August is.

It’s August.

I guess for some teachers that means the end of vacation. For me, August is inherent with reflection, planning, and oddly high credit card bills. My brain is ready to go back and my wallet needs to stay away from Manhattan and Starbucks.

I’m left thinking about what routines, what structures, and what assessments I really want to pack into that first week of school. I’ve downloaded curricular calendar after curricular calendar, and I’m packing my brain full of first month of school non-negotiables.

 

In Reading Workshop for Week One I’m thinking

-Volume Matters, kids make a plan of the next 6 books they’ll tackle (see things I’ve learned from my coworker S.Gardner)

-Model Reading Log Possibilities (More on this in the next post)

-Establish Reading Partners & Model talking about books

-Read Aloud A Picture Book or Two

-Reading Survey

 

In Writing Workshop for Week One I’m thinking

-PreAssessment, kids showing off their best writing skills

-Spelling Inventory

-Making Writing Portfolio Folders

-Generating Ideas to journal from

-How to set a up a journal page

-Establish writing partners & model talking about writing

-Writing Survey

 

And that’s just the start…

I’ll need to show them where to keep their tools and how to organize/respect our room. I’ll need to show them how to move the desks quickly when we sit on the floor, and how to move them back quickly to begin working. I’ll need to discuss technology, and how to respect it within the classroom.

There is more, I mean I can’t really even begin to tell you the more, because if you’re a teacher like me the more has started to wake you up in the night. What I’m recommending is starting your non-negotiable lists now. Then come the first day of school you can focus on helping kids open their lockers and learning their names, rather than planning some strange get to know you game that has nothing to do with your curriculum anyway.  Happy Planning!