Back to School Paperwork - Seven Things I Tackled Lately

When this post goes live, we will currently be having our first day of school. I hope it's going well.  

For today's post I wanted to give you my list of all the Back to School paperwork that has filled the last days.  I'm ready for the paperwork to be over.... Ha! I know it's just getting started for this year.

Class Word Search:

I want to start with actually the last thing I created, probably the only fun thing I was able to do...  I wanted to do something fun for the kids, but would also be helpful for me as a time filler, as I learn more about the speed that students complete different tasks.  

It was so easy to do!  Once you have your list of names, head over to  a Word Search Generator to add them into a list.  I like this one. For my 32 kids to fit, I have it set for 20 letters x 20 letters. I copy/paste my class list (first names only) into the website, and it spits out a word search for my kids to find that first week of school. The square is pretty small if I were to print directly from the webpage, so I take a screenshot of it, add the image to a powerpoint to enlarge it, and then add our class list of names to the bottom of the page. Fifth graders seem to always love a word search, especially when it's their names they are finding.  :)  

Okay, now all the other paperwork... 

Updating the Welcome Packet: 

My grade level works together to create our plan.  We do that so that we are all on the same page, and also so that we can refer to it as "Fifth Grade Policies" when chatting with parents.  We have different sections in the 3 pages.

-Greeting and sharing a little about who I am

-All the ways we communicate (Email, School Phone Number, Class Dojo, School Website, Microsoft Teams)

-Supplies (Donation $, need for an agenda, Wish List)

-Behavior (Rules, Class Motto, Class Dojo, Rewards, Consequences)

-Grades (Grading Policy, Grading Scale, Homework, Reminders)

Parent Survey (online):

Way back when, I used to send out a paper sheet that parents filled out.  Then we switched to a free online survey website (this year Survey Planet) that has made it super simple for parents to fill it out from their phones.  Here are the questions that we ask:

-Child's Name

-Parent Name(s)

-Best email for communication (Our student portal has a ton of other resources already, so I just try to narrow down on which one is the best.)

-Share something about your child - strengths, challenges, health related, etc. 

-Acknowledgement on reading the welcome packet and agreeing to what is listed.

-Movie Permission for those PG videos we watch, listing the specific ones.

Short, sweet, and to the point.

Class Lists and Grade Sheets:

When the list is finally finalized, I take their information and create a table over in Word with my checklists. I have 32 students, so I make it with 34 rows x 9 columns.  First column is for student numbers 1-32, second column is for student names, and the rest I leave blank and easily spaced for our weekly information.  I love having a template on my computer, rather than in a grade book. It's easy to just print a few copies, and alter it when kids move, and new kids come.  I use one page per week, and jot the week # on the top (in pencil/pen). Then my goal is to have at least 1 score per subject per week.  Those can be handwritten in the 7 blank columns. It makes it easy for me to then upload it to the online grading portal which parents then view.  

Looking at Student Information on the Portal:

Before the kids come, and definitely before I make a seating chart, I go through the student information and gather some information. Here's what I'm looking at:  

-Birthday

-Medical Information (Inhalers, epi-pens, who is supposed to be wearing glasses, etc...)

-RSP/Speech/504

-EL level to know if have a pull out class

We don't have any past testing for this group of kids, so in many ways I'm flying blind into this next year.  But the information I do have does help to give me a heads up to setting up a seating chart. 

Initial Welcome Email:

Sending out that initial parent welcome letter is a huge deal.  It's like the bandaid is pulled off, and all the kids know that I'm their teacher. I tend to always include the same information.

-Welcome

-First Day Reminders (Where to line up and when the gates open.)

-Heads up about Supply $ and Agendas

-Link to our Welcome Packet

-Link to our Class Padlet

-Link to our Class Dojo account

My goal isn't to have an entire Back to School night presentation in that email, just what they need to know for the first day, and resources that I need them to do as soon as possible.

Creating the Email Distribution List:

We have a teacher portal that we can view all email addresses connected to our class. It has a way to automatically send a message to all emails on our class list.  However, every year we learn that some of those emails are not the best to contact families.  That's why I ask for families to send in their best contact, and I copy/paste those emails into a group distribution list.  This past weekend it is what I've been working on.  Parents are filling out my survey, and I'm grabbing those emails to add to the list and adding to Class Dojo to send invites.  Not a fun task at all... 

Can anyone commiserate with me? Mental effort on top of physical effort to start the school year.  But at least when it's set up, it's good for the year. 

Hope this helps! I'll let you know how the first day went.