Summer To-Do List

There are 17 days of school left and so much to do! Next week we are going to the zoo. I have tons of habitat stuff to do before then, but all of my kids are so excited! I still need to make name tags, send in lunch counts,  and finish all of the things that go along with organizing a field trip. Thank goodness I have such a wonderful first grade team!
Today I started making a personal summer to-do list (mostly including going camping, going on bike rides, going on a picnic, and maybe doing some organizing) and it inspired me to make a school-related to do list. So, here it is:

1. Think of some great projects so I can do art every Friday! I love art and think it is soooooooo soooooooo soooooooo important that kids get to do it every week. This year I have so many artistic girls and boys, they NEED to do art! 
2. Go to some art classes that my aunt teaches so I can become a better artist (though I'm alright for first grade! :)) I don't think I could learn from a better teacher! Check out her work here! I'm such a lucky niece!
3. Rearrange my classroom. Big task, but I have lots of ideas after this year...
4. Plan weekly homework calendars. Or maybe monthly. I need to be better about consistent homework and practice. I feel like I can get a better grip on it next year after teaching first grade for a year now. I used Kelly's Kindergarten as a resource last year for homework calendars. She is brilliant!
5. Sort out my student books! Should I level them and sort them by genre? Just level them? Just sort them by genre? Right now they are sorted by genre and there are lots of books in the book hospital that kids can't seem to put away in the right spot.
6. Speaking of sorting: I need to get new book baskets. I got some last year when I taught kindergarten that worked well for moving around the room because they had handles, but I have so many more books now and I want book-friendly bins. These are amazing!
7. Speaking of sorting again: I need to organize everything! It's amazing how much junk great stuff you can accumulate being a new teacher! (Especially when you think you can find a use for everything and have a mom that is a garage-sale-aholic!)
8. Make kid-friendly seating options for read to self. I have some in my classroom already, but since I started using Daily 5 this year, I really want to get some more mobile seats like these!
9. Reread the Daily 5 and finish reading the CAFE book. 
10. Redo my word wall. Keep the words in a coupon folder. F is for First grade has a cool word wall idea here.
11. Make a journal jar. Genius! This is such a wonderful way to differentiate, too! Ah, LOVE it!
12. Do a monthly theme related to each unit of Treasures. Now that I understand the curriculum and have taught it all, I want to do more interdisciplinary teaching. 
13.  Decide if I want to share supplies again or have kids use their own and replenish them as they run out. Sharing is good, except when some most kids don't bring what they are supposed to...
14. Figure out how to best use my amazing new listening center! Love it, but can't quite figure out how to make it work best for the kiddos without a lot of teacher interaction. 

Oh boy, I've been so into this blog I've used up all my battery power! Let's see if I can get all of these things done over the summer! I also need to get some serious sunshine time in!!! Ciao for now!