School Year So Far

We are about two weeks into the new school year, and I am having a great time so far! I'm not sure if it is my schedule this year, or the fact that I actually took the summer off, but I feel more refreshed right now than I did last year.

In fact, my family reminded me that I worked last Saturday for several hours. I had forgotten all about it. I was able to get a lot of things done, which freed me up during the week to get some other things done. It was great!

I just finished a great time-management book called 18 Minutes and I feel like I was reading it at just the right time! It was an excellent reminder to take deep breaths, to focus on one task at a time, and to prioritize my time on the things that are most important to me. Good stuff! I highly recommend it.

I have high hopes for this school year. I have been thoroughly impressed with our new superintendent and principal for this year. I love seeing my students after the long summer, and slowly but surely I am learning the names of the 100 new students I have this year.

This will be a great year!

Ten Goals for this Coming School Year

I've already mentioned on this blog that I am a better starter than finisher - I do a better job of setting goals than meeting them, but here's what I am hoping for for this year.

• I want to feel "settled" rather than pressured or hurried or "behind."
• I want to have strong book fairs - $2000 to $3000 in sales or more for each one - so we can do some good things for the library and for our teachers (new carpet for kids to sit on in the library, maybe some more comfy seating, books for the library/classrooms, maybe some new TVs and an update of our media - we have so many VHS tapes still, etc).
• I want to see at least 100 students meet their AR goal each quarter of the year.
• I want to see at least 75 students meet their AR goal all four quarters of the year.
• I want at least 80% of every class to be reading at grade level by the end of the year.
• I want to end the year with all books cataloged, repaired and shelved (fewer loose ends at the end of the school year)
• I want to achieve a rhythm by October than allows for personal time for reading and crafting and other personal pursuits in the evenings and on the weekends.
• I want 100% of the third graders to pass the IRead this year, too.
• I want to develop a regular practice of prayer and encouragement for my peers.
• I want to recognize student birthdays all year.

I realize I only play a small part in some of these achievements, but I want to pray these things into being, I want to be part of the solution, I want to be an encouragement/facilitator for the teachers and the students as we pursue some of these goals.

Ten Things I Do Before School Starts

These are things I do every year as a mom, plus a few things I am adding now that I am teaching, too. These are in no particular order.

• I set a budget for school supplies and back to school activities (t-shirt, pictures, year book, etc.). It keeps me from being overwhelmed by financial surprises that hit all at one time.
• I buy school supplies for Writing Club (pencils, folders, paper, composition books) - even the things I won't use until the end of the year because the prices are better now than they will be in April.
• I troll around on Pinterest for bulletin board ideas, school lunch inspiration, etc.
• I clean out my school email so I have a fresh start when the new emails start rolling in
• I organize or re-organize my spaces, in the hopes of having a good system in place when the new year starts. In my mind, nothing is worse than starting the school year with piles because I don't have a system in place to maintain all the papers and information and ideas that are churning around during those first few weeks.
• I take notes - lesson ideas, bulletin board plans, etc. If I don't write it down, I won't remember it.
• I keep my to do lists close by at all times. The ones I started using this year have lots of space for note taking. I staple each week's pages together and carry a month's worth with me at all times so I can write down meetings or plans as they come up. These also help me visualize my schedule and divy up tasks across the week. One day, I left my to do lists at school and I felt like I was missing part of my body. Usually I wait until late December or January to get my calendar because I want a better price, but I will likely buy the 2013 version of this calendar the minute it is out so I know for sure I will have it.
• I blog ahead - like I am doing now - so I can focus on my back-to-school tasks without the pressure of my blog schedule or without taking a few weeks off.
• I wait a couple weeks to start Writing Club. This helps my students adjust to their new schedule and new class before adding an extracurricular activity. It also helps me do the same. It frees up a few afternoons to do set up, organizing, and planning.
• I try to plan out my year, as much as possible, knowing that things will come up to change those plans. I also know, from experience, that some plans are going to bomb and I will need to adapt. But it helps to have a plan to start from. My goal is to have lesson plans done for the first 3 weeks at a minimum, with at least a sketch or an outline for the rest of first quarter, by the time I show up for my first official teacher work day.

What do you do to get ready for the school year? I'd love to hear your ideas!