It’s that time a year again! Everyone is rushing around trying to figure out how to be a human octopus and multi-task as many things as humanly possible. Report cards, packing and cleaning up a classroom, end of the year student behaviors and anxieties, filing, class placement, transition meetings, end of the year gifts for students, SMART goal meetings with administration, end of the year parties, thank you gits for paraprofessionals and student volunteers – and oh yeah – let’s not forget you are also trying to “teach”! You get bonus points if you are a working parent and trying to balance the impossible. The last several weeks of school are like the steam locomotive in Polar Express. Remember the scene? It’s just racing and racing, gradually building more and more speed. There is barely any time to even process what just happened never mind to take care of yourself. The mother of a good friend of mine used to be an elementary school principal before she retired. She described the end of the year as the race to the cliff. And that’s exactly what it is! You’re running, running, failing, getting back up, running, losing your voice, thinking it is never going to end and BAM! It’s done. I always spend the first few weeks after school ends in a daze. My mind and body struggle to adjust to the slower pace of life. Then, I finally adjust just in time to gear up for the next year. So how do I manage this roller coaster of chaos? Well, technically this year, I am not. However, what do I do in previous years?

1. Manage your expectations

Remember the beginning of the year? Remember when you could only get to a third of your lesson plans and kept pushing things off to the next day? Yeah. We are back there again. Hello, old friend. Between schedule changes and behaviors, you will not get to most of what you plan for the end of the year. And guess what? That is okay. Focus on quality, not quantity. What is going to make the most lasting impression on your students? How can you leave them LOVING school as they embark on summer vacation? That’s where your focus needs to be.

2. Keep as much structure as possible

When I was first teaching, I had these naïve notions that all those activities and events at the end of the year were going to be so much fun. I imagined my students and I having fun together during Field Day or Outside Game Day. Everyone would be perfectly behaved and holding hands. I could just picture us smiling, because we were doing something different. Oh yay! What could go wrong? Then reality hit…Hard. Oy vay. What was I thinking? At the end of the year, student behaviors and anxieties increase – BIG TIME. This only multiplies on days when their schedules are interrupted and changed. Students who really struggle with behavior are affected the most by these changes. They thrive in consistency and structure. Why? It is safe and predictable. They can count on it. Their little worlds are not always safe and predictable – especially at home. My colleagues used to laugh at me (and some probably still do) when I would still be teaching literacy centers on the last day of school. However, there was a method to my madness. The students simply behaved better when I kept things as consistent as possible. Does that mean I cannot do fun activities with my students? Of course not! I just handle it differently. I preview what we are going to do and review expectations prior to the event. I also create an “escape plan” or plan B for those students who might not be able to complete the entire event. These things help my students feel seen and safe in a changing world they do not yet understand.

3. Be present –

Stop. Look around your classroom at those little faces. Each and every single one of them has grown – because of you. Take that in. The end of the year goes so quickly. Being truly present in the moment and not constantly thinking about what is coming next is the key to happiness. Soak it up. YOU did this. You have impact on the future.

4. Try to relax BEFORE summer vacation

Remember to not just make a living, but to actually make this life worth living. As educators, we have to stop living for the next weekend, vacation or summer. Life begins now in this moment. We can stay rooted by staying in the present and enjoying all the gifts God gives us every day. It is very easy to get caught up in the negative thinking and spiral to an uncomfortable place. We need to find the joy in our every day life and practice gratitude.

5. Simplify things –

This took me a while to learn. I am a perfectionist by nature and that is simply not sustainable. I used to make small photo albums for each student in my class and write a personalized note inside. With anywhere from 22 to 26 students in my class, this project used to take me well over nine hours to complete and cost a small fortune. Now, I try to make a slideshow of the pictures I have taken, and I order books through Scholastic Book Club using my points. And you know what? The students love it just the same! My point is simplify things. If I make everything super complicated and I am miserable, I have missed the point completely. My happiness is important too. We cannot take care of others without first taking care of ourselves. It’s time to take care of ourselves. Happy Summer!

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Targeted Phonics Instruction with Sound Cards and Sight Words

“Soak it up. YOU did this.”