Category: How To

As educators, and as parents, planning and time management are essential skills to be productive and effective in the classroom and in the home.   The new challenge of working from home includes juggling learning new software or programming to connect with students, trying to adjust the lesson plans that you had for the remainder of the year, and trying to find a new definition to the work/life balance.  At the start it was supposed to be a short-term challenge, now it is an ongoing situation for an indeterminate time period, and you may need to take a look at “how” you are working from home.

Create a defined schedule.  Going to work each day, you had a schedule and routines.   It is very easy to get lax about time and that cuts into your productivity.  Not all of your time will be spent connecting with students so plan ahead how to define your time during work hours.  When creating a schedule, plot out the hours of the day and set your ‘workday’.   There are several sites that allow you to create your own planner that includes the days of the week with hourly blocks of time.  Follow your daily routine, set your alarm, shower, get dressed, and begin your day as a working day.  Be sure to take breaks but set an alarm to get back on task at the end of the break.

Create a designated workspace.  If you do not already have an office, set a place in your home as your work area.  When you ‘go to work’ allow that space to be somewhere with few distractions and definitely not an area you use as a lounging place, like the couch.  Having a television that handy will make it too easy to say, “I’ll take a five-minute break” to watch a show you enjoy.  An hour later, you realize how much time you’ve lost.   If you need to, buy a small desk, or use a vanity as a desk, or if space is limited you can even get a wall-mounted desk that folds up when not in use.  Find a space in your home that is not being used, as your office.

Set boundaries.  Just as your space is defined, be sure to let everyone you share your home with know that when you are working to not interrupt.  Create a signal that you are in work mode, like shutting a door if you are in a bedroom or a room used as an office at home.  If your office space is in a general area, create a sign to set up on your desk that you are at work to remind those around you to respect your space.  If you have noise-cancelling headphones those work to both block out noise and as a reminder that you are “at work”.    The boundaries include you not taking calls or answering emails after your set work hours.  It is very easy for the workday hours to become blurred and you begin to feel that you are always working, which can add an element of stress to your life.  Stick to your set workday.

Spend time with your team and a mentor.  Continue to have a set time to connect with other team members.  Plan a weekly Zoom meeting to discuss how things are going, what is working, and what isn’t working.  Zoom is a video meeting tool that allows you to hold 40-minute meetings for free.  Set guidelines in advance for the meeting, like the subject of the meeting and rules for the meeting.  If the session begins to turn towards a format to complain, get the session back on track.  The sessions can be recorded for each of you to refer back to until the next meeting.  Also, look for a mentor to help with ideas, someone who has done homeschooling or who is in the midst of a homeschool year.   They can assist with the “how” you work from home.

We may all be in this together, but there are times when it might feel overwhelming making the switch from teaching in the classroom to teach from your dining room.  If you plan, when to work, where to work,  and how you work it creates an element of control in a situation where it feels like we are not in control.  It also helps your productivity and effectiveness, and each day, when the weather allows, get outside.  It is a stress reliever and it helps boost your Vitamin D, too.  Being outside gives you the opportunity to be away from work and to unplug.   We may not have planned to wrap up the school year this way, but we can plan how to handle it and thrive during it.

Written by Midge Brody

If you want more activities or tips for your you and your kids, check out this blog post next: School Closures – Activities To Keep Kids Happy, Healthy and Active

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hello@myschooldance.com

833-336-8656

January 17, 2020

When you are in charge of planning and managing your school’s Prom, it’s hard to understand everything that it entails. However, one of the biggest things to consider for Prom is the venue! A lot of schools have different venues when it comes to this formal dance. How do you know which one is right for your school?

When it comes to your school, are you considered a big school or a small school? My School Dance considers small schools to be 500 students or less. A big school is 500+. Now that you have decided on your school size, it’s time to start thinking about the proper venue. One thing to consider is if you’re allowing your students to bring out of school dates. If you do, you’ll have to increase your school size so you’re accommodating enough space with more students. If you don’t allow students to bring out of school guests, then you don’t have to worry about it!

When choosing your venue, you’ll want to make sure the venue location isn’t too far of a drive for students. I’d highly recommend nothing over a 30 minute drive for students. If the venue location is too far, a lot of students will not go.

Small Schools

If you have a small school, you might want to just stick to somewhere local like your school’s gym or cafeteria. However, a lot of students aim to have their Prom at a different location than the school. I’d suggest looking at local community centers, halls, and hotels. With a smaller amount of students, you can get a smaller venue room.

