Free Quick Custom Calendars
Our New Year’s gift to you is this ultra-simple calendar template. Choose from a 5-row or 6-row version. Just click, save, and print. Fill in the numbers and month using your hippest pack of markers or colored pencils.
Organization
Recycle Everything, Even Broken Crayons
Take it a step beyond having extras around in case someone forgets or loses theirs or you somehow pick up an extra student. If a kid runs out of blue, you just give them another. But when the tub of brokens gets too large to be practical, it’s time to get creative.
Customized Lesson Plans
There are so many software packages on the market today, there is no way we could possibly review them all – at least, not in a timely manner. Our basic Lesson Plan Template was originally designed for AppleWorks, which is no more, but we are still offering the files as a free PDF download.
The 2-Minute Rule
If you are wondering how you managed to forget to return that important form to the office yesterday, you don’t need a better brain. You need a better system. Here’s what some of our readers are doing.
Phone (or email, or SMS) Home
Reaching parents is a major frustration for many teachers; most parents work and can’t be readily contacted at their place of employment. Or in some cases, a telephone doesn’t even exist in the home. We can’t make a phone appear out of thin air, but here are a few suggestions for tracking down the elusive parent.
Time Management & Calendars
Calendars can be cumbersome, cluttered, or sometimes just inconvenient. Here are some ideas that will put you on your way to discovering a system and style that suits you perfectly.
Classroom Organization: Record Keeping
You need more than a pad of sticky notes to keep track of the complex environment that is your classroom. Here is a sampling of records we think you should keep, and why.
Pack Rat! Collect Odds & Ends for Classroom Use
From art projects to classroom organization, the whosits and whatsits you collect now will seem worth their weight in gold as you head into next semester.
Classroom Organization: Paperwork
DIY ideas for clipboards and notebooks. Smart solutions for dealing with all the paper that is part of the traditional classroom.
Classroom Organization: Identification, Storage & Filing
Keep track of the odds and ends with tidy labels and perfect containers, without spending cash on fancy organizational systems or supplies.
Filing Early
Have your kids keep a “What’s Cool” file, of items clipped from newspapers and magazines, items that make them say, “wow, that’s neat.” And build >>>
Parents as Teachers: Getting Parents Involved
The first step in involving parents in the education process is to remember they are there. We often get focused on our job and forget that parents could be a valuable time-saving resource. Changing your perspective means brainstorming a way to have them help.
Making Storage Boxes
Encourage students to be a little more organized by using recycled boxes or cans in this art project. A little creativity is in order in guiding students in assembling materials into a storage unit. Nearly any student will benefit from this fun process of creating, then organizing.