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Beginning of the Year Teacher Checklist

A six-category planning checklist walks elementary teachers through classroom, technology, and family-communication prep before students arrive.
Grades
Not Grade Specific
Pages
10
File type
PDF
Preparation
Print ready

Updated Jan 09, 2024

Subject
Resources for Teachers, Classroom Management, Back To School
Topic
Classroom Management, Checklist
Resource types
Teacher Tools
Preparation
Print ready

About this resource

What's inside this resource

I created this Beginning of the Year checklist to help you organize, plan, and check off those important things to do before the students set foot in your classroom. Are you a newly hired teacher and feeling overwhelmed and stressed out? Are you a seasoned teacher who needs a checklist to use each year to stay on track and stop reinventing the wheel every year? Use this valuable resource as you are setting up your classroom so you can rest assured that you will be PREPARED and READY with organization, routines, and procedures. Is it a winter or spring break? Revisit these lists to revisit your classroom space and routines to get back on track to a calm, organized teaching and learning environment!

For example, what will you do with the furniture, walls, and spaces in the classroom? Will you have desks or go with choice seating, for example? What will your instructional prep look like? What specific routines will you implement for using materials? How will you organize technology and student devices? Going beyond classroom setup, what specific routines and procedures will you include such as morning work, labeling bins for materials, and student lockers? These are just a few essentials listed on 10 pages of checklists.

In the classroom

Teaching tips & learning objectives

Teaching tips

  • Work through the six categories roughly in order, since Classroom Set-Up and Instructional Prep decisions build on choices made earlier in Classroom Arrangement.

  • Use the blank lines under Instructional Prep to record district-required curriculum orders specific to your building.

  • Revisit the checklist at the start of every school year rather than treating it as a one-time new-teacher resource, since several items (like updating keys or reviewing emergency procedures) are meant to be repeated annually.

Skills covered

  • Classroom environment planning — teachers decide furniture layout, technology placement, and display areas before the school year starts.

  • Family communication planning — teachers draft a welcome letter, plan back-to-school night logistics, and set up a method for ongoing parent contact.

  • Instructional logistics prep — teachers plan morning-work routines, curriculum ordering, and a system for collecting student work for conferences.

Good to know

Questions teachers ask about this resource

Which sections leave blank lines for teachers to add their own school-specific details?

The Instructional Prep section has blank lines for listing district curriculum to order, and the Technology and Classroom Set-Up sections include blank checkbox lines for teachers to add extra items of their own.

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Resource details

Concepts & topics

Core concepts

  • Classroom setup

  • Beginning-of-year planning

  • Teacher organization

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