Big Schools

If you have a big school, you aren’t going to want to cram all of your students and volunteers in a small gym or cafeteria. You’ll want to look for an outside venue! Convention centers, bigger restaurants, halls, outdoor pavilions, parks, or even big boats! All of these venue options have been huge hits in the past for bigger schools.

When you start looking into your venue options some things to consider are:

• Is the venue location available for your desired date and time?
• What’s the cost for the venue?
• Maximum capacity size for the venue?
• Are there any amenities onsite?
• What type of lighting is available and will you need additional lighting?
• Is the building secure?
• Can you bring in your own DJ, Catering, Photo booths, etc.?
• Who handles setting up and cleaning up?
• How early can you arrive to prepare?
• Are their any package deals for booking?

It’s important to take into account all of these questions when you book one of the top things for Prom. I would suggest looking at multiple places first before choosing your destination. That way you get a feel for a variety of environments and deals. If your school needs help making the management process for Prom easier, sign your school up with My School Dance for free! 

Our platform allows you to save over 25 hours when it comes to Prom planning and managing! If you thought this blog post was helpful, take a look at these: 10 Prom Traditions That Might Shock You, How to Publicize Your School Dance, and Top 5 Prom 2020 Trends You Need To Know Before You Shop!

Don’t forget to follow us on: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Pinterest! Watch some How-To videos on Youtube as well!

Contact:

Stephanie Hamilton

833-336-8656

January 3, 2020

Over the past year, something I’ve noticed a lot of dance planners struggle with is how to publicize their school dance. Me being a marketing manager, thought I could give all dance planners some helpful tidbits when it comes to the best way to market your school’s dances and events. Let’s get started!

1. Social Media-If your school doesn’t have their own social media pages, then that’s step one for you. The hot platforms for schools to be on are Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. The majority of students are on all of these platforms and check them regularly. Create creative content about the dance and post all over social media. Students will likely see these posts more than seeing a flyer hanging up in the cafeteria. Some things to post: dance theme, decor, polls for music selection, voting polls, members of the dance court, details, and throwbacks to past dances.
2. Email Marketing– Have your school’s Communication Associate draft up a crafty email all about the dance. You can do a series where you send an email once a week, once every two weeks, or even do once a month leading up to the dance. You can send these emails out to parents and students!
3. Club Contests– Want to get students more involved with the dances? For each dance, have a club contest related to the theme of the dance. For example, which club can create the best decoration for a Great Gatsby themed Prom. Then give the winner a pizza party or money towards their club. If it’s a fun contest, more clubs will want to participate which will bring more students in.
4. Mascot– When ticket sales start happening for the dance, have one student participate to be the dance’s themed mascot. Have this person dress up and walk around handing out flyers or some little knickknack at lunch. If the person stands out, more students will be talking about them.
5. Businesses– Go around to local businesses to try to get donations whether that’s money, decor, entertainment, etc. Then, promote these local businesses on your website and social media. Have the local businesses hang up a flyer of the dance in their shops as well!

Marketing a school dance should be fun to do! If it becomes a hassle, then you’re doing something wrong. When it comes to the content creation for the social posts, have students get more involved by creating content for it. They’ll have fun while doing it and be more excited about attending the dance.

You can get more marketing tips for your school dances when you manage your dance with My School Dance. Our platform is free for all schools to use. Check us out now!

If you found this blog post to be helpful for you, check out these posts next: Top 5 Places To Get Your School Dance Decorations, How To Hire The Right DJ For Your School Dance, and How My School Dance Was Created!

Give us a like: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Pinterest!

Contact:

Stephanie Hamilton

833-336-8656

November 29, 2019

Unfortunately, many schools across the country have experienced some type of student activity funds being stolen from them. If you google, “stolen school funds,” you’ll see a list of stories about it. Seriously, it’s ridiculous! There has to be a way schools can ensure their school activity funds aren’t getting stolen. My School Dance has you covered!

Our platform specializes in helping schools manage dances and events in a more organized and efficient way. One of our main features is online ticket sales. We pride ourselves on this because of how secure the ticket sales are for schools. Schools can choose to have direct deposit set up or choose to receive checks bi-weekly, monthly, or even after the dance! By using direct deposit, My School Dance doesn’t see the money at all. Once a ticket is purchased, the money goes directly into the school’s account right away! You don’t have to wait a week or so for the book keeper to go to the bank to deposit it.

