Happy New School Year, teachers! I hope you all have those wishlists set up on Amazon, and that your family and friends are busy making all of your wishes come true for this year! So much has changed since I've left the classroom, but I think that wishlist idea is a definite move in the right direction!
So many friends have been super busy setting up their rooms and getting ahead on the lesson plans. With all the required standards to meet, and district adopted curriculum to pursue, deciding what goes into the plans for a day, a week, or a month seems like a huge task.
The most important lessons you can teach in these early days can set you up for student success and your own peace all year. May I suggest teaching that you are someone who cares about each student, and who can be trusted? I would also like to suggest that you teach students that they belong to a caring community this year, and can count on each other. Our brains are so much more open to new learnings when not burdened by stress. Take the time to read parent letters about their children, and to talk with each parent even if it's not conference time yet. The more you know about your students as people, the better you will be able to serve them as learners. I know it's surprising to many adults, but kindness, empathy, collaboration, and compassion actually have to be taught. We may be born with the basics of these attributes, but young children need some instruction and direction to develop these traits. My third and final suggestion is that you always teach that learning is fun! You do that by example. If you are truly interested in the subject matter that you are teaching, and enjoyed learning about it yourself, share that with your students. Enthusiasm is infectious! Click on the highlighted words above fo some Rainbow City Learning style activities to get there!
A favorite little set up trick of mine was to take some time on the first day to just observe my students with the class list in my hand. Saying nothing, I would just smile, looks at the list, and look at the kids. Then I'd close the door, and say very quietly, "It's true! The office really did put ALL the best kids in my class! Wow! I hope they don't realize that they have done this. Shhhhh...please don't tell them! We're going to have the best year ever!" You need to practice this, using your own way of saying things, until it sounds real and natural. If they believe you, and I think they will, the result is pure teacher magic!
This is a time when many school districts are discouraging and even forbidding the use of TPT resources. While I am not trying to convince you to adopt a ready to print curriculum from my store or anyone else's, there are definitely some time saving shorter activities that will help you to create the classroom atmosphere of your dreams. They can be used to build the base for a solid year with all the attention to curriculum standards that you need. I hope you'll visit Rainbow City Learning on TPT, and put a bundle together that will work for your classroom! Small bites or activities taught more intensely at the beginning of the year, and then sprinkled lightly throughout the rest of the year! Why not try it? Would love hear from you how it is working!
If you would like to try a preselected bundle of activities to build your community and share the pure joy of learning, why not start with one of my monthly themed bundles? Click the links below to get started!
Wishing you the best school year ever!
For more ideas to get your year off to a great start, check out these posts from our blogging group!
If you would also like to be a part of Teacher Talk this school year, we are a group of teacher bloggers who share posts that are heavy on the ideas with just a little selling of our educational materials at TPT. For more information about joining The Best of Teacher Entrepreneurs Marketing Cooperative, go to https://bit.ly/3o7D1Dv. Feel free to email me at retta.london@gmail.com if you have any questions.
