Tip #1: Use a Pacing Guide

The first tip for planning ahead for next school year is to look at your grade level pacing guide. Look to see which skills you'll need to cover in the first few weeks and months back to school.

A pacing guide serves as your go-to reference when planning your units, themes, and lessons throughout the year.

While you definitely don't need to start planning your lessons right now, it's helpful to see which skills you'll be working on right away. Therefore, you can print and prep materials over the summer.

It's also helpful to see the entire year at a glance so you can prep materials in bulk, such as yearlong centers, morning tub activities, etc.

By knowing exactly what key skills you'll be teaching throughout the year, you can also be on the lookout for teacher professional development opportunities or Facebook groups to join over the summer.

You can grab this Kindergarten Pacing Guide Freebie by filling out the form at the bottom of this blog post.

Tip #2: Take a Classroom Inventory

Taking an inventory of what you currently have in your classroom is helpful when planning ahead for next school year. Your school might even require this as part of your teacher checkout process at the end of the school year.

By going through your classroom and taking inventory, you also prevent yourself from holding onto items that you haven't used in awhile.

You can even have your students help you do this during the last week of school. They can help you organize manipulatives and supplies (while practicing teamwork and sorting skills…yay!) They'll feel so good knowing they're helping prepare your classroom for the next group of students.

Make a pile of items you want to get rid of or donate to another teacher (first year teachers are always appreciative).

Then, go through your files of centers and worksheets that you printed and see what is left over or reusable. Put these items in a pile to use next year. Finally, look at what you have and make a list of what you still need to purchase and prep.

Don't forget to take inventory of what's in your teacher space. Need to clean out your desk and replace pictures in your picture frames? Do you have a stack of random books and papers lying around?

By getting organized now, you can come back to school after the summer feeling lighter and more prepared.

Tip #3: Plan Ahead with Bundles

Bundles are your best friend when planning ahead for next school year. By purchasing and prepping bundles that will get you through the first months of school or even the entire year, you'll take a lot of time, work, and stress off of your plate when the school year rolls around.

Reference your handy pacing guide and look through your pile of resources you're saving for next year. Then, determine what you have and what gaps you need to fill in your curriculum. Think about strategies or units you want to implement with your students. Do you want to use morning tubs, seasonal centers, etc?

Once you have your wishlist of items you need and want to implement, treat yourself to some teacher retail therapy and shop for bundles.

Not only do bundles save you money, but they also provide consistent activities for your students and allow you to prep ahead of time. Imagine having skill-based, seasonal, and yearlong activities ready to go before the school year even starts!

Tip #4: Print and Laminate Early

Finally, to make planning ahead for next school year effective, take advantage of the slow copy room traffic at the end of the year. Print and laminate your materials before you head home for the summer.

Most teachers aren't using the copy room during the last week of school, but you know how crazy it can get in there come back to school time.

I know summer is calling you, but stay disciplined and hang on for just a bit longer. Go print and laminate all of the resources you want to prep over the summer. You don't need to cut or organize them just yet. Just print and laminate and put them in a box to take home.

While you're enjoying your slow mornings or afternoon quiet time, you can cut and organize your materials into labeled file folders or large zipper baggies without rushing around.

I think it's actually kind of therapeutic sitting down to cut perfectly laminated centers and resources. It's one of those mindless activities that you can do while catching up on a show or listening to a great teacher podcast.

I hope these tips for planning ahead for next school year help you get organized, feel confident, and minimize stress as you look to the new school year. By implementing these tips, you can focus your time on your students and planning amazing lessons when you get back from summer break.

Check out this blog post with tips for prepping ahead for the new year along with a few must-have items that you can cut and prep over the summer!

Want a copy of the Kindergarten Pacing Guide freebie? Simply fill out the form below and get it delivered right to your inbox!

The Importance of Goal Setting for Teachers

As educators, it’s important to continue learning and looking for ways to grow in your teaching practice. However, it’s easy for teachers to take on too many goals at one time! It’s important that you narrow your focus.

By narrowing your focus, you can make real progress toward a goal. Just like you teach one lesson at a time, so students can truly master it, your goals should be narrow to allow you room to focus and grow.

Creating a Goal

At the end of the school year, I recommend doing an end of year reflection to think back on the challenges you faced, the wins you had in the classroom, and the areas you want to improve on next school year. This reflection is a great way to determine the areas in which you want to grow and improve.

However, goal setting for teachers is still possible even if you didn’t do a reflection at the end of the year. Instead, think back on last school year. Did your principal offer any feedback? Was there a particular struggle that sticks out? Are there any new strategies you are excited about?

You may also get an idea for a goal when attending summer or back to school PD. During a session, you might learn about a new teaching tool you want to focus on or dive into a particular struggle students have that you want to help them overcome.

Why Goal Setting in the Summer is Effective

Summer is definitely a time to rest, relax, and unplug from school. However, it’s still a great time to think about your professional goals for next school year.

