Sweet School Year

Today I decided to work in my classroom to finish some things up.  I am almost done, except for some small details and decorations!!  Between staff meetings and scheduling, I couldn't get too much done during the workdays.  As a resource room teacher, one of the hardest and most stressful things at the beginning of the school year is scheduling.  I work with grades K-3 and I try to group my students by ability, not grade level.  It's a challenge to figure out times to pull students without interfering with block (music, art, PE), recess, lunch, guided reading, and math.  To pull this task off, I usually put my students' names (by group) on sticky notes.  Then I look at all the times that I can't pull students from each grade level.  Then I write possible times that I can pull them out (by grade level).  Then I just go from there playing around with times that will work.  I worked on my schedule for a few hours and I think it is finally going to work!  AND I was able to schedule myself a lunch and a planning again this year, so that's a plus!!  Any tips on scheduling will be greatly appreciated!!  Comment and let me know how you normally make your schedule if you are a resource teacher, speech therapist, or any other area that pulls students out of class. :)  Wish me luck that it still works out when the students come this week!! 

While I was working on my room I finished up my gifts for my kiddos.  Aren't they adorable?

    

Here's a closer look:

I used the quart sized plastic baggies and some skittles (you can use any sweet candy).  Then I just stapled the topper on the top of the baggie.  The back of the topper is blank, so I wrote a little note to each of my kids welcoming them back and telling them how excited I am to be working with them.  You can download the baggy toppers here.

There's also a cute pink and green theme too included in the download.  I have mostly boys, so I decided to go with this one above.  While you're there, become a follower so you can quickly see when more freebies come up. :)

Good luck everyone and welcome to a sweet school year!