Back to School: I ALWAYS Do This!!!

I love how things have changed over the course of my career with the addition of social media.  That girl (my first, second, third, fourth, fifth years of teaching) - all alone, teaching a single grade level without a team... would have LOVED social media to bounce ideas off of.  Switching grade levels would have been a little easier.  With the addition of TPT, life in the classroom has become so much simpler.  There is something there for almost everything I need, and if there isn't, then I have learned that I am capable of creating something myself.  

That all being said, I wanted to take a moment with an end of summer reminder of something you should put on your to do list before you head back to the chaos of setting up a classroom.   

Log onto your TPT account, slide into your purchases, and give feedback to all those products that you have used.  You earn points every time you review a paid product.  Those points can add up to a lot of free materials... now is the time to review so you are ready to go for that Back to School TPT sale (it's usually always the beginning of August).  As you can see, I'm not just preaching to the choir - I have a ton to review as well.  

Then change the sort by to Recently Updated and download all the updated materials.  Under each item in your purchases that has been updated you will see that red writing.  I'm so glad that TPT has added that Description of Update - it makes it easy to see what's new.   

Last, if your teaching buddy would love a copy of something you have used, maybe gift her/him an additional license.  

As for everything else that will have to happen in the classroom - here's my to do list that I follow pretty much every year.  I start it at the end of the school year to get my list together, and then add to it when I'm locked out of the classroom waiting for my keys.  It has lists and pages to fill in, PLUS it's a freebie.  Hope it helps someone!