During the school year, it can be hard to sit down, reflect, and think about the areas you want to grow in. Your mind is going a mile and minute, and your time is limited.

In the summer, you have more time and mental space to think about the goals you want to work towards. You also can focus on getting specific on your goals. There’s a difference between saying, “I want to be a better reading teacher” and “I want to implement literacy centers in order to improve as a reading teacher.” The second option is specific and states exactly what it is you want to learn and focus on. 

Additionally, you have more time to research, learn, and dive into professional development. You actually have time to consume information that relates to your goal without distraction.

Goal setting is also effective in the summer because you have time to prep the materials you may need to achieve the goal. In the example of the literacy centers, you can actually take the time to learn what you’ll need, find the literacy centers you want to use, and prepare them ahead of time for the year.

Goal Setting Ideas for Teachers

When setting goals, you want to make sure they are SMART goals. This means they are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Based. By setting SMART goals, you’ll be able to get specific and create an action plan that’s in line with your timeline and what you want to achieve.

In the list below, I’m sharing some of my favorite goal-setting ideas for teachers. I’m also including an example SMART goal for each one. These are some of the most common topics that I hear from teachers that they want to improve on.

Increasing Classroom Organization

If you struggle with organizing your classroom, this might be the best goal for you. With this goal, you can focus on how organization impacts classroom learning and behavior. This could also be a small goal that gets you started at the beginning of the year, but you don’t have to focus your entire year on it.

Example SMART Goal: Organize all of my manipulatives and classroom supplies into labeled totes before I report back to school in August.

Improving Classroom Management

Classroom management is on every teacher's mind during back to school. Even if you’ve been teaching for twenty years, you know that every year is different, and it can be a challenge to predict what classroom management strategies will work for this particular group.

Instead of trying to figure out the entire school year, set a goal for how you will knock off classroom management with students or conquer a particular part of the day, like dismissal.

Example SMART Goal: Establish 5 main classroom rules, and plan and prep for a mini-lesson to explicitly teach them on the 2nd day of school.

Focusing on Relationship and Community Building

Relationships are the backbone of every successful school year. However, building relationships can take time. You can set a goal for how you will build relationships with your students or how you will maintain those relationships throughout the year.

Example SMART Goal: Choose 3 classroom community building strategies and implement them during the first week of school.

Setting up and Implementing Centers

Getting kindergarten students to be successful in centers takes a lot of time! With this goal, you can decide how you will implement centers, what your year-long goal for centers will be, or how you will make centers easier for you. 

Example SMART Goal: Print, prep, and organize math and literacy centers into labeled baggies for the entire year before I report back to school in August.

Improving Writing Instruction

The longer you teach, the more strategies and tools you can implement in your classroom. Maybe this year, you set a goal for where students will be out throughout the year with their writing skills. Perhaps you also determine what new writing activities you will implement, like interactive writing prompts and writing centers.

Example SMART Goal: Plan a daily directed drawing activity for our writing lessons for the first month of school.

Establishing a Morning Routine

If your morning routine has been a bit chaotic in the past or super time-consuming to plan, this is a great goal. You can set a goal to implement a new morning routine, like using morning tubs.

Example SMART Goal: Prep and store a Back to School set of morning work activities for students to complete each day during the first month of school.

Tracking Your Progress

After you’ve completed some goal setting for teachers, you want to track your progress and check-in with yourself frequently in order to achieve your goal.

This is where the Measurable and Time-Based portion of the SMART goals come in. You want to be able to measure your progress and give yourself a deadline for when you’ll accomplish the goal. If you don’t set a deadline, you may fall victim to procrastination and constantly putting your goal on the back burner.

Make sure you write your SMART goal down so you know exactly what it is you want to achieve. You can even write it in a journal so you can take notes, make to-do lists, and track your progress toward your goal.

Another way to ensure you’re moving forward on your goal (and to make it a little more fun) is to get an accountability partner! Maybe your team teacher wants to also implement centers next year. Check-in with each other on how the prepping is going. You can even get together over the summer to print, laminate, and prep.

Is there another teacher in your building that has a great morning routine? Pick their brain over the summer and ask them for their best advice. Tell them the goal you’re working towards. Ask them to hold you accountable by checking in with you once or twice over the summer.

Lastly, you don’t have to be perfect. It is summer, and you shouldn’t be spending every day thinking about your goals for next year or working on school tasks. Give yourself grace, adjust your plans if needed, and keep moving forward.

#2 – Unplug

Nowadays, it’s hard to go a whole day without staring at a screen (inside and outside of the classroom). However, screens can actually cause us a lot of stress with the constant stream of notifications and things asking for our attention.

As a challenge, add a screen-free day to your summer bucket list. Take some time to get outside and enjoy nature. Pick up a new hobby or one you haven’t done in a while. Read a book. Play a board game with your family or friends.

It’s always nice to step away from technology, even if it’s just for a day.

