Preparing for another school year

Well, folks, it's been quite a busy summer! I moved out of my apartment (and into a storage unit); purchased a home; packed up a home; moved into the purchased home; performed with the Lone Star Wind Orchestra at the World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles (WASBE) Convention in San Jose, California; am selling the said packed up home (and had to prepare it for sale); and am having to make updates to purchased home (it was built in 1965). Phew! Because of this whirlwind of a summer, I haven't had much time to prepare for this upcoming school year.  However, marching band is already in full swing, I have been leading the high school clarinet sectionals this week and have one more this coming Tuesday, and our Region Meeting is tomorrow. I'm meeting one of the music store reps at the band hall today to receive delivery of beginner instrument packages so they'll be at the school before the students even arrive. So, the start of school is coming whether I'm ready for it or not. I figure I better get ready for it. 

I created some documents yesterday to fill out my teacher binder for the new school year that I will share them with you. I created a new cover page: 

Not the most amazing thing ever, but just thrown together with Word using the provided shapes. And the best part is that it is free! I also created weekly lesson planning pages for each month. Here they are (just click on the link for each month) August, September, October, November, December, January, February, March, April, & May as well as calendar pages. I have the Express Fundraiser calendar book that is awesome, but having the calendar pages I created in one book with my other teacher organization pages will help keep everything centralized. Here they are (again just click on the link for each month to download for free): August, September, October, November, December, January, February, March, April, May, June, & July. I also created a To Do page (see picture & click on link to download for free). 

It made me mad because I couldn't get the text boxes and shapes to go where I wanted them to go. And I don't like how the border is way too close on the right side. At one point though, I was asking myself why I was taking so much time to make something that was supposed to help me prioritize my time and decided it was "good enough." 

I also created a communication log to document interaction with parents. You can download it here.  

I have icons you can circle for communications via phone, note, or email. If it is an in-person interaction, I can jot that on the form. Many of the communication logs I've seen have one-sheets for each student. I didn't want that. I'd much rather just keep a running list on one page rather than having one page per student and keeping up with all of them. 

And last, but not least, I created discipline book sign-in sheets yesterday. We are going to use a discipline book system this school year. When a student breaks a rule or misbehaves, they will sign the book. Consequences will be as follows: 1st offense = a warning and documentation in the book; 2nd offense = in-class written detention and documentation in the book; 3rd offense = parent contact, take-home written detention (to be signed by a parent), and documentation in the book; 4th offense = parent contact, lunch detention, and documentation in the book; 5th offense = parent contact, before/after school detention, and documentation in the book; 6th offense = parent conference with administrators; 7th offense & higher = office referrals. You can download the sign-in sheets here. In order to make this system work, we will have to be very consistent with it (no exceptions). 

Well, that's all for now. I created this year's band handbook in June so I just need to print and make copies and I'll be doing a whole lot more in the upcoming days to prepare and can share those with you too. My priority will be getting my band hall cleaned up and ready for students (like many of you probably, the custodians have not touched my band hall since the last week of school in early June) and making sure my students are in the correct classes. I will try to meet with the counselors and principal very soon. 

Good luck to you all as you are preparing for the arrival of your students very soon. I wish you all the best for another great school year!