It's almost time to head to school!

Now that you've sat down and made a list of all of the tasks you need to do to get ready for the coming school year you are one step closer to going in to your classroom!

Here is my list:

Once you've made your list - it's time to color code.
I needed 3 colors for my list - you may need more or less.

The three categories I used were:

Orange - Things that I can type at home, and then just print and laminate at school, and bring back home to cut.

Pink - Things that I can do exclusively at home.

Blue - Things I have to do at school





As I was making my list I discovered that I also needed a couple of other lists - one to organize the items that I need to bring in to school with me, and another to list all of those fun Pinterest projects that I would love to do - but know I don't NEED to do to successfully start the year.  I also like making lists, so this strategy just works for me.

Next step - make a schedule for your three hours!

Using my to do list I focused on the things that needed to be done AT school and based my schedule on those things.  This is the schedule I'm going to attempt to use:

30 minutes - Set up classroom furniture                   

• Student Desks - create groups (hint - I've already been looking online for arrangements I may want to use.)  I've taken some screen shots on my phone so that as I'm moving desks I can look at pictures quickly and not have to stop and look up pictures.
• Other furniture - teacher desk, shelves, etc.
• Set up classroom technology

20 minutes - Print, copy, laminate

• Turn on laminater! :)  We all know, it takes a little bit to heat up!
• Print student name tags - (that were typed at home).  Desk nameplates, name tags for my lunch count chart, name tags for my homework turn in chart, and wearable name tags.  
• I make my own desk name plates - and then just copy and laminate a clean set as the year goes on and new ones are needed.  They can be printed on card stock but printing on colored paper and laminating works just as well.  Here are a few of the ones I have on my TPT store!
• Traditional Name Plates 
• Free Name Plates 
• I have others for sale on my TPT store, and could make others with a special request.  
• Print library book bin labels.
• Laminate everything that needs to be laminated.  
• Cut only the library book bin labels.  Roll the rest up and pack it up to cut at home.

15 minutes - Mailboxes

• Label student mailboxes with first names
• Distribute day 1 paperwork to each mailbox

20 minutes - Classroom Library

• Organize books into new book boxes in the classroom library.
• Put new labels on boxes.

35 minutes - Boards

• I have three decent sized boards in my room.  All need borders, backings, and a few things need to be posted. 

At this point we've used 2 hours...

Last Hour...All of the loose ends!

• During this last hour tie up all of the loose ends.  All of the little odd jobs that just need to get done.  For me these are:
• Write morning message for day 1 of school
• Sharpen pencils - distribute to desks
• One that is exclusive to me - this year I need to fix my easel.  I figure it will only take 5 minutes, but it needs to be done.  The little plastic bottoms are gone on the feet of my easel and it's going to keep scratching my floor if I don't fix it.
• Distribute supplies to student desks (textbooks, etc.)
• Organize teacher desk area
• Make any copies for the first week with any time available.

A few important things to keep in mind as you enter your 3 hours of classroom time... 

• Set a timer!!  I can't stress this enough.  Once you've made a schedule, stick to your time limits as much as possible.
• Don't chit chat with your friends!  I'm SO SO guilty of this one.  Sorry friends who work with me - you know I would love to catch up - but it will happen at some other time, not during my 3 hours of classroom set up.  Perhaps after set up is over we can catch up over lunch!  I'm actually going to mostly stay right in my room for the 3 hours aside from when I'll copy and laminate - and I'm going to tell everyone who stops by to say hi that I've challenged myself to do this in a time limit - and that I'll stop to catch up with them when I'm done.  Yes, this will be one of the hardest parts of the 3 hour challenge...
• Don't forget to bring your water bottle and snacks - especially important if you work in a hot building with no AC like I do.  This will help keep you moving.
• If possible - bring a helper (this isn't possible for me, but I have done this in the past and it is a HUGE time saver!).

I can't wait to hear how you do!!  Head on over to the Hooting About Learning Facebook page to share your experiences and support one another!  It's going to be a GREAT year!!

