The Ultimate Back-to-School Checklist for Teachers

It’s hard to believe that it’s already time for yet another school year! Time sure flies! However, this year is special, as kids will be back in the classroom after spending a year studying online. We’re sure everyone is excited and anxious for this new beginning, although teachers might feel like they’re under the gun. So many things to organize and get ready before kids are back in their chairs. How to regulate everything in time? Easy! Follow our ultimate back-to-school checklist for teachers to ensure everything goes smoothly!

Of course, we’re not trying to underestimate the pressure and stress of having to adjust yet again to a completely new environment (in-person teaching with strict COVID regulations), because we know that just the thought of teaching face-to-face five times a week is intimidating enough. Instead, with this article, we want to offer our support by creating a comprehensive checklist that you can trust to get you through September. 

Every decision you need to make before the first bell rings will be listed right here, so keep reading to make sure you stay on top of everything. 

Back-to-School Checklist for Teachers

There’s a lot of work to be done before students arrive, but if you’re reading this article, it means you’ve decided to start early and that’s the first step to successful classroom management. The second step is to go through the back to school checklist for teachers we’ve put together.

The first four activities focus on preparations that involve the students and their parents. These are the decisions that you need to finish well before September, to make sure everyone is informed on time and ready. On the other hand, the fifth and sixth activities will help you feel organized and in control, making sure things run smoothly once the year starts!

Revise the Curriculum and Plan Ahead

Before you start planning anything else, you need to decide on the curriculum for the year and plan out field trips, special activities, or anything else that might need to be communicated with the parents right from the start. Besides, knowing which units you’re going to cover throughout the year, or at least the first three months (in great detail) will help you a lot when setting up the classroom environment and organizing classroom materials. 

Making a Welcome Letter (or Video)

Once you decide on the curriculum and make a detailed plan for at least the first three months, it’s time to write a welcome letter that will contain important information for parents and students, including school supplies, online academic platforms (if applicable), and rules and regulations for the upcoming year. 

Ask yourself what information you need to share before the year starts? Here are some suggestions that might help you out:

• Transportation schedule;
• School hours;
• Class schedule;
• Brief overview of the curriculum; 
• Textbooks and other educational materials; 
• School supplies (ruler, compass, drawing blocks, type of notebooks, etc);
• School uniforms (if applicable) or a dress code; 
• Your contact information and online community (phone, email, FB groups, etc). 

Academic Platforms

We’ve said in the beginning that this is a year when teaching will be face to face, but you shouldn’t disregard online platforms altogether. In fact, most teachers used online academic platforms even before the pandemic. On these platforms, you can upload homework assignments, post quizzes, share notifications, open group discussions, see progress, and send automatic reports to parents.

There’s no reason for you to shy away from these benefits even in a fully face-to-face program. However, it’s totally up to you. In case you agree with us, here are some suggestions on  some of the most popular academic platforms:

• Google Classroom;
• Moodle;
• Buncee;
• EdModo;
• LearnCube;
• ClassMax.

Rules and Regulations

Finally the last, but not least aspect of the welcome letter needs to contain information about the rules and regulations for the upcoming year. This includes, but is not limited to hygiene protocols, vaccination or test protocols, sanitizing materials, wearing masks, distancing rules, procedures for working with school materials, sharing protocols, disinfecting rules, eating in the classroom, etc. 

Parents’ Contact Information

The welcome letter is an excellent way to make parents and students feel prepared, but what will make you feel prepared? 

Call the parents to confirm their contact information including their address, email address, and social media (if using online platforms, Facebook groups, or other online communities). This is very important as there might be changes that you need to know. 

Alternatively, if you’re starting a new class, call the parents to introduce yourself and gather information. This also brings us to the next step. 

Prepare the “Meet The Teacher” Paperwork

At the beginning of the year, parents come to meet the teacher and complete the standard paperwork. However, in addition to the paperwork provided by the school, you can prepare some questionnaires that will help you get to know the students better. A good example of such a questionnaire would be one that gathers information about medical history, learning difficulties, weaknesses, strengths, interests, diet, allergies, and other relevant information. 

Information about the students’ medical past (specific impairments, diagnoses), allergies, and diet particularities are absolutely vital for all teachers!  

Preparing the Classroom

Now we’ve come to a point where you have organized the curriculum, prepared the informational materials, and the beginning-of-the-year paperwork. The next step is focused on the classroom. 

The classroom is a key element for a productive year, and if you want to set a positive atmosphere where students thrive, you need to think of the physical layout.

• Check if everything works or there’s something that needs to be repaired before the school year starts. 
• Label all the stuff to make it extra easy for you and the students.
• Update all the posters, images, or other infographics with new ones. 
• Determine your desk and students’ seating arrangement. 
• Re-organize workshop stations and make sure you have all the essential materials. 
• Organize the classroom library and add new books. 
• Hand the students’ schedule and break time at the entrance. 
• Organize your desk and files. 
• Set up your grade book. 

Keeping up a Planner

Let’s get down to the details. Set aside your planner, grade book, notebook, progress tracker, or other organizers you have, and make sure they’re clean and set up to date for the new year. A good practice is to keep a planner with a checklist, just like this article, if you want everything to be efficient and well-organized. However, the planner should also include details regarding your teaching resources and materials that you or the school need to buy, aside from the things you need to do. 

The academic resources section is nothing more or less than a list of websites, platforms, or other sources you use to find academic materials, lesson plans, worksheets, or quizzes. For instance, you can add KidsKonnect as your go-to resource whenever you want to include interactive worksheets as part of your lesson. 

The things-to-buy section should include the things you need to organize the lectures as you’ve envisioned them. The list can include but is not limited to books, projector, movies, art supplies, budget for field trips, tickets for visiting a museum, technological gadgets, etc.  

The things-to-do section is quite clear and here you list down the things that you still need to do before the year starts. Make sure to add deadlines after each action on the list to stay organized. 

Team Building Activities for New Students

Finally, once the organizational matters are more or less done, you can start to make a list of team-building activities for students on their first day of school as a way to break the ice. However, we recommend thinking of activities that you can maintain throughout the year, because keeping a close relationship with and between students is an essential aspect of a successful academic year. 

Useful Questions to Consider Before The First Bell Rings

Before we say goodbye and finish our back to school checklist for teachers, here’s a list of questions to use as a nice reminder of some details that you might miss when planning the big things.

• Did you make enough copies of all the paperwork and materials you need for the first day/week/month? 
• Do you have backup time-filler activities in case there’s extra time after the lecture? 
• Do you have your lesson plans ready for the first week, month, or even longer?
• What time do you need to leave the home to make sure you don’t rush on the morning of September 1st? 
• Did you send out all the important notifications to parents before the first day?
• Do you have all your supplies ready? 
• Is the classroom ready? 
• Do you have your ice-breaker activities ready? 
• Do you have all the information you need for all the students in the class? 

Before You Go

We hope that you found our back-to-school checklist for teachers useful. We’ve tried to create an inclusive compilation of different tasks that most teachers need to do before the 1st of September, but if something does not apply to your situation, don’t worry too much about it. Take a deep breath and remember that everything is going to be fine! 

Our team back at KidsKonnect is here for all busy teachers supporting them in more ways than one. Aside from these insightful articles, we also have a massive library of worksheet packs and other valuable resources that you can use throughout the school year. With just one click, you can download any bundle you wish containing key information and a dozen of interactive printables that are ready to use! 

But that’s not all! Don’t forget that we also regularly update our blog, writing about key topics throughout the year and sharing fun and meaningful activities that you can easily incorporate in the classroom or in a homeschool setting. Therefore, subscribe to our newsletter and feel confident that everything is under control!