Much Too Much To Do....

Fern Smith's Classroom Ideas Resources for Teachers at the End of the School Year on TeachersPayTeachers.

Stress? What Strrrrrreeeesssss?!

I want to tell you a quick story, and you might think it is a work of fiction, but every word of it is true..... when I first started teaching in 1989, teachers were given four to five days AFTER the students' last day to pack up their classroom, do their cum folders, close out their IEPs, book and furniture inventory, report cards, plan together for summer school or next year, group students by classes for the following year ....

SERIOUSLY, nothing was removed from the walls UNTIL THE STUDENTS LEFT.... imagine that, you didn't have to pack up and possibly move your classroom while school was still in session, you didn't have to do report cards two weeks before the last day, you didn't have to close out all your student files a month in advance ..... I know, CRAZY right?! We actually were able to TEACH until the end of the school year, throw a party and then hug & kiss them good bye on the last day!

If your school district is like my last one, everything has to be done before the last day of school because you have to turn your keys in and administrators have to do a walk of your room and your paperwork needs to be turned in and and and and and...the list goes on. It is not your admins' fault, it is the school board that thinks, "Let the teachers work on their own time, during nights and weekends, to do all those tasks. Teachers don't need PAID days after school is over...." Sadly, free labor, is free labor and usually it is the students that suffer the most. As a mom, this trend saddens me, but as a teacher, it is real life and things need to get finished during student contact hours.

I really enjoy creating resources that are engaging, yet still fun for a primary student. Lately, I've created many Color Your Answers with a Spring and a Summer theme. Depending on your grade level and your students' abilities, you can give them a page a day or bind them into a mini-book that they can complete individually as they have extra time. These color by code style pages are excellent at keeping your students engaged more than putting another video on to watch. There is nothing better than having your principal walk in and everyone is reviewing math until the very end! I hope these resources give you some time to get all your end of the year chores finished in time.