Tag: summer

How To Use Some Time In The Summer To Get Back Time During The Year

Published on by fullbloomclassroom

Yay! We made it to summer! After the CRAZY year that was 20-21, you deserve a break!

I don’t know about you, but the first 2-3 weeks of summer, I AM NOT thinking about school. I need that time to decompress, get my summer routine going, and to fill my cup a little bit. After that, I feel like I am ready to start putting some time into thinking about the beginning of the year. Whether you are the type to do a little each day or get it all done in a week, get some things done in the summer so that you can get some of your time back during the school year. As we all know, teachers do not just work during the school year. We DO work in the summer, but what you work on in the summer can help you leave at contract time and leave all that work at school!

Long Range Plans

If this is not your first year in the grade or school you will be with next year, you probably already have some of these. If you are a first year teacher or it will be your first year in the grade level, get with your team and plan out every week in your year. What order will you teach your standards in? Do you have a curriculum you need to follow? What is the outline of your year?

Check out my team’s Long Range Plans!

Part of Long Range Plans 21-22

Dig A Little Deeper

Once you and your team have an outline for the year, you need to go through on your own and create your personal classroom’s long range plan. Your probably thinking… Uh what?! I just did this! That is true, but this time we are going to dig a little deeper. You’re going to take your outline of standards or skills and your going to assign a strategy, book, or manipulatives you want to use with each standard or skill. For example, if you will be teaching summary, will you use Somebody Wanted But So Then or will you use Beginning Middle End? Now don’t worry. These are not set in stone. However, this will help a TON when you are planning during your planning time.

Picture this… You are in the middle of your planning time because you only have 50 minutes and you already spent 5 minutes using the restroom, 10 minutes talking to your team mate, and 5 more minutes finding a snack. You only have 30 minutes left to plan! But lucky for you, during the summer you already chose which strategy you’re going to use and what book your going to use. You don’t have to stay after school or take it home! You can plan the whole next week in about 2 planning periods!

Take a peek at my lesson plans! I print these out and put them in my happy planner.

Make Templates

I personally use Google Slides to help me stay organized with my life in the classroom. If you ask my teammates, if my head was not attached I would lose it! So, in order to keep myself organized, I use Google Slides. This is one of my biggest time savers! I make templates for how I want my day to flow.

The very first thing I do is write out exactly what I want my day to look like. I mean minute by minute. (Tip: Write out even the time it will take your class to clean up and walk to lunch/specials. About 5-10 minutes) This will help you chunk your day. What will your reading block look like? Here is an example of what my Reading Block will look like:

  • 10:45 – Pick up kids from specials
  • 10:45 – 10:50 – Walk back to the classroom
  • 10:50 – 11:00 – Word Work/Vocabulary
  • 11:00-11:10 – Mini Lesson
  • 11:10 – 11:25 – Read Aloud/Model
  • 11:25 – 11:35 – DEAR Time
  • 11:35 – 12:00 – Skill Groups/Conferences
  • 12:00 – 12:05 – Closing
  • 12:05 – 12:10 – Clean up
  • 12:10 – 12:15 – Walk to lunch

When I look at this lay out I am looking for important information I will be teaching. I see Vocabulary, Mini Lesson, Read Aloud, DEAR Time, Groups, Closing, and Clean Up. Each of these will be a slide I will create for my template. I can also add timers to these slides because I know just about how much time each bit will take. Now If you are a first year teacher or even a second year teacher, this will be a little more difficult because you might not be 100% sure what you are going to fit into your time. Talk to your team to see what they typically do and maybe that can give you some ideas.

Here are some of the example of my reading block. I got these slides from Maddie Fairchild (Fairchildin5th) on TPT. I will link them here. This is the best because you can change the background and colors and fonts whenever you want, but you already have the flow of your day.

I hope some of these tips will help you save some time during the year! You deserve to have time outside of the classroom during the year! So go enjoy your summer, but get some things done. Your future self will thank you!