Is there anything more exciting than the end of the school year? You and your students have worked hard all year. Now it’s time to celebrate all the growth and get ready to close your classroom door for the summer.
The countdown is on. You’re ready and so are the kiddos. Before you make a mad dash for the quickest exit, here are six quick tips to help you end the school year with a bang.
Tip #1: Don’t be afraid to toss junk.
If you aren’t going to use it next year, don’t keep it. Plain and simple. Outdated material and resources should go into recycling. Of course, you will want to clear some of this with your administrator first, to be sure it is okay to recycle any materials purchased by your district.
Tip #2: Clean off all shelves.
If your classroom contains bookshelves, wall shelves, or cubbies, clear them all and clean them.
Dusting and cleaning off the shelves will give you a fresh start in the fall. This also gives you the opportunity to reorganize materials as needed.
Finally, if you have any extra supplies left over, be sure to redistribute those to the students they belong to.
Tip #3: Clean out your filing cabinet.
A filing cabinet can become the worst catch-all, next to a teacher’s desk. Empty out all your student test papers collected throughout the year and store them in empty boxes. (Be sure to label the boxes so they aren’t accidentally destroyed before they are supposed to be!)
Any irrelevant/outdated copies should be tossed now, too. Organize masters and miscellaneous extra copies you need to keep in folders labeled clearly to reflect their contents.
Tip #4: Clean desk tops, insides, and chairs.
This tip would be best implemented on the final day of school when you have your last few students there to help you get the job done quickly.
Distribute Mr. Clean Magic Erasers with a safe cleaning spray, or a bottle of water, and have students clean all desks and chairs accordingly. Some teachers prefer to use Pledge spray with a clean cloth, but this might be best done at the beginning of the school year instead of at the end.
Be sure students clean out everything from the insides of desks and wipe the insides down as well as the outside. A thorough wipe-down of chairs could also be done with a clean cloth and a mixture of water with a gentle cleaning solution.
I highly recommend Fabuloso!
Tip #5: Move all furniture to one side of the classroom.
The summer months are the time for custodians to wax all floors to get them nice and shiny for the new school year.
To make their jobs easier, you can push all classroom furniture to one side of the room. This will allow custodians to wax the first half of the room, then they can easily transfer the furniture to the other side of the room to complete the job.
Tip #6: Cover and unplug all electronics.
Electronics should be unplugged from wall outlets for the summer. This includes computers, laptops, Chromebooks, smartboards, etc.
The most important reason for doing this is to ensure safety during the event of electrical storms or unforeseen natural disasters.
Covering these important resources also helps prevent excess dust from settling onto them and potentially causing damage to the systems.
This is also good practice for those who are lucky enough to have their classrooms repainted during the summer months, too.