven't decided yet!
Organize Paper Work/ Prepare for Documentation
 Re-label my Friday Folder box with the new class
 Prepare my grade book with new names
 Do you have all the forms you need? Get a few extra lunch count forms,
attendance forms, discipline forms, leave forms, Money accounted for
forms, and so on.
 Create your sub folder. This should have information for a sub if you are
unexpectedly absent. Have spare activities, worksheets, schedules,
emergency information and a class list. Also include blank copies of
attendance and lunch count sheets. A wonderful website with information to
include is pre-kpages.com
Preparing for the Students
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Put names on cubbies and desks
Call each of the students
Assign each student a number
Put each textbook in the students cubbies. Make sure text number matches
students personal number.
Number all of the paperback workbooks and put in corresponding student's
cubby
Write your first day letter. Check here for the example of my first day
letter.
Write your parent letter with information on procedures for the class. Here
is an example of mine.
DO YOU KNOW HOW EACH CHILD WILL GET HOME? This is very
important. If you don’t you need to find this out BEFORE the first day if
possible.
Student List- have several copies that you can use as check off lists, have
one posted one the door for students and families to check out.
Pre-address one postcard for every student and stamp the post card. As
the year goes b, pick up one post card out of the stack, jot down a nice note
and send it home. Read more about this here.
Classroom Management
 KNOW YOUR PROCEDURES FOR EVERYTHING! Have them written down
on a list you can refer to when explaining them to students. Here is a list of
the routines I go over with students. This is just a rough outline of where
to start. Ms Powell at www.mspowell.com has an excellent list. Click here to
see it.
 Will you be creating your rules with the students, or will they already be
posted? Create your poster if they will be posted.
 What is your behavior management system? Will students pull strips? Then
you need to make a pocket chart and slips. Will they move a clothespin on a
stoplight? Then you need to make a giant stoplight? Will you have a clip
board? Then you need to make your clipboard sheet.
Agghh! What Am I Going to Do!
 Prepare lessons for the first week! This is very important!
 Pull materials for any craft or activity. You don't want to be fumbling
around for any construction paper while your new students wait, and wait and
wait....