#3 – Get Outside

Speaking of stepping away from the screen, another fun bucket list idea is to get outside. Whether you live near a body of water, a bike path, or simply have a backyard, it’s time to enjoy that summer sun.

Maybe you’ll find a new trail and take a long hike to breathe in the open air. Or perhaps you’ll head to the beach, lake, or neighborhood pool and take a refreshing dip in the water on a hot summer day. Either way, the sun is good for the soul.

Don’t forget to lather up on sunscreen and bring a hearty snack with you on your way!

#4 – Read a New Book (Just For You)

During the school year, you probably read books that you want to share with students or to help you gain more knowledge about teaching.

Now that it’s summer, you can pick up a book just for fun. Adding a book to your summer bucket list is a good way to relax and unwind. If you want to challenge yourself to a thought-provoking nonfiction, go for it! Or you can stick to a quick and light-hearted beach read.

#5 – Catch Up on Sleep

You’ll definitely want to add this to your summer bucket list! It’s time to catch up on those restless nights and take back your mornings. Pick a day (or multiple days!) when you can fall asleep without setting an alarm.

You can also enjoy some mid-day cat naps, especially if you have little ones at one. After a long day out and about, turn down the blinds and enjoy a little respite. Naps are one of those luxuries you don’t get during the school day, so soak them up!

#6 – Discover a New Series and Binge-Watch It

During those rainy or scalding hot summer days, settle into the sofa for a relaxing binge-watch session. This summer bucket list idea is perfect for catching up on a new season or rewatching your favorite series.

Of course, don’t forget to grab a snack, a tasty drink, and some comfy clothes to maximize the experience!

#7 – Make Memories

The days are long and the weather is (mostly) beautiful, which makes summer the perfect time for creating lasting memories. Do things you normally don’t have time for during the school year, like going to a drive-in theater, traveling to see family, testing out a new recipe, and more.

If you’re feeling ambitious, you can also create a family summer bucket list. Ask each family member to come up with a few things they would like to do over the summer. Write them down and check them off one by one.

#8 – Get Creative

As teachers, the school year can be so busy, and often our self-care time gets neglected. However, during the summer, you have the time, energy, and brain space to get creative.  

For example, grab some sidewalk chalk and head outdoors to create an obstacle course for the neighborhood kiddos. Head to the craft store and get items to tie-dye t-shirts or paint rocks. You could even take a class like cooking, art, or woodworking. Challenge yourself to tune into your creative side. Not only is it super relaxing, but you might also just discover new talent.

#9 Prepare for the Upcoming Year

When summer comes to an end, your brain might start thinking about back to school and the new year. While you should still soak up the summer sun while you can, it never hurts to start planning ahead for next year.

You can use moments over the summer to get organized, grab new school supplies, or even print and prep classroom activities. Additionally, you can try out meal prep recipes and even cook and freeze meals to make the first weeks of school a lot smoother.

Grab the Free Summer Bucket List

Want all of these summer bucket list ideas and more? Grab the free summer bucket list for teachers! You can complete these bucket list items alone or grab your teacher bestie and knock it out together.

Summer is the perfect time of year for you to breathe a fresh perspective into your life. Remember, it’s not selfish to take some time for yourself. It’s important to fill your cup before you can fill others. I hope these summer bucket list items help!

Join Teacher Facebook Groups

One of the easiest ways to get in your summer professional development for teachers (and look for year-round ideas) is to join Facebook groups and learn from other teachers out in the field. There are so many Facebook groups out there that focus on different grade levels, subjects, and topics.

You can find groups just for kindergarten teachers, groups about classroom management, and so much more. These groups are full of supportive educators that you can learn from, ask questions, and collaborate with. You can share tips, advice, ideas, brainstorm strategies, and ask questions.

There’s something comforting knowing you’re in a safe space with people that are in the same spot as you. Plus, you can ask people inside these groups about their favorite PD books, online resources, and more.

Read Professional Development Books

Summer is a great time to dive into a great professional development book. Teachers often struggle to find the time to read during the school year, let alone reflect on what they’re reading. During the summer, when your schedule is more relaxed, take some time to read a PD book on a topic you’re most interested in. 

You can align your PD book choices to an area in which you want to grow or improve next year. That may be classroom management, books surrounding a specific skill, or a book about a certain teaching strategy.

A couple of my favorite PD books are A Fresh Look at Phonics by Wiley Blevins and Teach Skills and Break Habits by Dan St. Romain.

Listen to Teacher Podcasts

Another way to get in your summer professional development for teachers is to listen to podcasts. Podcasts are great because you can squeeze them in mid-day. You can turn on a podcast while you go on a walk, garden, fold the laundry, or prep materials for next year.

Just like with PD books, you can find teacher podcasts on a variety of topics, subjects, and grade levels. You can go to your favorite podcast app and search for the topic or grade level that you want to learn about. 

Attend a Virtual or In-Person Conference

Attending a virtual or in-person conference is great summer professional development for teachers that allows you to connect with other educators and collaborate. 

