School's Coming Back

Well, I have spent my summer doing absolutely nothing!! There was the occasional reading of professional development books and planning for the next year, but I really did nothing. This makes me SO glad that I am able to get back into my classroom to start setting up for next year!! Wahoo!!

The first order of business was to set up the desks. With our new math program it is essential that my students are able to work in pairs or in groups from the moment they walk into my door. Usually I have my kids in rows and slowly move them into groups once they have the procedures down pact. However, I am going to start off in pairs. This seems like the best way to have control but allow the kiddos their group math time.

The next project was/is the biggest of all....my classroom library. I am always trying the think of ways to organize my library and have a good checkout system that would prevent the "misplacement" of books over the year. After lots of blog stalking, I found a great solution. It's a internet based library catalog system. The kiddos checkout their books from the website anytime they find the perfect book for themselves. The best part is, I get to control the number of books they checkout and how long they can keep them! It gives email notifications when books are overdue. Now, I will ALWAYS know who has what and am able to write notes home for those little ones that are forgetful. (You all need to check it out....www.classroom.booksource.com) It took me 3 days to get all my books in the system (732 books to be exact, what?!?!), but I got it done and I know that it's going to be worth it.

Now the only thing left to do is to categorize these books into genre basics and label the books themselves. This might take a while, but I am hoping to get it done in a couple of days (This might mean a little help from friends and family, hehehe). I will post a picture once I am done.

These projects are only the beginning of what I have to do to be ready for my students. You all know. Putting things up in the classroom, going to MANY stores to get what I need, finishing the class blog, and LOTS of planning. This means lots of late hours at the school to be ready. Thankfully I work with a great team when it comes to planning and being ready with the math curriculum.

 I am very excited about the new group of students that I am going to get. I can't wait to find out who they are!! I am ready to put to use all those great things that I have about to better impact my students and to give them a better education. Nothing is better when I am able to see growth in a student (well rounded growth to be precise).

I would love to know what the first thing you are going to do to get ready for this coming school year!