This is also beneficial because it eliminates the problem of students or teachers selling dance tickets during their lunch hour or before/after school. Many schools still use a cashbox and have teachers or students handling the money. That could be thousands of dollars depending on the price of the dance tickets. This is usually how a lot of money is stolen. On top of this, students and teachers aren’t getting a lunch hour to actually eat and enjoy themselves.

Unlike other school dance managing platforms, My School Dance uses Stripe, who’s the same payment processor that Amazon, Facebook, and Opentable use! By setting your school up for direct deposit, you won’t run into the issue of potentially losing your money. Plus, you’ll receive your money right away and will be able to use it to purchase decorations, put down deposits on a venue, pay the DJ, etc.

Start managing dances the smarter and more secure way. Students work hard for big events like Prom and they deserve a night out. Don’t risk the chance of your funds being stolen by managing your dance the old-fashioned way. My School Dance is free for all schools to use. We want to make the lives easier on our teachers and students, not more complicated! Check us out today!

Want some more tips regarding school events? Check these blog posts out too: How To Hire The Right DJ For Your School, How To Create A School Dance Budget, and Top 5 Places To Get Your School Dance Decorations!

Be sure to give us a like on our social media channels too: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Pinterest!

Contact:

Stephanie Hamilton

833-336-8656

October 25, 2019

Hiring your school’s DJ for your dance might not seem like an important job, but to the students the DJ is the best part! There’s a few things you’ll want to consider when looking into who you should hire as your school’s DJ for a dance. My School Dance covered them for you below:

• Price: Many people think that hiring the cheapest DJ is the way to go, but usually that’s never the case. DJ’s should be one of the more expensive expenses for your school’s dance because you want to make sure they’re good and that the students will enjoy them. 
• Experience: You should always ask the company you are potentially going to hire how long they’ve been in business and how many events the DJ has done. You don’t want to hire someone who has only done one event and doesn’t have much experience. It’s always safer to choose someone who knows what they’re doing and does this all the time.
• Social Media Channels: A good thing to look out for is making sure the potential DJ has a few social media channels or a website that showcases their work. A lot of experienced DJ’s will post videos or different events they worked at. This is a great insight into the type of DJ they are. 
• Music: Find out the type of music/genre they usually use. You’ll want to find out if the music is explicit or if they bleep out vulgar words. Another important thing to find out is if the DJ takes requests. A lot of times during dances, students will go and request a certain song. If the DJ doesn’t take requests that’s usually not the best one you’ll want to go with. 
• Equipment: Find out what type/brand of equipment they use. A good DJ will be using a well known name brand for their speakers and other equipment. You want the sound quality to be good and loud enough to fill the whole room. 
• References: Ask the DJ for some references from their most recent event. You can then call up the references and get their opinion on whether they thought the DJ was worth it or not. 

All of these are crucial things to consider when considering your school’s dance DJ. You don’t want to spend a lot of money on a DJ that doesn’t follow up to your criteria. Make sure you’re asking the necessary questions and don’t be afraid to ask them anything.

This may seem like a lot of work, but don’t worry! If you’re managing your school’s dance with My School Dance, you’ll have more time to figure all of this out. If you’re not, sign your school up today for free!

Be sure to check out these articles too for other dance managing tips: How to Create a School Dance Budget, Top 5 Places to get your School Dance Decorations, and 4 Time-Saving Tips for Teachers!

Don’t forget to follow our social media channels too: Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and Instagram.

Contact:

Stephanie Hamilton

833-336-8656

October 18, 2019

Every school should have an extensive school dance budget. Without having a budget, schools are going to struggle when it comes to the planning process of their dances. Here’s a few steps to consider when creating your school’s dance budget for each event!

1. Potential Dance Income: You need to come together and try to guess how much income your school will make per dance. This will allow you to figure out how much money you can allocate to certain things. You want to have goals for how many students will be attending. You can shoot for 75-80% of your students as a common goal. Look at past dances and see how many students attended and create numbers based on that. 
2. Expenses: Create a list of all of your expenses for the dance. Think about the DJ, food, decorations, entertainment, venue, promotional material, etc. Come up with a general estimate for each topic. 
3. Expenses and How They Contribute: After you’re done with your expense lists, ask yourself how much these expenses actually contribute to the dance. What was the feedback from the last dance? What did the students like/dislike? Do people leave early for reasons such as a bad DJ/food/decorations? 
4. Consistency: Making sure you’re staying consistent with everything is crucial. It’s important to divide your budget up in a logical way. What expense is going to be the most important to the students? Most likely, the answer is going to be the DJ. 