If you want to travel, ask your administrator if there is a budget available for teacher PD. You can even research fun travel abroad or larger PD events and apply for a grant.

You and a teacher colleague can also attend together. It’s always nice to have a buddy to attend with so you can share ideas, go to different breakout sessions, and share what you learned.

If you can’t attend an in-person conference, there are several virtual conferences offered over the summer. Invite a teacher friend or your team over to attend with you. Then, grab a coffee and some snacks, and grow as educators in your comfy clothes together this summer. 

After the conference, you can brainstorm ways in which you can apply what you learned to your teaching, classroom, and school building.

Learn a New Classroom Strategy

One of the greatest summer professional development for teachers is to simply learn something new. During the school year, you’re so busy planning lessons, teaching, analyzing, and working with students. Therefore, it’s challenging to find time to learn something new or dig into PD.

Maybe this is the year you dig into morning tubs, commit to making writing centers more effective, or look for ways to make word work more fun.

If you want to kick-start trying these new strategies, grab the free morning tubs below. You can use these during your first week of school while you practice routines and expectations with students.

When deciding on your summer professional development, think about your goals for the upcoming year and what you are excited to dig into. Align your PD with those goals to truly become an expert and apply what you’ve learned in your classroom next year. 

Reflect

The first step in the end of the year reflection for teachers is to simply look back on the year and notice its ups and downs.

Each school year brings different challenges, twists, and turns. It’s okay to acknowledge that not everything was perfect and there were tough moments. However, you should also acknowledge the positives, big and small. Think about all of the ways that you adapted, changed, and overcame those challenges. 

Whether you take some time to reflect by journaling in the peace and quiet, while out on a walk, or as you pack up your classroom, I encourage you to make some time for reflection. It will help you decompress and leave this school year on a positive note so you can enjoy your summer. 

Overcome

As you are reflecting on those challenging and tough moments of the year, it can be easy to slip into a negative head space. Some of these moments might be difficult to revisit or feel uncomfortable.

However, I encourage you to begin to shift your perspective of the situation. Sometimes we only see how we “failed” or “fell short”, but we forget to acknowledge what we did right or the positive intentions that we had.

For example, you may have had a tough moment with a student where you lost your patience. It would be easy to see this as a failure, but what if you acknowledge how you apologized to that student? Or the great conversation you had with this student later? Or how you maintained your patience during the next tough moment?

Grow

As you begin to examine this year's challenges, you’ll probably also notice your growth! 

Ask yourself: What did you learn through your challenges and tough moments? Did you overcome challenges that you are proud of yourself for? What new strategies and techniques did you learn because of these challenges?

No matter what was thrown at you, I bet you found different ways to teach, motivate, and inspire students. And that is something to be proud of. I encourage you to look for the good that came out of this year’s tough moments.

Connect

You might also notice in your end of the year reflections that connections were essential to your job. Relationships with your students, their parents, administration, and other teachers are important to being the best teacher you can be.

With colleagues and administration.

Think about the connections you’ve made with your colleagues. Who was there for you during the tough moments? Who helped you see the light when things felt overwhelming? Those are the people you want to keep around!

During your end of the year reflection, you can also ask yourself: How did your relationships grow this year? Did you work collaboratively to solve problems, plan lessons, and provide opportunities for students to learn and enjoy school? How did these relationships affect the school morale this year?

With your students and their parents.

Your connections with your students are one of the most powerful ones you have! These connections can help you make strides in learning and help you out when there is a behavior issue.

Of course, the relationships with their parents can also make a big impact, especially with kindergarten students. Having a parents trust and support can impact your year in a really positive way.

During your end of the year reflection, ask yourself: How did you feel about the connections you made with students and their families? Is there anything that worked really well? What do you wish you did more of? How did positive relationships impact your year? Was there a method of communication that was really helpful?

I hope this end of the year reflection inspires you to honor the challenges, celebrate the growth you’ve made, and appreciate the connections you’ve formed. No matter how this year went, you have powerful lessons and experiences to bring to next school year!

What is a Kindergarten Portfolio?

A kindergarten portfolio is an authentic way to assess a student's skills, growth, and progress throughout the year.

A kindergarten portfolio is a collection of student work samples, teacher notes and documentation, and assessments from the year. You can also add photos, art projects, and memories from the year.

What are the Benefits of Using a Kindergarten Portfolio?

Kindergarten portfolios have a ton of great benefits for students, teachers, and parents.

The items included in a kindergarten portfolio give everyone involved in a child's education a snapshot of the strengths, areas of growth, and progress made by the students during the year.

A kindergarten portfolio gives you documentation and examples of your students' skills so you can plan instruction accordingly. They are a great way to document student growth on various skills as well as keep track of skills they need more practice with.

This helps teachers guide instruction, lead parent teacher conferences, and make informed decisions for students. It can also be helpful in forming small groups.

