Blogs 
Last week we debuted our back-to-school backpack, with notebooks full of great ideas for the start of the school year. We asked you to share your favorite classroom setup resources and were thrilled with your responses. Before we get into this week’s topic (the all-important lesson planning!), I want to point out some of the great resources that were added to last week’s open Google Doc.
Classroom Setup Roundup
All the resources shared by our community are worth a look, but here are my two favorites:
Ladybug’s Teacher Files is an adorable site created by a fifth grade teacher. Joshua Kwon recommended this resource and I’ve since been spending way too much time exploring all the organizational and decorating tips. So helpful!
This collection of classrooms comes via School Supply Addict and is full of fun ideas for setting up your room. It’s like Pinterest, but entirely made up of pictures of classrooms. Featuring everything from beach themes to dog themes, this site also includes great tools for planning your classroom setup and lots of organizational inspiration.
Lesson Planning Notebook
Now that we’ve tackled classroom setup, it’s time to think about what you’ll actually teach in your gorgeous room. There’s never enough time for lesson planning, right? Sometimes it seems like planning is something you could do for many hours every day, and still not be done. So the more help, the better!
The lesson planning notebook in our back-to-school backpack will provide you with resources to make planning easier. Need ideas for lesson plans, tips for integrating the CCSS, or info about collaboration? We’ve got you covered.
Debuting a New Planning Resource
In addition to the existing resources in the lesson planning notebook, we’re adding one more gem this week. In this video, Sarah Brown Wessling shared how she broke the CCSS into six buckets to help her plan and teach lessons. Now she’s back with a blog reflecting on what she’s learned from the process and what she plans to do differently this year.
Time to Share!
What are your favorite planning resources? Share them in this week’s open Google Doc. Let’s come together to create a list that we can all use throughout the year.
