5 Ways to Introduce Reading and Books at the Beginning of the School Year

It’s the beginning of a new school year and you know you want to make books and reading an important part of your classroom environment. But how can you establish that from the beginning? How can you help your students to know that reading is valued in your classroom? How can you encourage a community of readers? Here’s 5 ideas to help you introduce reading and books as a back to school activity.

1. Start With A Favourite

You’ve introduced yourself to your students, checked all their names, put books and stationery into some sort of organisation. It’s time to start teaching. You might have a great getting to know your students activity planned, but it’s worth waiting for just a moment to read them your favourite picture book.

Why? First of all, picture books are great transition tools. They show the students that it’s time to move from organisation mode into learning mode. They’re a quiet and calm way to get things moving. Secondly, you’re letting your students get to know you a little through your book - they know that you value reading and that this is one of the books you really value. And finally, it gives you, the teacher, a moment to breathe and enjoy what you’re doing.

As a bonus, it never hurts when someone from administration pokes their head in and sees reading happening on the first day

2. Create a List of Topics to Read About

In the first few days of school ask your students what kind of books they would like to read or what topics they would like to read about. Use this list as a display in the classroom, use it to guide some of the reading choices or book choices throughout the year and return to update it as the year progresses.

By asking students what books or topics they want to read, you’re giving them some ownership over the reading environment. You’re telling them that their reading preferences are valued in the classroom and that it’s a safe place to read all kinds of books.

3. “Sell” a Book or Two

Book talks are one of my very favourite tools for encouraging reading in the classroom. I love them so much, I wrote a whole post about them and how to give a book talk. At the beginning of the school year it’s good to use books which might be unfamiliar to the students. This lets the students know that you love finding books they might not know about and that it’s ok to read and enjoy unfamiliar books. 

Book talks are great for generating excitement about a book and therefore excitement about reading. With lots of enthusiasm, or a well placed preview of a book, you’ve shown students that it’s ok for books to be exciting. Be aware that a really exciting book talk might generate a lot of enthusiasm for the book - you might need to create a ‘next in line’ list for potential readers. 

4. Ask Students to Write About their Ideal Book

What would the best book in the world look like? This is a great question to pose to students early in the school year. As well as getting students interested in what books could be (or what books they may not have found yet) this is a great way to learn a bit more about your students.

Be aware, though. There’s a very real possibility that you’ll have a students or two who’ll say there’s no such thing as a good book. It’s ok to get them to explain why that’s the case (they’re still writing and you’re still learning about them!) or to challenge them a little to write about what a book would have to have to be readable by them - they might like to link it to what they like about games, television shows or other activities.

5. Let Students Know Where They Can Find Books

Once you’ve got students excited about reading, you need to let them know where they can find books. You may have a complete classroom library or a small collection of books in the classroom - let students know what they can access at any time or what books you’ve set aside for classroom lessons. Take your students to the school library and talk about some of the borrowing they can do there.

You might also like to introduce the local library to your students. You can do this by visiting yourself and taking some photos of the different areas or you might like to arrange a visit from a librarian at the library who can help your students to understand what’s available to them there (it’s not unusual for people to think they need to pay to borrow books from the library.

How do you create a reading environment in your classroom at the beginning of the school year? Leave a comment below to let us know!

Related posts to read:

• 5 Great First Day of School Reads

• Helping Our Students With Goal Setting

• Classroom Organisation for the Unorganised

• Taking Care of Ourselves as Teachers

Looking for more?

• Follow the Galarious Goods TpT shop

• Follow Galarious Goods on Facebook

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5 Galarious Goods Back to School Posts and Why I Love Them

So, this is a blog post about back to school blog posts? Of course, it’s a recap show! Seriously, though, I’m quite proud of the different back to school blog posts I’ve written and shared here at Galarious Goods and I wanted to make sure my favourites were all in one place. Plus, add a little commentary on why they are my favourites.

1. 5 Ways to Find Joy in Your Classroom and Teaching

This is definitely a mindset blog post - a good post to read and reflect on before you get anywhere near the classroom. Joy can sometimes be an elusive concept, something which doesn’t gel with the day to day processes of teaching in a classroom. This post provides some ideas for finding that joy, even if it’s just in little pieces.

Why is it a favourite?

It’s actually a great reminder to myself to find the joy in small things - whether it’s creating a beautiful or calm or colourful space for myself or dancing it out. Those little things won’t change the world, but they can give us a moment of respite.

2. 5 Things School Parents Might Worry About (And how teachers can help those worries)

It’s a bit terrifying to be a new parent in a school! Especially at the moment as our orientation processes may have been changed due to the pandemic or we might be facing the kinds of first days and weeks we never would have imagined a few years ago. This blog post highlights 5 questions new school parents might be worrying about and some ways you can relieve those worries.

Why is it a favourite?

I wrote this one when my eldest was heading off to his first year of school. Now it’s time for my youngest to head to her first day. While some of the worries are gone (I’ve got the school shoe thing down perfectly!) I’m still unsure just how she’ll go when she heads into the classroom on the first day. I’ve also received some excellent advice from her school - get the little ones to practice fastening and unfastening their seatbelts in case they’re restricted to the drop off and pick up zone!

3. Starting a New Teaching Job on a Limited Budget

This blog post was inspired by a news article highlighting how much money teachers were spending to set up their classrooms. In the post I look at many affordable or free ways teachers could set up their classrooms for the new year when they didn’t have a lot of money (or were looking to save their money for other purposes - you don’t have to spend all your own money on teacher things!) I highlight my ‘must buy’ essentials (spoiler: not much) and some ways to create an effective learning environment without spending much at all.

Why is it a favourite?

It reminds me so much of what it was like to walk into my first real classroom. I very much had to ‘make do’ with low cost or free items and I know this is the case for so many teachers.

4. Classroom Organisation for the Unorganised

I’d love to say I’ve become more organised since I wrote this post, but not really! I do however follow many of the tips in this organisation post and can honestly say that they’re super helpful (my children do, however, scoff at how many times I label their things. They have never lost a school or kindy hat, though!)

Why is it a favourite?

I was chatting with one of the cleaners at the school I used to work at and was pleased to learn that I’d lost the title for messiest teacher desk at the school. However, it was a reminder that other teachers might find this organisational information useful!

5. Taking Care of Ourselves as Teachers

This is such an important post as we enter the new school year in Australia, unsure of what might happen, what new rules teachers might need to follow and still coming up for air after an incredibly hard 2020. This post looks at a number of practical ways to take care of yourself, from pulling positivity into your social media to making sure you have a great water bottle.

Why is it a favourite?

Finding ways to take care of myself is something I need to be regularly reminded of. I can easily fall into a spiral of ‘doing all the things’ while forgetting to stop occasionally to do things which take care of my physical and mental health. If it gives a few ideas to make life a bit easier for teachers anywhere, then this post is worth its weight in gold.

Do you have any great back to school advice for 2021? Leave a comment below to let me know!

Related posts to read:

• 5 Great Reads for Teachers Setting Goals

• Using Back to School Reading Tools in Your Classroom

• Back to School Blog Posts to Enjoy

• 5 First Day of School Blog Posts to Inspire You

Looking for more?

• Follow the Galarious Goods TpT shop

• Follow Galarious Goods on Facebook

• Follow Galarious Goods on Pinterest

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Starting a New Teaching Job on a Limited Budget

When I started teaching full time I had very little money. I’d done relief work and one short contract before taking on this full time role. And it was a contract for one term only - I had no idea whether it would be extended or not. So there wasn’t a lot of money to spend on setting up a classroom.

With the ABC News article about a new teacher spending hundreds of dollars on preparing for the first day of school, I thought it was worthwhile looking at how you can set up a warm, welcoming and prepared for learning classroom when you’ve got a limited budget.

The Bare Minimum

What’s the bare minimum you need for a new teaching job? It depends from person to person, but my bare minimum would include a broad brimmed hat for outside, some sort of planner and a pencil case or two.

It’s worth investing in the hat as a piece of safety equipment (and get a sun safe one over a fashionable one) - protecting your skin on playground duty, during sports events or those times when you need to get outside is 100% worth it. 

You can completely plan on your computer . . . but computers and school computer systems aren’t always reliable. A physical planner (or even a notebook) can give you a place to jot down a few notes when you have to fall back onto the old technology. Having a pencil case with some of your favourite pens (well named so they’ve got a chance of getting back to you!) and scissors and glue also gives you tools for any occasion. A spare pencil case with spare pencils, erasers and a sharpener can help for students who don’t have the tools they need to learn.

Finding Free Resources

Looking for more for your classroom, but your budget is spent? Ask if your school has a resource room or teacher resources as part of the library. I remember discovering the poster drawer in our school library - all the posters you could even need to decorate a room. The resource room was also filled with maths tools and science tools - all free for my class to borrow.

You can also use the school library for books in your classroom or talk to your local public library about whether they’ve got special conditions for teacher borrowing.

Don’t forget about free resources on Teachers Pay Teachers - searching for poster and narrowing the search to ‘free’ gave me more than 50 000 results. Bloggers might also have free resources available by signing up with their email list - like the Galarious Goods resource library!

Buying Affordably

What do you really need - or would really like - in your classroom? It’s worthwhile reflecting on this before you spend a lot of money. Then look for ways to buy these items affordably.

Op shops or thrift shops are GREAT for finding treasures. They’re especially reliable for books (and if you have one of the amazing Lifeline Bookfests near you, it’s even better) and you can easily build a small second hand collection, saving money for the special books. It’s also worthwhile looking at some of the bigger op shops for furniture - I found a great second hand bookshelf one year which I painted and put in my classroom. Don’t forget to look at their homewares or bric a brac or toy sections for other possible treasures.

Keep an eye on back to school sales in big shops like Kmart, Big W, Aldi and Office Works to find bits and pieces - but use catalogues and lists to stop overbuying!

If you’re looking to use fabric for displays or to cover furniture, choose your fabric carefully. Poplin - which is a great, light fabric is often quite affordable, as is some of the homeware fabrics for furniture. It’s worth browsing some of the lower cost fabric shops like East Coast Fabrics or The Remnant Warehouse in Australia for specials too.

Buying Thoughtfully

Are you interested in having a themed classroom? One way to achieve this on a limited budget is to pick a very broad theme - it might be rainbow or colourful, nature or the colour blue. You can add these touches to the classroom without having to go all out and it will still bring your theme to life. And it allows you to make changes as the years go by and trends change.

Falling in love with teaching ideas and items on Instagram? Stop and think about whether those teaching ideas will really work for you, in the classroom space you have and with the grade level you have. It’s ok to let ideas go through to other teachers! Also ask yourself if you can put purchases off for a little bit - can you buy a fancy lanyard later in the year when you have some pay saved? Can you make a list of things you’d like to add to the classroom later on once you know your students better?

Don’t forget - classes change all the time in the first weeks of school! In my first term, I went from a Year 4 class to a Year 3/4 class once Day 8 numbers came in. The next year I moved from 6/7 to a straight 7 and the year after that from 6/7 to 5/6 - I never took a class list as set in stone! Unfortunately this is also the time when teachers might also lose their new contracts or may be moved to other schools. Be prepared for any possibility in the first weeks of school.

What Really Matters?

In the end, it isn’t what is on your walls or floors which really matters - it’s what you’re teaching. My son’s prep teacher had very little classroom decoration on the first day of school. Instead she filled her walls with student work - celebrating everything they were doing and rotating it as new work was produced. Students loved taking their parents to see their latest work - they were so proud of what they’d achieved.

It’s totally ok to have the bare minimum when it comes to decoration and to allow your students to create the classroom space. It’s also ok to save your money for resources which will support you as a teacher, whether they’re resources which support your weaker subjects (I always needed more science support!), resources which make your life a little easier when you need them day after day or resources which bring a particular book or subject to life.

What are your back to school savings tips? Share them in the comments!

Related posts to read:

• 6 Fabulous Blog Posts for New Teachers

• 5 Ways to Find Joy in Your Classroom and Teaching

• 5 First Day of School Blog Posts to Inspire You

• Finding Communities to Support Us as Teachers

• 5 Things School Parents Might Worry About (And how teachers can help those worries)

Looking for more?

• Follow the Galarious Goods TpT shop

• Follow Galarious Goods on Facebook

• Follow Galarious Goods on Pinterest

• Follow Galarious Goods on Instagram

Using Back to School Reading Tools in Your Classroom

We all understand how important reading is in the classroom. But how can we ensure we make reading important from the very first day of school?  Here’s some tools you can use to create a reading friendly environment in your classroom as part of your back to school preparations!

1. Tools to assess where students are

• Unless you’re teaching first year of school students or students who are new to the school, it’s likely that your students have participated in reading testing - they might even have a reading level recorded. Don’t ignore this! Use this as a launch pad for your own reading testing.

• Your school probably has a system of reading testing. If you’re new to the school (or to teaching) ask around to find out what it is and jump into it as soon as you can (it can be a HUGE job). If your school doesn’t have a testing system, grab a couple of texts (easier, at grade level and harder) and ask students to read them to you individually. This gives you a starting place to work from.

• As well as assessing reading level, consider assessing how your students feel about reading. Do they like reading? What do they like reading? Where do they like reading? When do they like reading? What are their past experiences with reading? By asking these questions, you’re showing students that their experiences and feelings about reading are real and valid, and getting a better introduction into the reading life of your students.

2. Tools for setting goals.

• Before you set reading goals with students, you might like to spend some time exploring what reading goals might look like. Students might focus on reading levels or skill attainment, and that’s great, but student reading goals can also look like the reading goals of adults. Students might like to engage in a reading challenge to try different books, work towards reading a certain number of books, aim to write book reviews for some of the books they’re reading or participate in book discussions with their classmates.

• Students should reflect on what their goal would look like and how they’d know that they achieved it. This might mean creating a recording chart for their goal or they might write a journal reflecting on the work they’re doing to achieve their goal.

• Don’t forget to ask students what they’ll need to achieve their goal. For some students it will be access to a wide range of books. Others will need time to read or materials to draw up their recording chart. Some might need to learn how to write a book review, or how to use a dictionary effectively. This is a great discussion to have in individual reading conferences allowing students to make choices and take responsibility, while also showing them that you care about their reading goal

3. Tools for creating the environment

• What does your classroom tell your students about reading? Stand in the doorway and look in. Have you got any books on display? Have you got a classroom library or a reading corner? Are there posters about reading or books? Think about what message you want students to get about reading as they walk into the classroom and see if there’s anyway to make those messages obvious.

• Establishing a whole classroom library can be expensive, but choosing a few books to display can still prioritise reading without breaking the budget. Your school library or local public library may have a selection of books, and you can coordinate these with subjects you’re going to cover in history or science. 

• There are so many posters related to reading which you can display in your classroom. You might include posters of book covers, posters recommending different books, posters with book genres. You might have posters with sayings or quotes about reading. Printable posters (like these ones) can be found easily at TeachersPayTeachers, then printed and laminated to use year after year. 

• Creating a reading corner is another way to show students that you prioritise reading. A reading corner might be themed and decorated, but it might just include somewhere to sit, some posters and a collection of books.

• Don’t forget to include written recommendations in your classroom! You might start with recommendations from yourself, or you could include recommendations from other teachers in the school, your own family members - even your family pet! (Our chickens are fond of  The Fabulous Friend Machine by Nick Bland). Recommendations don’t have to be long - a line or two could be enough to grab the attention of a curious reader.

4. Tools to make reading fun

• Is reading fun in your classroom? Before the school year starts, think of some activities to bring reading alive for your students.

• Students might like to incorporate STEM with reading and design a book holding machine (so you can eat and read at the same time) or design a way of keeping books safe in the rain.

• You might like to have some funny and engaging books ready for the first day of school. Take a little time to read the first few pages - or a particularly funny bit - aloud, then offer the book for students to read (or create a list for read alouds throughout the year)

• Allow students the chance to explore some of the books they might like to read that year. Work with your school librarian to explore the library or hold a book tasting in your classroom. 

How do you embrace reading at the beginning of the school year? Share your tips and ideas in the comments!

Related posts to read:

• 5 Ways to Find Joy in Your Classroom and Teaching

• 5 First Day of School Blog Posts to Inspire You

• 5 Great Reads for Teachers Setting Goals

• Finding Communities to Support Us as Teachers

Looking for more?

• Follow the Galarious Goods TpT shop

• Follow Galarious Goods on Facebook

• Follow Galarious Goods on Pinterest

• Follow Galarious Goods on Instagram

5 Great Reads for Teachers Setting Goals

There’s lots of information for student goal setting out there, but what if you want to set some goals as a teacher? Whether you’re beginning a new school year or just looking to turn over a new leaf and try something new in your classroom, here’s 5 great reads to help you set thoughtful, effective and productive teacher goals.

Goal-Setting for Teachers - 8 Paths to Self Improvement

This comprehensive post from The Cult of Pedagogy is a great place to start if you want to set teacher goals, but you’re not quite sure what goal you want to set. Covering 8 different pathways teachers can explore, this post expands on these ideas and offers thoughtful goals - and a whole heap of resources - which you might like to explore. This would be the perfect place to start to set goals!

Setting Goals for a New Term

This is another great place to start if you’re not set on a particular teacher goal yet. This post explores some more traditional pathways in goal setting for teachers - from being more organised to improving student learning, with links for further reading.

Setting Goals for Going Back to School

This post takes you through the WHOLE process of setting teacher goals - from visioning what you want to happen to creating a plan to achieve the goal. It’s a really comprehensive post, filled with really detailed and usable information. Sit down with some paper and pens to go through this one in-depth!

Back to School: Back to Learning

This article takes a set of steps for guiding student learning and explores how teachers can use these steps to guide their own learning and goal setting. I really like the way these steps make a circle, reminding us that setting goals is a part of life-long learning, something which we can follow through again and again.

School Leaders: Setting Realistic Goals with Your Teachers

This article is aimed at school leaders, but I think it’s a worthwhile read for all educators. I particularly like the idea of asking the right questions - to make sure we’re making goals which are truly effective. There’s a lot of other good information about intention and mindfulness when we’re goal setting, as well as looking beyond SMART goals. I’d recommend reading through this one a few times - then forwarding it to your own school leaders!

How do you set goals as a teacher? Leave a comment below!

Related posts to read:

• Helping Our Students With Goal Setting

• 6 Fabulous Blog Posts for New Teachers

• Classroom Organisation for the Unorganised

• Don't Make Writing Goals with Blank Pages - Creating Writing to Make Writing Goals

• Writing Skills and Expectations Before Goal Setting

Looking for more?

• Follow the Galarious Goods TpT shop

• Follow Galarious Goods on Facebook

• Follow Galarious Goods on Pinterest

• Follow Galarious Goods on Instagram

5 Ways Teaching is Like the Beach

Every year my family spends some time at one of the best beaches in Australia. As I sat there last holiday, I couldn’t help but think - teaching really is like the beach!

1. Unpredictable

You can plan as much as you like at the beach, but you never quite know what that wave might do or whether those stingers will drift towards you. Often you’ve got to stop, look around, assess the conditions again and then decide what to do next.

Teaching is very much like that. All the carefully written plans can easily be derailed - by an incident in the playground or an unexpected admin visit; by a happy side discovery or by the understanding that the perfect lesson on paper just isn’t translating into the real classroom.

That’s when we need to stop and assess - do we push on or do we take a new path? Do we accept the new lessons we learn and return to the other lessons at another time? Or regroup and look for a new path to where we want to go.

2. Non-Stop

I’m not a big ocean swimmer, but I love sitting near the water just watching the waves roll in and in and in again. It’s never ending, which is great on the sand - but not so much fun if you’re caught in a rough patch of surf.

Teaching is non-stop as well. Even before students come into our classrooms, we’re on the go - preparing for the day to come. When they’re there, we’re constantly ‘on’ - teaching and assisting and learning more about our students and assessing. Wave after wave of something else to do.

Sometimes we need to see if we can step out of it and take a break, especially if the sea is a bit rough. See if you can combine your class with another and take a moment to share the load with a colleague. Ask if you can observe another teacher while they teach, take the moment to learn from someone else. Or take a few moments at the end of the day to reflect on where you’ve done really well. Let the ocean of teaching go on away from you for a moment before you splash back in.

3. It’s Occasionally Downright Scary

Although I’ve been knocked down pretty bad by waves, I’ve never found myself in true danger. But I’m well aware that the danger is there in the ocean. Rips, rocks and sharks are just a few of the dangers when you visit the beach - things to be aware of and prepared to deal with if they turn up.

There are times when teaching can also be scary. Our students may be carrying sad and disturbing histories. We may be dealing with violent situations. Our students may get hurt or try to hurt us. Or a stressful teaching situation might get too much for us.

Know where to turn for help, whether it’s for you or for your students. Know the procedures you need to follow when a student needs your help - needs you as the stable adult in their life. Know where you can go to find help for yourself and accept help when it is offered if you need it. Find your trusted people in the school - the teachers and other staff who’ll let you cry, pick you up, offer the good advice or keep the good candy jar for when you need it.

4. It’s a Great Place to Spend the Day (When You’re Prepared)

Whenever my family wants to go for a swim at the beach it takes us FOREVER to get ready. There’s sunscreen to apply on everyone, hats and sunglasses to find, shoes for the walk back on the path, swim nappies for the little one, a bag for collected treasures, water bottles to fill . . .

But once we’re at the swimming spot, we tend to forget all that planning and just enjoy the sand and the water. The planning makes the experience enjoyable.

While you can’t plan for everything (see the first heading here!), the same does apply to teaching. When we don’t plan at all, there’s a chance we’ll have a great lesson, but there’s also a pretty big chance that it will all fall apart. Planning lets us consider all the things we need to have better lessons.

Planning doesn’t have to be 10 pages of perfectly written work, though. It just requires thinking - reflecting on what works best with our students or what has worked in the past - and then working out which path to take. Those teachers (often more experienced) who don’t seem to plan? They’ve often got years of planning and teaching and reflecting under their belt and years of planning right there in their brains.

5. Beautiful

A few years ago, we took our holiday while I was heavily pregnant with my second child. I spent a LOT of time sitting on the sand, listening to the birds and the wind and the waves and admiring the beauty of the beach and the ocean. It brought such a sense of happiness to me.

Teaching can bring the same beauty and happiness as well. That moment when a child gets it. The lesson where everything goes just right. The drawing and letter written just for you because you’ve created a place where your students are happy. The beautiful moment when a former student - now an adult - thanks you for what you did.

Prepare for the ‘dangers’ of teaching - the unpredictability and the scary moments - take care of yourself. But don’t forget the beauty - it’s what makes it all worthwhile.

Related posts to read:

• 5 Ways to Find Joy in Your Classroom and Teaching

• 5 Things School Parents Might Worry About (And how teachers can help those worries)

• Classroom Organisation for the Unorganised

• Taking Care of Ourselves as Teachers

Looking for more?

• Follow the Galarious Goods TpT shop

• Follow Galarious Goods on Facebook

• Follow Galarious Goods on Pinterest

• Follow Galarious Goods on Instagram

Writing Skills and Expectations Before Goal Setting

Making writing goals is a common activity at the beginning of the school year. But it is essential that students understand the range of skills they could be working on if they are going to make skills which are both effective and achievable.

Before students can make thoughtful and useful writing goals, they need to know what is expected of them, what good writing looks like, and what skills they need to master to create their own good writing.

When we ask students to make goals at the beginning of the year, we often ask them to be clear in what they would like to achieve. But are we making sure they have a clear understanding of what they should be aiming for?

When adults make goals, we usually have an idea of what we are specifically aiming for. If we want to become a better runner, we may do some research on what a good (and achievable) time looks like for different distances. If we’re striving to have a cleaner house, we may read articles on what household jobs need to be done or watch documentaries on decluttering our houses.

Having an understanding of what a successful outcome looks like, helps us make more informed goals - goals we’re more likely to meet. The same goes for our students - when they know what they should be aiming for, they’re more likely to create goals which are effective and achievable.

In the classroom, students have writing outcomes which come from the curriculum. But curriculums tend to be written for teachers - education professionals who understand specific terms. They are often hard to read without background knowledge so we rarely put them in front of our students.

One way we can overcome this is by pulling out the most important elements to present to our students or by rewriting them for our students to understand them. Students can explore these easier-to-read versions of the outcomes before they start making writing goals - they can make them a subject of discussion; look at how they might work to achieve these outcomes, what skills are involved to achieve them or how they can become specific achievable goals.

Before we ask students to set writing goals, they should first reflect on where they’re working from. But it is also essential for students to have an idea of what they’re aiming for in their writing - both generally and broken down into specific skills to master.

By exploring the writing of others, students can identify what writing skills they want to work on during the school year to make their own writing better.

1. Explore published writing

You can share a range of good writing - from picture books to articles to poetry - from the first day of school. This can be done by reading aloud, but you should also make a wide range of good writing accessible for students to read on their own every day.

Before writing goals are set, you can share pieces of writing which support different outcomes. As you read these with the students, you can identify the skills the writers have used to create effective writing, creating a list of skills which students may wish to work on during the year.

2. Model writing yourself

Writing in front of your students can be daunting, but it can also be incredibly valuable for you and them. Students can see how more experienced writers work to think about their writing, how they work to improve their writing while they write and how they apply skills they have been working on.

Demonstrating writing in the first weeks of school, before setting writing goals, allows you to highlight certain skills which you might like students to master. Students are able to watch how you work on those skills and what working on those skills actually looks like and can add those to a list of things they may wish to focus on.

3. Assess writing together

Use a piece of your own writing or a professional piece of writing to examine in-depth. You may wish to use your list of skills which you’ve put together from the outcomes or from other pieces of writing and assess whether the author has shown these skills well - and how they have done that.

Students can then use this assessment to determine how they might work on improving those skills.

For example, students may be focusing on how to use sentences of different lengths to create effective narratives. By examining the sentences in Shaun Tan’s The Lost Thing, students can see how the author puts together sentences to draw the attention of the reader. Students can then make a goal to vary their sentences when they are writing and to revisit those sentences when they are editing to see if they make the writing more effective.

By taking a closer look at what good writing can look like, what skills they need to master and what outcomes they are trying to achieve, students can be better informed when they make their writing goals - ensuring that the goals are more thoughtful, more achievable and more relevant to them as writers.

Related posts to read:

• Don't Make Writing Goals with Blank Pages - Creating Writing to Make Writing Goals

• Using Badly Written Texts in the Classroom

• Where Do We Find Persuasive Writing?

• Helping Our Students With Goal Setting

Looking for more?

• Follow the Galarious Goods TpT shop

• Follow Galarious Goods on Facebook

• Follow Galarious Goods on Pinterest

• Follow Galarious Goods on Instagram

More Back to School Blog Posts to Enjoy

The beginning of the school year is creeping closer, new school shoes are being purchased and people are looking for the best school snacks!

As a teacher, you’re getting yourself ready for school and that includes looking for some great posts and back to school inspiration. If you were looking for more links after finishing these fabulous posts, then check out the following!

Getting Your Classroom Set Up

One year, early in my teaching career, I walked into my new classroom only to be confronted by three very large bulletin boards. I had no idea what to do with them!

Wow Factor Back to School Bulletin Board Ideas for Teachers from A+ Teaching Resources is a great blog post looking at thoughtful ideas for bulletin boards in the classroom. I love the reminders about learning strategies and how they can be displayed for constant reinforcement.

Foundation Into First discusses another problem teachers might face when they set up for school in What’s the Best Seating Arrangement for Your Class?

“You get your new classroom key. You walk excitedly to your new room and unlock the door. Inside you see a stack of chairs and tables in the corner. So where to begin?”

This extensive and thoughtful blog post walks the reader through a range of different seating options, looking at the positives and negatives of each.

Getting to Know You

Do you start off the school year with getting to know you activities? Are you looking for some new activities to revitalise the beginning of the school year?

Top Teaching Tasks offers a range of activities in Using Getting to Know You Activities. As well as introducing these activities, the post looks at how they can be used to build classroom expectations and to allow time for individual meetings (or testing!) early in the school year.

“I didn’t know these students, and they didn’t know me, but I knew then that I needed to build a positive community – a sense of team – with these children, and quickly!”

TeachEzy also offers a range of getting to know you activities with 6 Classroom Icebreakers to Start the Year. These ice breakers are immediately usable, but I particularly like the one which stresses all the positive things which will happen throughout the school year.

Building a Classroom Community

Think Grow Giggle encourages the building of a strong classroom atmosphere in 8 Strategies to Build a Strong Classroom Community. This post explores the long term strategy of building a classroom community, filled with ideas from encouraging active listening to engaging in monthly activities.

Do you use getting to know you activities on the first day of school? What tips and advice do you have for teachers heading back to school? What is your favourite part of back to school? Don’t forget to leave a comment!

Related posts to read:

• Taking Care of Ourselves as Teachers

• Allowing Students to Fail in the Classroom

• Don't Make Writing Goals with Blank Pages - Creating Writing to Make Writing Goals

• Get Students Involved to Make a Better World

• Back to School Blog Posts to Enjoy

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Back to School Blog Posts to Enjoy

The anticipation is rising, back to school sales are in all the stores - it’s definitely time to get ready to head back to the classroom.

But between laminating and planning, don’t forget to catch up with some reading! The following blog posts are filled with great back to school tips and ideas for teachers - well worth the reading time!

Before School Starts

Poet Prints Teaching writes about preparing for back to school in 5 Things to Do Before School Starts, covering everything from school supplies to the first day. I think the really important tip here is deciding what to do with student work - getting that under control from the beginning can make a huge difference in your organisation throughout the year!

Rainbow Sky Creations also has a list of things: 8 Things I Do to Get Ready for Back to School. There’s so many great tips to follow here, but I particularly like the advice about organising class lists, setting personal goals (so important!) and timetabling in self care.

Getting Organised

Tech Teacher P-3 tackles getting organised in the post How Organising Your Teacher Desk Can Increase Your Productivity. This is definitely the post I needed back when I started teaching - the mess on my desk was legendary!

I really love the idea for storing small bits - it’s always those small things we need the most and find the hardest to find!

Building a Classroom Library

We all know that reading is important and that having books available for reading helps to promote a reading classroom, but stocking a classroom library can seem absolutely daunting. How to Build Up Your Classroom Library in No Time from Always a Lesson is a fabulous overview at some of the different ways you can find affordable books.

Expectations and Rules

There’s a lot of really good ideas to consider when you read Teaching Expectations Vs Rules from Mrs Richardson’s Class. This is a really positive look at developing a strong classroom culture and behaviour management in the beginning of the school year.

I really like how this post points out some things to reflect on before school starts as well as the focus on building positive behaviour together.

STEM Activities

Looking for some great back to school activities for your students to engage with? You can’t go past 7 Brilliant Back to School Stem Activities for Kids from Jewel’s School Gems. These activities integrate goal setting, team building and all about me activities, making them perfect for the start of the school year.

What activities do you explore during the first week of school? What tips and advice do you have for teachers heading back to school? What is your favourite part of back to school? Don’t forget to leave a comment!

Related posts to read:

• More Back to School Blog Posts to Enjoy

• Taking Care of Ourselves as Teachers

• Allowing Students to Fail in the Classroom

• Don't Make Writing Goals with Blank Pages - Creating Writing to Make Writing Goals

• Get Students Involved to Make a Better World

Looking for more?

• Follow the Galarious Goods TpT shop

• Follow Galarious Goods on Facebook

• Follow Galarious Goods on Pinterest

• Follow Galarious Goods on Instagram

5 First Day of School Blog Posts to Inspire You

First day of school. That fabulous rush of parents, books, reminders from the office . . . and of course students. Trying to remember names. Organising seating. Going through expectations. Organising piles and piles of notebooks!

As you get ready for that first day, here’s five great blog posts from a range of teachers to inspire you to start off the year on the very best foot.

1. 5 Things to Remember

Overwhelmed by the thought of that first day? Five Things to Keep in Mind on the First Day of School from What I Have Learned is a great reminder of what is most important. There’s some great ideas here for learning and consolidating the names of you students and for team building as you create a positive classroom environment.

I really love the importance on learning names - and this reasoning behind it:

“As I mentioned earlier, every opportunity you have to say and interact with students names will help you learn them that much better. Once you learn their names, your brain can move onto other things, like figuring out their learning styles and personalities.”

2. Some More Ideas

Looking for some more first day of school ideas? Mrs Beattie’s Classroom offers What to Do on the First Day of School - filled with thoughtful ideas you can use from the moment students walk in the door.

I love the range of activities which are included here - but I especially love the early focus on entry routines. This is something which can get missed on that first day when everything is a little bit different, but getting it right early can set the tone for a great school year.

3. First Day of School in Other Countries

This one is a little bit different, but a great read - and great information to share with your students on the first day of school. Kid World Citizen has a great post What Does the First Day of School Look Like Around the World. I really, really enjoyed reading about the traditions of other countries and it made me reflect a little on first day traditions here in Australia.

I particularly enjoyed reading about the different celebrations of education around the world. The idea of celebrating learning from the first day of school is a great idea - and it’s a concept we could probably build effectively in our own schools and classrooms.

4. Content and Procedures

I loved You CAN Teach Content and Procedure from Day One! From Growing Grade by Grade. This blog post explores different ways to combine content and procedure so students are learning how to do things while they’re doing it.

There’s two things I particularly enjoyed about this post. The first was the tip about planning the procedures which were being taught with the content which was being taught. The second thing I enjoyed was the recommendation to role play procedures - such an easy idea, but such a valuable one!

5. One Thing for the First Day

What is one MUST DO for the first day of school? The Sassy Apple has shared one at The One Activity I Am Adding to My First Day Plans this Year.

This blog post explores the idea of bringing independent reading to students from the first day, not waiting to get them settled into routines and procedures, but showing students that reading is important and valued from the very first day. I can’t think of a better way to create a reading environment in the classroom.

What do you include on your first day of school? Have you got any ideas to add to these? Don’t forget to comment to share yours.

Related posts to read:

• 5 Things School Parents Might Worry About (And how teachers can help those worries)

• 5 Great First Day of School Reads

• Don't Make Writing Goals with Blank Pages - Creating Writing to Make Writing Goals

• 6 Fabulous Blog Posts for New Teachers

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• Follow the Galarious Goods TpT shop

• Follow Galarious Goods on Facebook

• Follow Galarious Goods on Pinterest

• Follow Galarious Goods on Instagram