Having a student portfolio helps teachers prepare for parent meetings or other meetings related to student intervention.

It provides visual proof to back up your concerns and areas of growth. A student portfolio is a powerful way to show parents how their child is progressing.

By including students in the process of choosing what work samples and special projects are included in the portfolio, they'll be encouraged to take ownership of their work and feel a sense of pride and motivation to work hard.

How to Make a Student Portfolio

To make a kindergarten student portfolio, have students decorate a plain folder and label it with their name. This will help them feel included in the portfolio and not see it as intimidating.

Have a designated place where you keep work samples and items for the student portfolio. This could be a drawer, basket, etc.

Once a week, file the items into each student's portfolio. Store the portfolios in a filing cabinet or in a basket in your teacher area or closet.

What to Include in a Kindergarten Portfolio?

The great thing about student portfolios is that they are super customizable and you can include a variety of items.

Student Work Samples

Student work samples showing progress on key kindergarten math and literacy skills are important to include.

You can use a no prep math and literacy worksheets to quickly assess or check-in on your students' skills. Once you record the data, the worksheet can go into the portfolio to back up your data and show the student's work.

Writing Samples

Writing skills are important to track progress on in kindergarten. In your kindergarten portfolio, include samples of various types of writing, such as name writing, handwriting, sentence writing, etc.

At the beginning of the year, your students will be working hard on writing their names and letters. By the end of the year, they'll be writing sentences with more detail.

Writing prompts are a great way to see students' writing skills and how far they've come. Save these writing pieces in your students' portfolios to show their writing progress as well as their progress with using writing conventions, vocabulary words, etc.

Math and Literacy Skill Samples

Collect math and literacy skill samples in your kindergarten portfolio to help showcase growth.

You definitely don't have to save every page of work your students complete. Choose one or two worksheet samples for each key skill you want to track.

For math, this may be number writing, counting, patterns, basic addition/subtraction, shapes, etc.

For literacy, it may be letter writing, rhyming, syllables, phoneme segmentation, story sequencing, etc.

Assessments and Progress Monitoring Checklists

Assessments, progress monitoring checklists, and data are also important to include in a portfolio. You may want to group these items with the work samples used to assess or collect the data.

Letter names, beginning sounds, sight words, number recognition, and counting are a few important skills to assess and monitor throughout the year and include in the portfolio.

To help make assessing letter naming fluency easy, you can grab your free copy of this assessment and teacher data tracker by filling out the form below.

Fine Motor Samples

Fine motor skills are key in kindergarten, so it's important to collect samples on these skills.

Have students complete no prep cutting, pasting, and coloring worksheets to use for skill checks and to include in your kindergarten portfolio.

Art Samples and Memories

A student portfolio doesn't have to be all about skills and data. It can also include fun art projects that students are proud of, pictures, and memories from the year.

Your students can help choose their favorite art projects to add to their portfolio, which is a good way to include them in making the student portfolio.

Teacher Notes

Teacher notes are another great item to include in a student portfolio. This could be notes on social emotional skills, behavior, learning styles, positive feedback, or special memories.

If you're ready to implement student portfolios with your students and would like more math and literacy worksheets to include in your portfolios, check out this Grab and Go Math and Literacy Worksheet resource bundle.

You'll be set for collecting math, literacy, and fine motor work samples all year long!

Do you use kindergarten portfolios in your classroom? Tell me in the comments below!

The post How to Make a Student Portfolio for Kindergarten appeared first on The Printable Princess.

https://www.theprintableprincess.com/6-tips-for-planning-for-a-substitute-teacher/ https://www.theprintableprincess.com/6-tips-for-planning-for-a-substitute-teacher/#respond Sat, 27 Aug 2022 13:00:00 +0000 https://www.theprintableprincess.com/?p=86129 Whether you know you're going to be absent or are unexpectedly out from school, planning kindergarten sub plans can be stressful. There's a lot to think about between class information, easy prep activities, time fillers, and more. These tips for prepping for a sub will make your life and your sub's life easier whenever you're...

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Whether you know you're going to be absent or are unexpectedly out from school, planning kindergarten sub plans can be stressful. There's a lot to think about between class information, easy prep activities, time fillers, and more. These tips for prepping for a sub will make your life and your sub's life easier whenever you're out.

Tips for Planning Kindergarten Sub Plans

You never know when you'll have to be absent from school, whether it's a stomach bug, an appointment, or a family emergency. Therefore, it's best to always be prepared for a sub.

Some schools require teachers to have backup lesson plans and some don't, but it's better to have your sub plans ready for any time you're in a pinch.

Having backup kindergarten sub plans makes life easier when you're planning to be out, are gone half a day, or even on the days where you just don't feel great.

Tip #1: Have a folder with all important class information.

It's important to provide subs with all the important class and school information they'll need (or could need).

