Going “Back to School”

Some teachers have been back to school since August 1st, while others head back after Labor Day.  By looking through our site stats I’ve noticed a lot of people are searching for terms that relate to the beginning of the school year.  Therefore, I thought I’d take a few minutes to point you to some “back to school” posts we (i.e., me, Ruth, and our guest bloggers) have written through the years in order to help you get ready for the 2011-12 school year.

• Banish back to school jitters by sending postcards to your students.
• Binders: I called my students’ binders “GEAR Binders.”  The original name for these organization tools are “MOOSE Binders.”  Regardless of the name, home-to-school binders are a great way to keep your students organized.
• Celebrity Writer Profiles are a fun way to showcase all of your students for the writers they are now and the writers they hope to be by the end of the school year.
• Creating empty bulletin boards to house student work.
• Heart mapping (This post will also take you to a post on bone maps.)
• Helping students learn about their role (and yours) in a writing conference.
• Ideas to help your students start the year as writers.
• Keep track of who you confer with by using a visual conference tracker.
• Learn how simple shapes can convey meaning on your classroom charts.
• Literacy bags can help students transport their books, reading logs, and writer’s notebooks neatly between home and school.
• Map your teaching heart.
• Memory boxes help students gather things that are important, which can help them with their writing.
• Organizing your conferring notebook.
• Personalize your plan book.  (Templates can be found by clicking here.)
• Record-keeping made easy.
• Routines to teach so things run smoothly.
• Seamless classroom transitions can happen with the help of a rain stick.
• Setting writing teacher goals.
• Spruce-up your conferring record-keeping form with this new one that includes a place to track students’ writing goals.
• Start the school year with a positive mindset.
• Stuff you can place on the front and back covers of your students’ writer’s notebooks.
• Take time to help a new teacher by showing him/her the ropes.
• The power of the author’s chair.  (Read more about sharing by clicking here.)
• Think about conferring as if you were a doctor.
• Thinking through units of study you’ll teach this year.
• Use a literacy profile to get to know your students as readers and writers.
• Ways to weave the “slice of life” routine into your classroom.
• Work past your dislike of writing so you can become a writer yourself.
• Working with colleagues.
• Writing centers that work for you and your students.
• Writing territories are powerful tools for helping students find things to write about.

If you want more back to school posts, then just search our archives.  Just use the pull-down menu in the left-nav of this blog to view our old posts month-by-month.  Additionally, if you’re looking for something specific, just type the words, in quotes, in the top right corner of the blog and then click on search.

Finally, two other fantastic resources for back-to-school tips are Choice Literacy and Responsive Classroom (NEFC).