Preparing for Maternity Leave!

Oh my stars, friends!  After nine years in the classroom, life is about to change.  After years of investing SO much into other people's kiddos, it's time to divide and conquer.  My due date is SUNDAY, and I am about to have a little peanut of my very own in two weeks (at the very latest).  My maternity leave is quickly approaching.  (As in, I just have to make it through Friday. I think I can...I think I can...) Aside from giving myself pep talks, I have been getting the last few details in order for my long-term sub, and I am excited to show you how I decided to go about organizing resources for her! 

Disclaimer:  I am not saying that this is the ONLY way to do this, nor am I saying it's the BEST way to go about it. Let's face it: I am a soon-to-be first-time mom.  I am a total ROOKIE.  :)  That said, the very OCD side of my personality couldn't just sit back, cross my fingers, and go to a blissfully ignorant place when it came to planning.  My students are definitely "my kids" too, and I definitely wanted to keep the train rolling after I jump off.  :)  Derailing is simply not an option.  So, I planned and planned...and prepped and prepped... and organized... and this is what I came up with.  Maybe it can work for you too!  Especially if you have a touch of OCD as well.  :)

Because I was simultaneously planning my maternity leave, gearing up for state testing (and our Test Prep Blitz), and trying to keep the rigor up while finishing up Wax Museums (all while dealing with never-ending all-day sickness), I decided to utilize Ashleigh's 3rd- 5the Grade Reading Workshop Unit 4 which focuses on mini author studies.  I liked that it would provide a spiral review for my students while maintaining rigor and providing quality lesson plans for my sub (without having to type them out myself).  This is the core of our ELA block.  Of course, the kids will continue reading their main selections, testing, doing their Reading Response Menus for homework, writing, wrapping up Social Studies, and working through their Word Warriors or Affix Avengers spelling lists as well, so I still had plenty of work to do.  Still, the author studies helped me relax a little bit without totally overwhelming myself. 

I corralled all of the books (and other books by the featured authors) into a milk crate so all of the mentor texts were in one place, and I numbered them so that they would correspond with the lesson plans for quick and seamless utilization by the sub. Plus, it will make it easier when I use the resources in the future!  Winning! :)

As you can see, I used neon garage sale dots for labeling purposes.  I used a different color for each week to help organize the sets as well as to differentiate between mentor texts and additional texts by each other.  Once I finished labeling the books, I made copies of each accompanying graphic organizer and put them into file folders with corresponding dots to keep it nice and organized!  After they were labeled, they were filed away in a single drawer.

Now, I admit.  This is putting my Type A personality on display for all to see, and some of you may be shaking your heads saying, "No thank you", but this puts my mind at ease.  Chipping away at it just a little bit at a time made it SO manageable too.  Plus, it's pretty, right?!  Well, it stayed pretty until I started stuffing spelling lists, spelling lessons, fluency checks, centers, and other resources into the drawer.  Now it looks more like this:

Just keeping it real, folks!  When you cram 6 weeks of resources into a drawer (just in case), you take what you can get.  It's not all rainbows and colored dots anymore, and I am at peace with it.  I literally crammed it all into one drawer for convenience, and then I labeled the front with colored masking tape.  Nothing super fancy.

Anything that didn't fit inside of the file cabinet is sitting on the file cabinet itself... like my Sub Tub... and a green basket with resources and files that need to be kept at the sub's fingertips.  I keep reusable name tags inside of my Sub Tub at all times.  I used to use the sticky tags for years, but this year, I finally wised up.  I made them for the first day of school, and they have been in the Sub Tub for subs ever since.  Hopefully they will make the first day for our sub even easier...even though she's already been in my classroom a few times working with kids and observing.  :) 

Other than that, I have the mentor text crate on my counter-top next to a few center materials that won't fit in my file drawer for obvious reasons.  (Literally all of my non-essential resources have been packed up to take that off of the sub's plate, and to ensure that she just has to leaf through the materials I leave out.

Aside from the file cabinet, I organized all of my lesson plans and master copies into a big binder so it's all in one place.  (Are you noticing a trend here?!) I tucked a tentative calendar of events in the front pocket as well.

Although I LOVE my Sub Tub to the moon and back, I decided to create a maternity specific binder because WHY NOT?!  The cute clip art makes me happy, and it makes everything a little more festive.  Don't you think!? I am working on finalizing an editable copy right now, so hopefully I will be able to make it available to you soon... you know... when my baby is sleeping or something.  :)  In the meantime, I have it available in my TpT store as a pdf file.  (FYI...once I add the editable version, the price will remain the same.) The New Baby Bin and Maternity Binder is similar to my Sub Tub organizationally, but the design is different.  (I totally need to switch the bin label out now that I think about it!)   I think it would make the perfect gift for an expecting co-worker!  I plan on sending a copy to my friend Rachel who's expecting in August!  Here's a few action shots of the new binder!

As you can see, I am ready to go!  We're just waiting on our little guy to arrive... and hoping he isn't fashionably late.  If he is, he may end up looking a little too much like this:

Good luck to everyone getting ready for maternity leave, and enjoy your time off with your little one!