This Includes:

• Class list
• Class schedule
• School map
• School staff contact list
• Emergency folder with evacuation procedures
• List of allergies, medications, and medical issues of your students
• Transportation list for bus riders, car riders, kids that walk home with siblings, etc
• List of where to find important items
• Class rules and procedures
• List of specials teachers and teacher's aides and/or paras you work with
• Technology instructions, procedures, and passwords
• Any other notes, such as helpful students or students who may need extra guidance

Be sure to revisit and update this information throughout the year so subs always have the most current and accurate information. It's especially important if students change the way they go home and/or you get new students.

After you compile this information into a sub folder, tell someone, such as a teacher on your grade level team or a neighbor teacher where to find the folder in case you're out unexpectedly.

You can also give them a backup copy or provide your school secretary with a backup copy.

Tip #2: Create a set of lesson plans that a sub can use in a pinch.

Creating a set of kindergarten sub plans that a guest teacher can use in a pinch will ensure your bases are always covered.

Plan and prepare 3-5 days worth of basic, low to no-prep activities for each subject to get them through the days in case you have to be out for more than one day unexpectedly.

You may want to tweak the activities you include monthly or quarterly to match the skills you're working on.

Make copies of the activities ahead of time so you're always prepared. You can even prep them at the beginning of the year. If you don't use them all, you can use them as a review later on or for next year's sub plans.

Tip #3: Be detailed in your lesson plans.

The more detail you can give in your kindergarten sub plans, the better.

Think of any possible situation or question a sub may have, such as:

• Where do I find manipulatives?
• Do students stay in their seast or move around?
• Where do I put the completed work?

Include that information in your lesson plans. Always give options for what students can do if they finish early. Activity mats and games they can play are great to include.

If you follow a curriculum and there are parts of the lesson you skip or tweak, let them know in your notes.

Tip #4: Create a sub tub to place everything in.

Place everything your sub will need in a large tub or crate, including your 3-5 day set of lesson plans, your folder of important information, and any materials/activities they need for the lesson plans.

Having it all in one place will keep you (and them!) organized. If they will need additional supplies that don't fit in the crate, leave a sticky note telling them where to find them in the classroom.

You can also leave time fillers, such as read aloud books, brain break ideas, and quick time filler games to pass the time if needed.

Leave one day's worth of lesson plans and activities in a smaller sub tub and the subsequent days in a separate tub. These tubs can stack inside the larger crate.

Ask a neighbor teacher to set each day's lesson plans and activities out so your sub doesn't get confused. This is especially helpful if you have a different sub each day.

Do this in return for your teacher friends. Teachers always have to have each other's backs!

Tip #5: Include a classroom management tracker.

Classroom management is one of the most nerve-wracking parts of having a sub. It's natural to wonder if your students will behave, follow directions, and respect the guest teacher.

The key is to keep your behavior management plan consistent by including a classroom management tracker for your sub to use with your students.

This tracker should state what the class reward is that the students are working towards. Maybe they are working towards earning 5 stickers as a whole group in order to get 5 extra minutes of recess when you return.

This is a great way for the sub to keep track of their behavior and leave feedback.

Tip #6: Ask the sub to leave feedback.

When you're absent, you're likely thinking about how your students are doing and wondering how the day is going.

In order to stay in the loop, ask your sub to leave a note about how the day went and if they got through all of the activities and lessons you had planned.

This will help you praise your students and have conversations with those that may have needed extra reminders. It also lets you know what activities they did and didn't get through.

Emergency Kindergarten Sub Plans

If you're looking for easy prep kindergarten sub plans for the year so that you're always prepared for the unexpected, check out this Plans in a Pinch bundle.

This year-long resource has everything you need for your emergency sub plans (or anytime you're in a pinch).

This sub plan resource features:

• Binder covers and storage labels
• Editable sub forms, such as class lists, schedules, procedures, and dismissal routines
• A classroom management tracker
• Literacy, math, and writing worksheets
• Science and social studies activities
• No prep math and literacy activity mats
• Time filler games and activities with optional follow-up pages
• Teacher-led Listen and Color activities

No more stressing over lesson plans or throwing activities together when you don't feel good. With these tips and kindergarten sub plans, you'll be covered all year long.

Do you have a helpful tip for preparing for a sub? Comment below or come share it in our Kindergarten Teacher Facebook Group.

How to Store Kindergarten Morning Tubs for the Teacher

There are several different options for storing kindergarten morning tubs, based on your classroom setup and organizational style.

Before you worry about how to store your morning tubs, the first thing you'll want to do is print your morning tub activities on cardstock, laminate them for durability, and cut them apart. You can print additional copies if needed. Once the activities are prepped, next comes storing them.

When storing them away in your classroom, make sure you keep every component of the activity together, except for the manipulatives. You'll add those later when you get the tubs ready for student use. Keeping the activity, teacher directions, and I Can card together will save you time trying to piece things together later.

Teacher Storage Option 1:

The first option for storing kindergarten morning tub activities in the classroom is to store them in a filing cabinet or plastic file box with colored hanging folders. Inside the hanging folders, you can keep each individual activity in tabbed file folders, allowing you to easily find what you need.

If using a plastic file box, you can store several months of morning tubs together to create “seasonal kits”. Simply use a different color hanging folder for each month.

For example, your “Fall Morning Tub Kit” would have the months of August/September, October, and November inside. August/September could be stored in yellow hanging folders, October in orange, and November in red.

Then, inside each month's colored hanging folders, you can organize the activities in individual file folders by skill. Write the activity name or skill on the tab so you know exactly what's inside.

Teacher Storage Option 2:

Another way to store your morning tubs in the classroom is in colored plastic envelopes or gallon-sized zip-top bags.

Simply place each activity for the month in individual plastic envelopes or zip-top bags and store them in large plastic containers labeled for each month. This is a great option because the envelopes and bags stack easily. Depending on what size plastic containers you're using, you could also create seasonal kits with these.

By having a container for your kindergarten morning tubs, you are able to store them in a closet, corner, or on a bookshelf when you are not using them. No matter which option you choose, you'll want to make sure you can easily access the activities you need when you need them.

Getting Your Morning Tubs Ready for Students

When it's time to use the morning tub activities, you most likely want to transfer them into containers or trays (aka “morning tubs”) for your students.

Below, you'll find two kindergarten-friendly options for organizing tubs for your students. Whichever container you decide to use, pick one that allows you to keep everything the students will need – from the activity mat to the manipulatives.

Once the activities are in the student containers, place them in a designated area like a counter or shelf so your students know where to find them.

How to Organize Kindergarten Morning Tubs for the Students

While it's important for you to have a solid storage system for yourself as the teacher, it's also important to keep your morning tub activities organized in a way that is easily accessible for your students to grab and go each day.

Keep all the materials and manipulatives they’ll need as well as the I Can cards with each corresponding activity.

This ensures students have everything they need to be successful and don’t have to roam around the room looking for supplies or directions.

Student Organization Option 1:

One way to organize kindergarten morning tubs for the students is to place the individual activities in mesh zipper pouches. This allows the students to see what's inside.

If you have several small manipulatives, such as mini erasers or plastic math cubes, you can store them in small plastic containers.

The great thing about these mesh pouches is that they are super durable and everything, including the activity, I Can card, and the small container of manipulatives fits inside. Plus with a zipped pouch, nothing can fall out or get lost!

Student Organization Option 2:

You can also organize your morning tub activities in colored trays or baskets.

For this system, you'll want to place the activity at the bottom of the colored tray/basket along with the I Can card. Then, place the supplies and manipulatives on top.

If there are several pieces, such as mini erasers or plastic cubes, you can place them in a smaller container and add that inside the colored tray/basket as well.

Students can easily grab their tray/basket and take it to their seats with everything they need.

Student Organization Tips

Regardless of which student organization option you choose, be sure to teach students the procedure for getting their morning tubs and putting them away.

Using different color trays, baskets, or mesh pouch zippers act as an instant management system. Simply display or tell your students what color activity they are working on that morning.

You can absolutely let students choose their own activities, but using a color system helps ensure that each child gets the opportunity to do each morning tub activity.

Once you're no longer using some of the kindergarten morning tubs, you can add them to your early finisher or free choice activities (especially if it was a class favorite).

This gives students an extra chance to work with them. Plus it gives those students who arrive late or are absent an opportunity as well.

If you'd like to get all of your morning tubs for the entire year done for you, click here to grab your year-long bundle of kindergarten morning tub activities. Each month comes complete with fun, seasonal themes.

I hope these tips help take the stress out of storing and organizing your kindergarten morning tubs. For more tips on how to get started using morning tubs in your classroom, check out this blog post!

How do you store and organize your morning tubs? Snap a picture and share it with me via email at melissa@theprintableprincess.com. You can also share it with our kindergarten teacher community. I know other teachers would love to see your ideas!

What are Kindergarten Morning Tubs?

As a kindergarten teacher, mornings can be hectic. There’s the hustle and bustle of students putting away their belongings, getting in the classroom, and settling in at their seat.

Some students may not be awake just yet, while others are so excited to see their friends. They all need a little time to shift gears and get ready to learn.

Oftentimes, students aren’t ready for direct instruction or quiet paper and pencil work right off the bat. They need a transitional activity to get their brains warmed up for the day.

In addition, between submitting attendance, taking lunch count, and other morning responsibilities, teachers also need a few moments before class begins.

But students can't just sit there, so that's where kindergarten morning tubs come into play. Kindergarten morning tubs can change your hectic morning routine by providing a consistent and predictable routine for students.

Kindergarten morning tubs are an alternative to traditional paper and pencil morning work. They are hands-on activities that provide students with a soft start so they can easily transition into “school mode” and get ready for the day.

Morning tub activities can be as simple as free exploration with manipulatives, or they can be skill-based activities that provide a review of skills being taught in class.

