#30Seconds In-Depth: Back-to-School Tips With Kindergarten Teacher Greg Smedley-Warren by Renee

Back-to-school time is exciting, nerve wracking and, for some, bittersweet. The new school year often brings tons of questions along with it. 30Seconds contributor and expert kindergarten teacher, Greg Smedley-Warren, joined us to share back-to-school tips for parents and teachers! Greg has been teaching for 13 years and has experience in multiple grade levels. Thankfully for all of us, teaching kindergarten is his passion! When he is not teaching little ones how to read and count he is blogging, creating curriculum and resources for the classroom, and conducting professional development sessions to help teachers around the country make their classrooms a more fun, effective and interactive place to learn! 

Q: What is a must-have classroom tool for a successful school year?

• My No. 1 classroom must have is a wireless doorbell. Use the doorbell as your attention getter. No clapping. No call and response. Simply ring the bell and students freeze! 
• Another must have for the classroom are glue sponges! No more lost lids, dried-up glue sticks and clogged up glue bottles. And no more spending money on glue all year long! 
• Want to save time on assessment and data collection? ESGI is a must have for assessing students! Easy, fast one on one assessments. Instant data. Personalized reports and letters home. 
• This one might be a bit biased, but the TKS BOOTCAMP CURRICULUM is another must have for my class. Ninety-five percent of my students are ELL and they all leave me reading at grade level and that is due in large part to our BOOTCAMP BUNDLE! 

My number one must have for my is my “person”. I have to have someone I can go to for advice, a pep talk, maybe a scream, and laugh! Next would be my calendar...because without it, I am lost! #30seconds

— Renee (@HerrenRenee) August 2, 2018

A1 kindness #BackToSchool2018 #30seconds

— melinda (@justbeachy74) August 2, 2018

Every teacher needs a stash of chocolate or candy for when they need a pick-me-up. #30Seconds

— Male K Teacher (@MaleKTeacher) August 2, 2018

Q: What are some things you do to prepare for back to school?

• I identify an area where I want to improve and focus on professionally over the summer. This year it was guided reading, so I hosted a book study on guided reading and am working to improving my guided-reading instruction.

I agree! This year I read #TheBookWhisperer by Donalyn Miller. I plan on implementing the #40BookChallenge for the first time and I am pumped! #30seconds

— Renee (@HerrenRenee) August 2, 2018

• RELAX AND RECHARGE! Get some rest. Do some self-care so you can be the best teacher possible for a new school year and a new group of students!
• PURGE!!! Ya’ll, teachers are hoarders! Seriously. We save everything. Every year I try to purge some stuff from my classroom (and then bring more stuff back in!). It’s always so refreshing to see that pile of stuff leave the room!

Purging can be so difficult, but I definitely agree. My philosophy is that if you haven’t touched it in 2 years... it’s time to go! #30Seconds

— Male K Teacher (@MaleKTeacher) August 2, 2018

• Connect with other educators and parents! We all need to talk, share ideas, vent and collaborate, so make those connections online or in real life because we’re all in this together!!

A2 I get all of the back to school supplies and new clothes purchased by the middle of August! #30seconds

— Beth DiMauro (@BethDimauro) August 2, 2018

LOVE THIS IDEA! Last year I purged my math and literacy center games and did a fun giveaway where one teacher won all of the stuff I was replacing! It was amazing! #30Seconds

— kindersmorgasboard (@kindersmorgie) August 2, 2018

Q: What are your favorite back-to-school read alouds?

• “Miss Nelson Is Missing” is a great book for discussions about behavior!
• “Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready For Kindergarten” is a great first-day-of-kindergarten story about preparing for school and how we feel!
• “Howay For Wodney Wat” is a great book to tackle the issue of acceptance, differences and bullying!
• “Giraffes Can’t Dance” is great for having conversations about all the things we will learn during our school year!

One of my favorite #backtoschool read alouds is The OK Book by Amy Krouse Rosenthal & Tom Lichtenheld! It would be best for the kiddos to know the letters 'O' and 'K' before reading though! ;) #30seconds

— Renee (@HerrenRenee) August 2, 2018

A3- LOVE this book! There are so many writing activities that could go with it! #30seconds #backtoschoolbooks @kindersmorgie @markteague90 pic.twitter.com/Z1I0zwZp0V

— Dana Lester (@Commontothecore) August 2, 2018

A new book I was introduced to today by @FoxwellForest is We Don’t Eat Our Classmates. I can’t wait to read this to my students! #30Seconds

— Male K Teacher (@MaleKTeacher) August 2, 2018

Q: What are some must-teach procedures or routines in your class?

