TGIF (almost)

Whew! I am spent! I am having a great first week with my kiddos, but I feel like I have tons to do and even though I have a decent amount of time before school, between sessions, and after school, it seems like there is always something that is left undone when I leave at the end of the day. I spent way too much time this morning trying to print out labels for the new students I have gotten since the first day in order to make sure they have their name on all the different little things that I had already labeled prior to their arrival.

I got a lot done after school today and I decided that I just need to get into the habit of school "to do" lists. I love me some to do lists and sometimes I feel like I am not as efficient as I could/should be at school, so I need to fix that. I was adding up all the time I have and it's a lot. I have been getting to school at 7, so that gives me an hour and ten minutes before school. Then I have an hour and 10 minutes in between sessions, which includes my lunch time (but I never actually sit down to take a lunch, so I consider all of that planning/prepping time). Then, I have about an hour and a half of contract time after the kids leave.

That is a lot of time, right?

When I think about that, I realize I need to change some of my work habits because I should be able to get a lot more accomplished than I have been. I also need to designate a day for planning out the following week. My first grade team used to meet every Thursday for a long time to plan everything out for the following week. Now, I find myself with an empty plan book on Friday afternoons that gets thrown into my bag to take home so I can map everything out while I watch TV on Friday evening. Our schedule is pretty routine, so it's not like our planning is hugely innovative or different from week to week, but it still takes time to figure everything out and get everything organized and prepped. Obviously waiting until Friday leaves me very little time to make sure I've got everything ready to go. I am thinking maybe Wednesday would be a preferable day, but we often have staff meetings on Wednesdays. Tuesday could work, but then my mind is all wrapped up in what will happen next week and I lose track of this week.

Can you see why I need to incorporate some to do lists?

I still have a lot to do in the morning, so I am going to head in at 7 again, but starting next week, I think I need to give myself 15 more minutes to sleep and head in a bit later. I shouldn't need that much time in the morning, so hopefully once I start being super efficient with daily lists, I will waste less time and therefore need less time prior to school.

PS I really need a new planner/calendar too. It has been on my mind to get one for weeks and I just haven't. I am not really good with keeping a calendar on my computer so I need something I can write appointments and important dates on. Any ideas of where to get a good one??