Back to School Planning Tip #3: Instructional Planning

It’s so important to have a guideline of several topics, resources, and curriculum components you’d like to incorporate this year. Is there something you’ve always wanted to teach but don’t have time to find it once the year starts? Summer is the perfect time to go back and evaluate what you teach and how you teach it.

Best of all, now is the PERFECT time to shop and find great materials you’ll want for the rest of the year. Teachers Pay Teachers is having their a back to school sale on August 3rd and 4th. Many teacher sellers list their materials at 20% off. With the extra TpT discount, you can get materials for up to 28% off.

TPT Back to School SALE!

Here are some materials I am checking out for the upcoming school year:

No prep printable worksheets – I like to have some morning work that I can just print off, copy, and give to kids. This is also a lifesaver for sub plans. It’s always nice to have extra worksheets that you know your students haven’t done before. I like to save a packet of them behind my desk for those days when I need something extra to assign. With many of the no prep worksheets, you know the material is still great information that the kids are learning, you just skip out on all the prep work yourself. It’s a win-win.
Teacher binder and calendar – In past years I’ve purchased my own teacher binder and desk calendar at a dollar store over the summer. But TPT has some amazing teacher binders and calendars with everything already in them. Many of them come with classroom forms and they can be editable so you can revise them throughout the year as needed.
Back to School “Getting to Know You” Materials – The first days back can be a little scary. They are full of so much uncertainty! I LOVE having extra back to school activities, worksheets, and coloring activities that we can do as a group when extra time allows. It can be a great time to build bonds and learn about each other without giving that dreaded downtime on one of the first days.
Nonfiction Reading Passages – I can never have enough of these! Nonfiction can be extremely high interest for struggling readers. The key is having a wide variety of topics and being able to choose what you need. Nonfiction reading often leads to great discussions, research, and writing, too. It opens the door for so much.

Good luck shopping and finding everything you need. It’s so wonderful to find it and check it off the list before school comes around. Keep watching for my number 2 back to school planning tip!

Check out my all my back to school planning tips: