Summer is coming to a close. Where does the time go?! 

The details of daily life in a crowded place can make your year great or bog you down. I've rounded up a list of great tips and tricks for a smooth start for your school year. 

Read on...

Meeting the Teacher

• Be prepared for Meet the Teacher. The key to success - meet them at the door and then give them something productive to do. Mary from Teaching with a Mountain View has a great post on how she organizes Meet the Teacher. Her stations are easy and effective with tasks for both parents and students. Go here to read the full post.

• "Make sure you take time to tell your students about YOU," says Julie from the Techie Teacher. Inquiring minds really do want to know. :) I love her story about how a lesson on angles using a video of things she found in her home showed her how much her students wanted to know her better. Check out her ideas here.

• Prep for Back-to-School night now. Being prepared now for...

Happy Wednesday Teacher Friends,

It's really August! What?! I know! How fast summer is going. 

Back-to-school madness is here for many and coming soon for the rest of us. Staying organized is key to success in being and feeling ready for students to walk in the door.

Here's my Back-to-School Checklist to get you going at school this year in a snap. Get it here. You'll look like an organizing rock star and start the year ahead of the game (as in less stress and more joy) Win! 

Want to do a customized checklist? Got you covered! There's a blank one you can fill in yourself as well. Grab it! 

Go win the back-to-school prep battle.  Hope it's a great school year!

Teach joyfully,

Lisa

Conquering your inbox may seem like a pipe dream, but it's totally do-able.

Remember when "You've got mail" was a good thing?! Not so much anymore.

Is your inbox stressing you out? Are you drowning in emails? Before getting your classroom ready, get your inbox under control.

First of all, how many inboxes do you have?

Decide how you plan to keep tabs on them- when and how often. Consolidate what you can and get rid of any extra email addresses you don't really use anymore.

Next, deal with your email.

Choose a set amount of time to deal with the backlog every day until your inbox is to 0. What?! Zero? That's not possible, right?! Wrong. Totally possible and do-able.

Check your email a couple times a day. That means quickly flip through it and deal with anything that is URGENT. Leave the rest.

Once a day, set aside time to deal with your email.

This is when you will do something with every NEW email for that day- read, file, respond, delete, something to get it taken care of and out...

Is your To Do List overwhelming you?

As a teacher and a mom of 5 kids, I get it. If you are like me, your "To Do" list is long and never ending. It can be overwhelming after awhile to even look at it. And.. getting all those things done - forget it, right?!

Well, here's the cure.

Get more accomplished each and every day with this simple fix.

• Get my Free Daily To Do List

• Turn your long list into tasks on your calendar. Give everything a tentative date.

• Then, take 5 minutes to make a small list for the next day each night before you go to bed.

• Put on one cleaning chore and 6 other items on your list, no more. Each item should be a specific, detailed, "micro task" (think bite-sized).

For example: If I put "make phone calls" on my list or "call Doctor", it might happen. If I put "Call Dr. Russell- RE: appoint. for Bob's knee (phone number)" on my list, it will happen. Why? I made it easily do-able in the midst of a busy day.

Get my Free printable Daily To Do List to get...

Cookin' Up a Fabulous Summer

My husband is busy cooking' up dinner on the grill. The water in the pool is sparkling and warm. We've got a nice fire going and twinkle lights in the yard. The kids are picking out a movie for dive in movie night. My summer has begun! That's why I'm sitting here making a plan and setting goals for back-to-school prep and planning.

Planning for Back-to-School?!

What?! Goals for back-to-school? I just got done with this year! What are you talking about? I'm going to soak up some rays and chill. I got it covered. No plan needed. Right?

You Deserve a Break

Well... yes and no. I'm all for a break - 100%. But at some point, prep for back-to-school has to begin. Start your summer with a plan, so you can relax first and be super productive later.

You'll be the together teacher come fall if you do a plan now for what needs to get done at the end of your summer. Plus, you'll be able to relax, put school out of your mind for most of the summer knowing you've...

The Brain Dump

 Time: About 3 Minutes

When you get stressed out by how much there is to do, do a brain dump. Get a pad of paper. Start writing down everything you need to do or are trying to remember to do as fast as you can. All of it. Get it all out of your brain and on paper.

Schedule It

Time: About 10 Minutes

Now, take all of that stuff on your pad of paper and schedule a time to do it. If you have small tasks that can be grouped together, do it. Put it all of your calendar.

Note: Anything that is urgent, set aside and do it as soon as you are done with this step or put it on your schedule for later that day.

The 10 Minute Tidy

Time: 10 Minutes (You can do a 2 Minute Tidy if you are tight on time.)

Every day, do a 10 Minute Tidy or a 2 Minute Tidy. I like doing this at the end of the day. But, it can be done whenever you're feeling overwhelmed and things have gotten cluttered or disorganized. Your class can do this with you at the end of the day if you wish. I do this same...

Make Your Own Cute Labels! FREE!

Ever wonder how all these teachers on TPT and Pinterest make their cute labels? Well, here you go- 10 easy steps. Never pay for labels again!

Step 1:

Go to Canva. It's free, but you'll need to sign up. This is a good thing because it will save your designs so you go back later and edit them. Note: You can opt for a paid subscription to get extra features, but I just use the free version.

Step 2:

At the top under Create a Design, click MORE. Choose the standard paper, A4.

Step 3:

On the left side, click Elements and then Shapes.

Step 4:

Choose the shape you want. There are plenty of free options, so I just use those. Once you choose a shape, resize it. Try out a few.

Step 5:

On the white bar at the top left, there should be a square or a couple of squares of color. Click on that to change the color. Click the + sign for custom colors. Some shapes have details you can click on to change their color as well- hence the different squares of color.

Step 6:...

Chaos and coffee do not go together. I didn't know how we got there, but our mornings had become chaotic.

Mom! I can't find my shoes! Mom, where's my homework?! Hurry up and brush your teeth. We are going to be late! Does this sound familiar? After my kids left for school in the morning, I would look around and think of the disaster that just happened. So frustrating! It was hard for me to find enough sanity to have a really productive day. This was not what I wanted for my family. Usually, I run a very organized home. But somehow, we got off track with our mornings.

I don't know about you, but if my morning is bad it's hard to get back on track that day. So, making over my mornings into a simple routine was in order. Now, our mornings are fabulous again!

Challenge: Make over your mornings!

Just start. It's the hardest part, isn't it?! I know you can so this! (You can thank me later.)

List

Make a list of what needs to happen each morning in your home. For example, in my house we...