Summer always goes by in a flash: Memorial Day, Father’s Day, Independence Day. The weeks speed past until you’re slammed with the mixed nerves and excitement of a new school year once again. The best way to smoothly transition into the new school year is to get organized and to have a plan. If you’re only prepared for the first day, you’ll constantly be playing “catch up” with your schedule; if you only have a plan for the whole year, you won’t feel equipped for the day-to-day. Take time to plan for each part of the school year so that you can start out strong.

Preparing for the First Semester

Start with the big picture: How can you prepare for the first semester? Think through your classroom, teaching materials, and management plan.

1. Classroom

What will the layout of your classroom be? Will you have tables or desks? How do you want them arranged? What type of technology will you have? If you’ve worked at your school for several years, you likely already know the answers to these questions. If this is your first year or if the school has undergone changes, you might need to find some answers. Once you have them, decide if you need any additional furniture, supplies, or décor to make your classroom a welcoming and functional environment.

2. Teaching materials

Does your school provide an established curriculum, or are you expected to provide supplementary materials? What types of visuals or tools do you need to make lessons engaging and understandable? The summer months are an excellent time to organize and add to your inventory of teaching visuals.

3. Management plan

Your management plan involves routines, procedures, behavioral expectations, and disciplinary steps when expectations aren’t met. Having a management plan is crucial to your success. Your students need to know your expectations, and they need to know that you will enforce them. Having a management plan ensures that you treat students fairly by enforcing the same expectations in the same way for everyone.

4. Filing

Your school likely has a policy for how long quizzes, tests, and projects are to be stored before they can be discarded. If anything has “timed out,” get it shredded or burned. Out with the old, and in with the new! In its place, store your newly collated tests and quizzes. Having at least the first month’s stack ready to go is such a good morale booster, and maybe you can even talk your fellow teachers into joining a “collating party” (coffee or tea, cookies, and prep). And a pro tip? Don’t forget bandages for little paper cuts. Despite a little discomfort, you’re more likely to get the entire school term’s stack ready to go if you have good company and a filing system.

Preparing for the First Month

Once you’re done with the big picture of the semester, focus on the first month, thinking of your gradebook, lesson plans, and student papers.

1. Gradebook

Is your gradebook physical or digital? Does the school provide it, or do you have to get your own? Are there particular procedures in place for you to follow? In addition to preparing your gradebook, you can ensure that your classroom is ready to receive students’ work. Where will they put completed assignments? How will you return graded papers? It’s important to nail these things down before the first month of school.

2. Lesson Plans

Even if your school provides you with an established curriculum containing daily lesson plans ,you still need to look ahead so that you’ll know what to expect. You might need to add notes to the lesson plans or create your own layout that works better for you. If you need to create lesson plans from scratch, it’s imperative that you work ahead so that you can make your lessons cohesive throughout the school year.

3. Student Papers

How many papers will your students be writing? Do you need to assign a topic list to them? What additional tips can you give them during writing instruction? Do you need to create rubrics for their writing assignments?

Preparing for the First Week

After your big picture plans and first month materials are ready to go, fix your attention on the first week with your seating chart, lesson plans, and daily schedule.

1. Seating Chart

What is the best arrangement to promote students’ focus? Are there any students that you know should not sit together? Do you have any students with physical limitations that require special seating? Also think about the room’s exits in case of an emergency.

2. Lesson Plans

Although you’ve already looked through your lesson plans, now is the time to get really in-depth with the first week’s plans. Write down extra questions and reminders. Plan review activities. You can also start integrating your lesson plans with your daily schedule.

3. Daily Schedule

As you look over (or create) your daily schedule, think about how you’ll transition smoothly from one activity or location to the next. Depending on the ages of your students, you might want to start thinking of different classroom jobs that students can do, such as line leaders, paper collectors, and so on.

Preparing for the First Day

As you wrap up your preparation, intentionally plan out the first day with its content, procedures, and potential roadblocks.

1. Content

Think through your explanations for new content, especially if it’s a topic that usually confuses students. How can you connect the new information to what they’ve learned in the previous grade level?

2. Procedures

Think through your explanations of classroom procedures. You don’t want to speed through these—you’ll need adequate time to explain, model, and then practice the routines that will make class run smoothly for the rest of the year.

3. Potential Roadblocks

Expect the unexpected. Think through how you’ll handle medical emergencies, frightened students (in the lower grades), general rowdiness, and boredom or discontentment. What will you do if a student is openly disrespectful? How will you react if students treat each other unkindly? This is where your classroom management plan comes into play. Know it well, and be ready to use it.

Preparation requires thorough planning. Thinking systematically through your first semester, first month, first week, and first day will give you a strong start to the new school year.