3 Hour Classroom Prep Challenge - The Beginning

Thanks to everyone who is interested in giving this a try!  This is the first installment in a series of posts designed to help all of us spend more time doing fun summer things and less time in our classrooms preparing for the new year!

I totally recognize that it's going to take more than 3 hours to get everything done.  I'm just committing to 3 hours of time spent in my actual classroom.  That means prepping things - mostly after my kids have gone to bed each night - at home.  But, the trade off is that I'm *hopefully* saving myself hours worth of work that would have happened IN my classroom by being more purposeful with my tasks and time.  So, all of those days that the old me would have spent in my classroom are going to be a thing of the past!  Instead I'll spend that time enjoying the last days of summer with my family.

So, our first task!

Sit down and think about all of the things that you need to do, make, organize, etc. in preparation for a new school year.  As you think of each thing write it down on a list.  I know, it's going to be a long list.  My list is always long.  But, a list is the best place to start so that we can be efficient in our next steps.  I've even made a graphic organizer to use if you find it helpful to you in your list making.

3 Hour Classroom Prep Challenge - To Do List


Be sure to share your progress on the Hooting About Learning Facebook page!

Two years later... back to blogging!

Two years ago I began this blog.  Two years?!  How is that even possible?!  Well, I know it's possible, because a LOT has happened in the last two years!!  Our family has grown and so did the size of my classes - and between those two things life became exceptionally hectic and my focus wasn't on blogging... shocking, right?!  :)

All of these things have brought me to the place where I am now personally and professionally.  I need to use my time very efficiently, both at school and at home.  One of my colleagues introduced me to the OHIO method.  OHIO stands for Only Handle It Once.  OK, so admittedly i'm not always perfect at this - but it has certainly helped me a lot.  My new normal is that when I have something in my hands - no matter what it is - I deal with it right then.  So, for example, if I have a piece of paperwork needing to be filed - I file it.  I don't put it in a basket that is labeled "to file" and then never get around to it - or have the basket become so full that now the task is daunting.

So, now onto my life as a teacher - because that is really why you are probably reading my blog in the first place.  OHIO has helped (see above), but this summer I didn't go in to school much at all.  Especially compared to what I've done other summers.  Why?  Well, that answer can be found by looking at the weather we've had this summer.  Massachusetts has been in a major drought.  What does the drought have to do with school and my classroom???  My personal rule for summer always was that I would go in and work on rainy days.  We have had VERY few of those - and the few we had, I already had other plans.  So, here we are, with time ticking on summer, and my classroom still needing to be set up and organized for the coming school year.

While scrolling through Facebook the other day I saw a fellow blogger post a video that showed how she set up her classroom in just 3 hours.  3 hours I thought?!  No way!!  Well, she did it - and her room looks a lot like mine does now - boxes of things moved from their usual homes for summer storage.  The one huge difference I noticed is that she had a lot of nice in classroom storage which I do not, but hey, I'm up for the challenge anyway!!  So, this is the beginning of my "3 hour classroom prep challenge" series!  Are you willing to take the challenge with me?????

I know what you are thinking... "I can't do that!"  "It's not NEARLY enough time!".  Well, the blogger I watched did - and I'm going to try to do it as well, but with my own spin.

THE CHALLENGE...
Spend just 3 hours at your actual classroom setting up.
     **Just think of all the extra time you'll have to be at home, watching the Olympics, reading, doing ANYTHING you want!

This means... do all of those little preparation tasks from HOME before you go to school.    I'll outline them for you in my upcoming blog posts.  Do them in your living room, on your patio, where ever you are comfy!  You don't even have to get out of your pjs!  Take the challenge with me!  Let's see if we can do this together!!!

Oh, and if you are wondering about that blogger who inspired me?  Here is a link to the video I saw earlier this week:  http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/top-teaching/2013/08/classroom-setup-three-hours-and-done