After creating your school’s dance budget, you’ll want to start planning right away. This is smart because expenses book up fast and you will want to make sure that you are booking the expenses that you wanted originally. Nobody wants to settle for their second or third options.

If you use My School Dance as your managing platform, you’ll be able to spend more time figuring out what DJ to get or what decoration theme to go with. My School Dance allows you to save more time and provide a better management process for everyone. Sign your school up today for free!

Want to learn some more dance managing tips? Check out these blog posts: Top 5 Places To Get Your School Dance Decorations, 5 Ways To Increase Student Attendance At Homecoming, and 4 Biggest Event Managing Mistakes People Make! 

Our social channels have some awesome tips too. Check them out here: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn,  Pinterest, and Instagram.

September 6, 2019

Every year, students, faculty, and the community all come together to celebrate something known as Homecoming. Homecoming is a school celebration that involves the entire community participating in things such as football games, parades, tailgating, school dances, spirit week, and more! This is an exciting time for a lot of the students because they’re able to get so involved with the rest of the community. Many schools participate in the same type of events, but it’s always nice to change it up every once in awhile. I’m not saying to stop doing one of your most popular events that go along with Homecoming, but add some extra spice to them!

Spirit Week

Getting all dressed up into a specific theme brings a lot of fun and joy into the traditional school day. Continue creating fun themes, but instead make it a competition between the classes that involves giving back to the community. Choose a specific charity that means something to your school. Have each class (freshman, sophomores, juniors, and seniors) donate money the entire week. At the end of the week, see which class raised the most money and crown them the champions. This way you’re still participating in a fun spirit day, but also doing something good for a local charity.

Activity/Club Fair

Even though the week of Homecoming is usually busy, try to find time to create a school activity/club fair. This is great to do during Homecoming week because it’s still the beginning of the school year and everyone is in the school spirit. Have different clubs and activity groups have their own tables and explain what they do. Students can sign up for whichever they want. Do this during lunch hours so kids can come and go as they please.

Students vs Teachers

This has always been a super popular event that some schools already do. Host a students vs teachers game such as a basketball game. You can get volunteers from both teams and then have a night during Homecoming week where you host the game. Other students and faculty can come and support both their peers and their teachers. Have the winning team march in the Homecoming parade!

Activities

If you want to include more activities or events throughout the week, host a talent show, magic show, improv night, poetry reading, etc. It’s nice to have a variety of events for students and faculty to choose from and attend.

Test out some of these extra celebration techniques this year with your school’s Homecoming. Like I said, it’s important to have your usual events, but try to add some extra flare to them! The community might enjoy them even more and then make sure to attend next year.

With all of these events in place, be sure to have a proper managing platform when it comes to your school’s Homecoming dance. Homecoming is a week full of activities and events, so you don’t want to become too overwhelmed. Let My School Dance make managing your school’s Homecoming stress-free and easy on you. You can sign your school up for free now! 

If you’re looking for more tips when it comes to Homecoming check out these blogs too: 5 Ways To Increase Student Attendance At Homecoming, 10 Hottest Homecoming Themes For 2019, and Homecoming Is About Community!

Follow our social media channels too: Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and Instagram.

Contact:

Stephanie Hamilton

833-336-8656

July 26, 2019

If you want to go broke, plan your parties with Pinterest…Seriously though, planning a party today is hard, probably because there are SO many options. Over time, I have learned to distill all that I see on Pinterest into something manageable but still spectacular, and I will share these tips with you!

I think in another life I would have been a party planner, which is definitely part of the reason I love helping schools plan dances at My School Dance. Dances are like big parties, and with big parties it is easy to get overwhelmed. Pinterest gives you creative and unique ideas, but those ideas come at a cost, both monetary and to your sanity. Overwhelming on the days leading up to your party makes it no fun! So, enough chatting about party planning, and let’s get into the details.

1. Create a board and pin as many ideas as you can AT FIRST:

I recommend having a board for each one of your parties (or dances). This helps you keep all of your ideas organized and clear, and hopefully won’t distract you as much. After I create a board for my party, I search things related to my theme idea. For example, I planned a pirate birthday party for my daughter and searched all things pirate: decorations, cake, favors, kids’ ideas, etc. I sometimes got into a deep hole of searching, but eventually got out of it when I needed to move onto something else. Do this in spurts, it doesn’t have to be done all at once. Pinning over time allows you to think of new ways to search Pinterest and may even lead you to discover pins you didn’t notice before. Oh, and about timing, I would recommend starting to plan at least a month out to allow for ordering decorations/favors and developing more ideas.

