Dear Teacher, 

It is finally May and you know what that means right? Planning for Back-to-School is in full swing. Since the end of March, my school has been preparing for the return of students full time in the fall. This means I finally get to decorate the classroom I moved into this year. 

First stop... the heart of my classroom. The classroom library. 

Dear Teacher, 

Classroom management is hard. Let's just be real for a second. Even when we think we have  a solid plan, there is always that one thing that could be better. 

Three Before Me is that problem in my room. Why am I always answering questions for the same group of students?  Why are they wondering the room looking for answers again? 

I found a solution and you are not going to believe how simple it is!

Pencils. We all need them. We all have them and we all know about the pencil problems we have every day. Who knew pencils could cause so many issues? I never did until I started teaching!

This month we are focusing on organization. For those who are new to teaching, solving the pencil problem is one of those things I tell pre-service teachers they can plan for ahead of time. You need to find what works best for you. There are so many options but you need to think about your students, your school, your expectations, and what you can/are willing to do to solve this problem for the entire year. 

Dear Teacher, 

I have been teaching for five years now and today I learned that I have been planning and teaching "I do, we do, you do" completely wrong and I bet you are as well. 

I thought this meant I write, you work together, and you do it alone. This is not what it means at all. We have it all wrong.