Tips and Printables for Teaching in December

Hello, lovely Blog Hoppers! It's getting very close to December and we all know what that means—lots of festivities to enjoy, yet tons of teacher work to be done!

It can be such a stressful time of year.

So I wanted to share a couple of tips and printables that help me balance my planning and keep track of everything going on during these hectic weeks...and I hope they will do the same for you!

One of the best ways I ease my stress is to use checklists to keep track of all the seasonal-happenings. I use lists for everything, from winter projects, to the gifts I'm making for my students, to the thank you cards I will be sending families, and more:

Checking things off really eases my stress and lets me know exactly what is going on in my classroom.

And the best part? 

These checklists take just a moment to prepare...simply type your class list once and all forms are instantly filled in and ready to print! You can download this free resource by clicking the image below:

Another way I like to keep track of everything is with a December planning calendar:

This calendar not only allows me to see all important dates, but it also helps me balance out a busy schedule. Like working on our report cards, which are to be sent home on December 16th (eek!). 

In order to make this huge task more manageable, I break everything down into smaller parts and work on a bit each day. I write a few student comments every evening (or on my planning period) over a couple of weeks:

I do the same for lesson planning. For example, I begin my January planning towards the end of December so I will be all prepped for our return in the new year:

Breaking large tasks down and keeping track of events over the whole month really helps ease my stress...and it also gives me some time to enjoy the holiday festivities (or to collapse on my couch each night, as the case may be).  ;)

If you would like to use this planning calendar, please click on the image below:

Thank you so much for reading! What are some ways you like to ease the stress of teaching in December?