Surviving Spring to Welcome Summer {Blog Hop, Freebie, and Giveaway}

23 more days of school for the kids!!!  21 for me if I count the 1 day math training I have to go to on May 20th and the day off on May 9th to attend my son's preschool Mother's Day tea.  I know it's going to fly, and I'm feeling pretty confident that somehow I'm going to end this year not stressed out.  I still am trying to wrap my head around the fact that my 14th year of teaching is almost over, where has the time flown? 

Today my BBB's decided to come together and give you our tips to making it through the end of the school year.  My tip that I wanted to share with you is to prep as much as possible for next year before summer comes.  We all want to enjoy our summers - and we all know that we will have a million and one things to do before that final bell rings.  Before I leave for vacation I have a bunch of stuff to clean out, copy for next year, money to spend, and supplies to purchase in hopes of leaving with my Back to School to do list started.   

Making lists work.  I know you know that.  I also know that for me I tend to make a list, forget which pile of end of the year paperwork I stuck it into, and then have to make up a new list.  This year I wanted to stop that cycle and make some lists that I can save for the future.  

When I first started teaching I changed up what I was doing every single year - so I totally understand if you don't have that option to prep for next year at this point in time.  You might want to upgrade from the post it notes and pieces of binder paper that are lining your desk for the end of the year, so I wanted to share this freebie with you.  I took 5 pages from my new pack Organizing Chaos: End of Year Teacher Organizer and have uploaded it over at Google Docs.      

Another tip that I wanted to share was to take pictures of what you have accomplished before you are locked out of your classroom for the summer.  We have to turn in our classroom keys on the last day of school and then we aren't allowed in there until August.  It's been a good and bad thing.... good that I am forced to "relax" and bad that I sometimes forget what I have already done.  These lists and a photo album on my phone help me keep track of what I've already purchased and prepped.  (For example what exactly did I put in that rolling cart or what did I already buy for the pencil boxes??)  

I really hope this helps you.  It is possible to end the year organized!

*Want to win a copy for yourself?  Just pin the full product and leave the pin in the comments, along with your email address.  I'll choose 3 random winners on Sunday night to send it to.    

Here's the Rafflecopter - it's the same on all our screen, but you do have to enter the "secret code word" from above into the rafflecopter next to my name.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Next up you are heading to Sweet Rhyme - Pure Reason!  

I hope you have a wonderful day!  Linking this up with Head Over Heels for Teaching's Saturday Motivation!