• The first routine we learn is the cleanup procedure! When the cleanup song comes on, we have four minutes to clean up and be on the carpet! We learn how to do this on day one!
• How to use the bathroom. Especially for the boys. No one wants a nasty bathroom in their home or classroom! Check out the toilet spider trick to save your sanity and your family or class from a gross bathroom! 
• We explicitly teach how to use each of our school supplies. This takes a few weeks but makes for a much smoother year. We make an anchor chart for each supply and display those in the classroom. 
• Another important routine is DISMISSAL! How to pack up your stuff. Where to go for dismissal. Making sure everyone knows how they go home and where to go for that dismissal. Dismissal is so hard at the beginning!

It so important to explicitly teach your students how to line up. You can just say “line up” and expect them to know what to do. Bathroom procedures, recess expectations, how to sit at the carpet, etc. are all things that you must think about. #30Seconds

— Male K Teacher (@MaleKTeacher) August 2, 2018

Routine is so important! Also kids need to learn to take direction in order to be Line Leader 😀 #30Seconds

— Mindy Sharp (@MsMin) August 2, 2018

You’re awesome! It’s so important to teach those things prior to entering kindergarten. Will they master them before kindergarten? Of course not; however, at least they are being exposed at a young age. #30Seconds

— Male K Teacher (@MaleKTeacher) August 2, 2018

Q: How do you build relationships with students starting on day one?

• To build relationships on day one we try to make contact with the families prior to school. For us this is meet the teacher night. This helps ease some of the fear and stress.
• Implement morning meeting starting on day one! The morning meeting is what connects us and builds that sense of family, the sense of belonging and community. 
• Want to build relationships with your students? Eat with them! Once a week or every day! Sit in the cafeteria and have lunch with them! This is how we bond: over food! It’s worth the sacrifice! 
• To build relationships you must HAVE FUN!!! Laugh! Be silly! Your kids will love seeing you laugh and have fun every day!

A5 go around the room for introductions plus each kid tell 1 thing they done over summer Break #BackToSchool2018 #30seconds

— melinda (@justbeachy74) August 2, 2018

Get to know your students and their interests! The more you build relationships with your students the first week of school, the more successful your school year is going to be. #30Seconds

— Male K Teacher (@MaleKTeacher) August 2, 2018

Q: What is your number one organizational tip?

• To be organized, LABEL EVERYTHING! Labels help me to know where things go and what I can find in every bin and basket!
• To be organized, put things where they go immediately. I am so bad at just piling stuff up. Then stuff gets lost and I get stressed. This year I am being intentional about putting things in their spot immediately.
• I have drawers for each day of the week. Monday morning, I put all of the materials for each day in the drawers. This makes it easy for me to find what I need each day!

A6 Yes! Have a place for everything before school starts! Have a plan and a place for all those supplies that come in like a wrecking ball! #30seconds #backtoschool https://t.co/0yhva2jMPG

— Dana Lester (@Commontothecore) August 2, 2018

Totally agree! It’s important to establish a positive home to school connection and to establish a positive relationship with parents too! #30Seconds

— Male K Teacher (@MaleKTeacher) August 2, 2018

Q: What advice do you have for parents and teachers as the new school year begins?

• Teachers, ASK FOR HELP! Teaching is isolating and overwhelming. Don’t be afraid to reach out and ask for help, advice and support!
• Find a positive in every day. Even on the worst of days you find one positive moment to hold onto. Those moments will get you through the challenging days and years!
• Don’t compare yourself to anyone. We are all unique. Our students are all unique. Our classrooms are unique. We cannot compare ourselves to one another and succeed. DO YOU. BE YOU.
• You cannot do it all and that is OK! Pick a few areas to focus on but don’t try to do it all. You will make yourself crazy trying to do everything. Focus on what’s best for your kids and do that!
• Parents, talk to your child everyday about what they did at school. It’s important to have conversations to build language and nurture a love for school.

I sponsored a writing contest with a teacher friend of mine----I think I had as much fun as the kids did. Every little bit helps to motivate them. #30seconds

— 💕 Toni B 💕 (@rychepet) August 2, 2018

A7: Parents: Teach. Your. Children. How. To. Tie. Shoes.
Teachers: Work smarter with your teammates instead of harder by yourself. #30seconds

— Shannon Hocutt (@MissHocutt) August 2, 2018

Another thing I think is important is for parents to keep their contact info up to date! Please make sure your child’s teacher knows how to get in touch with you and what the best way is! #30seconds

— Renee (@HerrenRenee) August 2, 2018

Is everyone ready for a FREE GIFT!? Tonight, everyone gets a free printable download of “10 Ways To Prepare Your Child For Kindergarten!”

Be sure to follow @kidnersmorgie, like him on Facebook, visit TheKindergartenSmorgasboard.com and read his 30Seconds tips!

My 3rd grade teacher, Mrs. Sears is the reason I became a teacher. She made school so much fun and inspires me to have fun in the classroom. And we’re still friends today! #30Seconds

— kindersmorgasboard (@kindersmorgie) August 2, 2018

Teachers are saviors! Thank you! #30Seconds

— TheDoughman (@TheDoughman) August 2, 2018