Plus, no worksheets means less copies to make and less paperwork to grade, and what teacher doesn't love that, right?!

Just like adults, kids thrive with structure, and morning tubs provide that right from the start of the day. Read on to learn a few more benefits of kindergarten morning tubs!

Benefits of Kindergarten Morning Tubs

Open-ended play.

Much of the school day involves following directions and performing tasks in a particular way.

Working with morning tubs gives students the much-needed freedom to play and explore on their own. This helps them gain independence without the stress of an expected result.

Morning tubs do not include recording sheets, so there's no pressure to write. With morning tubs, it's easy to disguise games and “fun stuff” as learning. 

Active learning.

In any learning environment, there has to be a balance between passive and active learning. It's true that being able to focus, listening carefully, and following directions are important. But equally important is time for hands-on, active learning. 

Morning tubs allow students to create, imagine, and experiment on their own. You can tailor them to your students' needs, interests, and even the seasons or holidays.

Extra fine motor practice.

Since kindergarten morning tubs are more hands-on than traditional pencil and paper work, it's easy to sneak in extra fine motor practice.

By adding play dough, tweezers, or clothespins to activities, students can strengthen their hand muscles, which is critical in the early years.

Build social skills. 

When students are allowed to work on morning tubs with partners or in small groups, they develop important social skills.

As students engage in educational games and cooperative play, they talk, collaborate, and build relationships with their peers.

They listen to each other's ideas and learn to compromise. These are all essential building blocks of teamwork. 

Enhance academic skills. 

It's easy to stock your morning tubs with relevant learning materials and use them as a way to review skills covered in class.

Incorporate math manipulatives such as blocks, math cubes, foam shapes, and mini erasers. These help students master concepts like counting, patterns, and simple addition and subtraction.

Magnetic letters, beads, and tiles along with various writing materials support literacy skills. 

They make learning fun!

The most important thing we can teach our young students is to love learning. Fun activities that are engaging and challenging, like morning tubs, are the best way to help kids build positive attitudes about school and learning. 

How to Get Started with Kindergarten Morning Tubs?

Now that you know the benefits of kindergarten morning tubs, it's time to talk about how to actually get started with them in your classroom!

One of the challenges of morning tubs is constantly coming up with new activities that review skills and hold students' attention. You can only do so many puzzles, blocks, and lacing activities before kids get bored.

To help overcome this challenge, I've created a year-long kindergarten morning tubs resource to take the stress out of planning and coming up with morning tub activities.

Teach routines and procedures.

Once you have your kindergarten morning tubs prepped and ready to go, the first step is to explicitly teach routines and procedures to your students.

They need to learn where to find their morning tubs, how to get them to their seat, what materials they'll need, how to use them, how to clean them up, and how to put them away responsibly.

For the first several weeks (or months) of school, you'll need to teach, practice, and model these routines and procedures.

Introduce new activities one at a time.

The next tip for getting started with morning tubs is to introduce new activities one at a time. Don't make the mistake of putting all of your morning tub activities for the entire month out there at once.

Students need to learn how to use each style of activity and practice before moving on to another. This will reduce the overwhelm on their part and the chaos altogether.

Give students the opportunity to practice and work with materials.

While using math cubes, play dough, and magnetic letters may seem simple to you, it may not be for your new students.

They need to have multiple opportunities to practice the morning tub activities and work with the materials and manipulatives.

After introducing a new activity, allow each student to practice using it before moving on.

Explicitly practice cleaning up and organizing.

I mentioned it above, but cleaning up and organizing is so important that it deserves its own tip.

No one thrives in a messy, unorganized space. Therefore, it's important to teach and practice cleaning up and organizing the morning tubs.

Students need to learn how to responsibly put away their materials and store them. This also helps them practice stopping on time and transitioning in a timely manner.

For tips and ideas on how to store and organize morning tubs in your classroom, check out this blog post.

Back to School Kindergarten Morning Tubs

Introducing morning tubs early in the year is a great way to create that consistent morning routine from the early days of school.

The back to school set of morning tubs are a great way for students to ease into the school routine, explore, and show what they know.

These activities were designed to be simple enough that they can be completed independently, even during the first few weeks of kindergarten. 

Along with fine motor play dough mats, color practice, number and letter sorts, an editable sight word activity, and editable name activities, there are a ton of simple activities to introduce letters and numbers. 

Want to make planning REALLY easy? You can grab your morning tubs for the entire year with the bundle.

Free Kindergarten Morning Tub Activities

Take your mornings from chaotic to crazy with these free morning tub activities. With eight math and literacy activities, kindergarten students will be engaged and reviewing content every morning, while improving fine motor skills and working independently.

Morning tubs are the perfect way to ease your students into the school day, so they are warmed up and ready to learn once class begins.

Grab the free morning tub activities below to give it a try inside your kindergarten classroom.

For more kindergarten morning tub ideas, check out this blog post.

What does your morning routine look like? I'd love to know in the comments.