2. Consolidate your ideas into a list of realistic combinations

I would say this part is the most challenging. Some of my boards have over 50 pins of ideas, how do I turn those into something manageable? I think one of the beauties of Pinterest is the ability to truly visualize. I look at all of my pins collectively and decide which go together in different areas of my party, you’d be surprised how many different theme vibes you can find for one theme. I then plan out the major areas of the party with the pinned ideas, i.e. appetizers, main dishes, desserts, general decorations, drinks, favors, and activities if necessary. Within each of these categories, I organize my ideas. I put together a brunch bridal shower, and as you can imagine there are like one million ideas for this. It was important for me to categorize exactly what I wanted in each area of the party so that I wasn’t overwhelmed.

3. Figure out what you need to get to make your vision into reality

After I have my ideas together for each section of my party, I make a list of what I need to have to bring the ideas to life. A small warning here, sometimes things on Pinterest are harder than they appear… meaning, that unless you are a DIY expert, find elements for your party that are a combination of DIY and some assembly required so you are not spending all of your time trying to figure out how to make a dinosaur out of popsicle sticks and cotton balls. Another part of figuring out your party plan is determining what food you need. As a person who has made this mistake 100 times, try not to overestimate the amount of food you need. It is very easy to get caught up in all of the great ideas and end up with way more food than you need. At parties, most people don’t eat as much food as you would think, and usually what is the most boring will go first because people are familiar with it. So, don’t get too fancy with your food choices. This can vary based on the number of people, but I would recommend 3-4 appetizers (if you want people to eat main courses maybe less), 2-3 entrée options, 3-4 sides, 1 large dessert (or 2-3 small desserts), and more drinks than you think depending on your party demographic. For a brunch party, I would suggest 2-4 options of sweet and savory items with a dessert depending on what the party is for. One of the most amazing things you can add to your party is a beautiful cake. I promise you, I’ve had many parties and the best ones were where the cake was the centerpiece. For my baby shower, I had a books and babies theme where all of the food was structured around different books. I then had a beautiful cake that looked like stacked books that was in itself one of the best decorations of the party.

4. Order your supplies, make what you can

Once you have organized your ideas into categories and made your list of what exactly you need, it’s time to order your supplies. Some of the best places to order decorations and favors are Etsy, Amazon, Anderson’s, Oriental Trading, and your local thrift store. Because there are so many options on these sites, it is really important that you stick to your list and your ideas so that you do not go overboard and wonder where all your money went! If you are a skilled DIYer, I would recommend making some of your décor, both to save cost and make something super cool that cannot be bought. I am not much for DIY, but I have been able to put together some fun decoration ideas with items from thrift stores. If you do find something intriguing on one of the sites to buy, make sure to go back and edit your list so that you do not overbuy. Besides favors, you also could look at t-shirts for the party honoree (I like to get these on Etsy because you can customize them). Again, remember that many of these decorations may take a while to make or arrive so plan your time out accordingly!

5. ASK for help

This is a lot of work, right?! I cannot stress enough to ASK FOR HELP. If you are a female reading this, I know it is not in your DNA to ask for help, but I promise, you will enjoy your party so much more if you just ask for help! What kind of help can you ask for? Well, do you have a friend that is an incredible chef, ask him/her if they can help you prepare some of the food. Oftentimes, they will only have you pay for supplies and will help you out of the goodness of their heart and passion for cool parties because, duh, your party was planned on Pinterest! If you can afford to, I would recommend at least having someone else prepare the main protein dishes. These are often time and temperature intensive, and will require a lot of your time, time that could be spent decorating. Decorations are another area you can recruit help in. Find someone to help setup the day before or day of the party. So much goes into a party that you might forget about like getting the ice, buying enough drinks, plates/cups/cutlery, and having an extra set of hands is extremely helpful. Another thing I would suggest outsourcing is the cake… I can guess that most of you are not profession bakers, which is totally fine, neither am I! You can easily find a beautiful cake for every budget whether through a baker, your grandma, or Costco (remember the cake can be the centerpiece of your décor). Asking for help does not reflect poorly on you. Every person attending wants a good party, so many people will not refuse to help set up or make a side dish. If you take anything from this blog, please just ask for help!

6. ENJOY your party! (And don’t forget to take pictures)

Seriously, all these tips are great, but if you don’t enjoy your party what was the point?! Please, make sure you take time to talk to your friends, dance to the music, try your amazing food, have a drink, and make sure you take pictures! Try taking pictures of the food and décor before the party starts and they get messed up. You never know, your party could inspire the next Pinterest party!

I hope you found these tips helpful! If you need help planning your next school party or dance, our Dance Partners at My School Dance are here and ready to offer you helpful tips and take the burden away of managing your check in, permission forms, and ticket sales.

Until next time, happy dancing!

Guest Blogger:

Taylor Buckley

COO, My School Dance

June 21st, 2019

Creating a thriving learning environment is crucial in student development. Many teachers seek to have a positive classroom area so students can learn and grow. It can be difficult at first to figure out different ways to make this possible, but it definitely is a possible thing to do. After all, teachers can do anything! 

My School Dance collected different teacher tips on ways to create a positive classroom community for you and your students.

• Build Relationships– It’s important to show that you are seen as someone students can go to when they need to talk to someone or when they need help. Don’t feel the need to rush right into new content. Take time to create these relationships. After all, you’ll inspire a lot of students by doing this.
• Let Students Make Decisions– Even at young ages, it’s important to allow students to make their own decisions and learn from them. It gives them a positive feeling and makes them feel like they contributed to something. 
• Decor– Allow your students to help decorate your classroom. After all, they’ll be spending most of their year in this room. It will help make them feel more at home by having their own artwork/decorations displayed. 
• Newsletter– A great way to create good communication and fun in the classroom is by creating a monthly newsletter with your class. Have a few fun topics like a star student where you feature a short paragraph about them, fun quote of the week, and an educational fact. This will allow them to work together to create this and it builds a better culture in the classroom. 
• Qualities– Every once in awhile think of some of the best qualities for each student. Write them down on a piece of paper and place it on their desks. This way the first thing they read that morning will be positive qualities about themselves. Their moods will be positive and they’ll feel good about themselves. 

There are plenty other ways to create a positive classroom community, but just select a few of your favorite and start there. You want your students to feel welcome and comfortable in the classroom. Plus, by having a good learning environment, you’ll come in with just as much positivity as the students!

If this blog helped you out at all read these blogs too: Top 5 Ways To Get Students Engaged In The Classroom, 4 Rainy Day Classroom Activities, and Bonding In And Out Of The Classroom.

Follow us on social media as well: Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and Instagram.

Contact:

Stephanie Hamilton

833-336-8656

June 7, 2019

We know the school year is coming to an end and you’re eager for your summer break to finally start. However, we all know most teachers don’t just jump into their summer break right away. After all, you have a teacher’s mindset! We know you’re constantly thinking of new ways to better your teaching lessons or fun things you can do for your students. You always want to prepare in advance and get ahead on some of your tasks for next school year. Why not prepare now while you’re still in the same school year mindset? Here’s a few ways you can begin preparing for the next school year:

• School Supplies: While school is ending, try to stock up on all of the school supplies that are on sale. Gradually buy a few things you’ll need every week so you don’t have to purchase them full price at the start of the school year.
• Bulletin Boards: Take down your old bulletin boards and set up your new ones for next year. Create something fun for “Back to School” time and have that set up and ready to go.
• Lesson Plans & Activities: Come up with “Back to School” lesson plans and activities where you can get to know your students right away. Pinterest has some fun ice-breakers that you can use!
• Take-Home Papers: Create a folder for each student with the typical “take-home papers” that you pass out during the first week of school. Organize them in a folder to hand to each student on the first day so they don’t lose them.
• Year Long Outline: Reflect on the good’s and bad’s of last year and plan out a year long outline of things you want to cover throughout the year. This will help you when you create a detailed lesson plan.
• Substitute Packets: Create a folder with activities/lesson plans for your substitute to do if you’re sick or absent one day. This way you aren’t coming up with something on the fly. 
• Homecoming Planning: If you’re in charge of managing your school’s Homecoming dance, begin now by selecting the basic information. Start creating your dance on My School Dance’s website to be ready for the first few weeks of school.

Planning months in advance is always the best thing to do if you want to stay organized and be in control for your school year. I’m not saying to give up your entire summer plans, but every once in awhile set aside some time to figure certain things out and get some tasks done so you’re not rushed in the fall.

Once your planning is accomplished, take a break and enjoy your much needed summer off knowing that you are all set for next school year!

If you benefitted from this blog post, be sure to check out these: Top 5 Ways To Get Students Engaged In The Classroom, How To End The School Year And Set Goals, and Homecoming Is About Community!

Follow us on social media as well: Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and Instagram.

Contact:

Stephanie Hamilton

833-336-8656