Before You Switch Grade Levels…Read This!

Before you switch grade levels, read on teacher friend!

Switching grade levels can be a stressful and challenging time for any teacher- especially if they are doing a big jump between grades. Today I am sharing with you some tips and tricks on how you can best prepare to switch grade levels and make the most of the new school year!

Switching from first grade to fifth grade is going to be a challenge

Change is a good thing and I knew switching to 5th from 1st grade would be a challenge

I recently finished up my last year of teaching first grade.  Now, to be honest, I don’t know if it was really my last year of teaching first grade, but for now I’m switching grade levels and don’t have plans to head back.  I’ve known I was switching schools and grade levels since January and I talked about how to switch schools as a teacher this blog post.  The first thing I want to say is that I just needed a challenge. I was feeling burned and bored as my friend Amber would say.  I knew that I needed to change and I wanted to switch schools.  Switching schools was already on my list of things I needed to do.  When I talked to the principal of the school I was moving to she offered me first or fifth grade and while first grade would have been comfortable and an easier transition with moving schools, I knew that I needed to accept the challenge and do something different. I never thought I would teach fifth grade. It wasn't something on my mind.  I'm also the kind of person that likes new things and change and I'm not afraid of a challenge.  Weirdly enough, when I was in my college program to become a teacher, all of my professors that knew me really well said they saw me as a fourth or fifth grade teacher.  I'm really looking forward to getting to use sarcasm and going deeper into topics. There's things I love about first graders that I know I'm going to miss but at the same time, I just knew that if I'm going to stick with teaching, I needed to do something different and have a change. 

Changing grades can help with teacher burnout.

I was feeling unchallenged by first grade and wanted to try something new

As I mentioned earlier, I was feeling unchallenged by first grade, I had done it for so long that I was running on autopilot. I'm headed into my ninth year of teaching and I knew that I needed something different. I've always wanted to try every single grade level. I don't know if I'll get there but it is a big leap from first to fifth. I've also taught kindergarten as well. Kids are kids at the end of the day and I'm ready for it. What grade levels have you taught? Tell me in the comments.

Prepping for 5th grade math over the summer helped me feel prepared for switching grade levels.

I took the math textbooks home over the summer so I could feel prepared for the fall

The other thing that I'm doing to prepare for teaching fifth grade was taking that math textbooks home for Everyday Math.  I asked to take the teacher's textbooks home so I could go through every lesson, especially for the beginning of the year, and figure out the math.  Honestly, that's the thing I'm worried about the most!  I’m not worried about the other subjects, I just want to make sure that I'm a really good math teacher and not failing the kids.  I knew that if I could have time to prepare, then that would help a lot.  Learning the new math materials will also help me create new Teachers Pay Teachers products as well for my store.  That'll be a bonus that I'm really diving deep in the content and learning it well plus creating products that make money too, which is a win win. 

Take switching grade levels one day at a time.

I plan to take it one day at a time and make sure I’m prepared each week with planning ahead

I'm also going to prepare by being really planned out.  Having a full week ahead and advance and not doing anything by the seat of my pants. I like to have a plan in general. That's how I've run my businesses.  As well as how I am as a classroom teacher.  Once you've taught something for so long, you don't always feel like you have to be as prepared.  I know that this is going to be such a big change that I need to be fully prepared and not take for granted that I know everything anymore because I'm switching grades.  First grade was easier content wise and not as in depth.  In fifth grade, I’ll need to study and know what I'm talking about to be a good and effective teacher.

Be kind to yourself when you switch grade levels

I’m keeping after school free so I can have time to decompress and just be a teacher for once in my life

The last thing I'm going to do is keep after school free for a while. I'm the kind of person that when I've been at school all day, I really have to come home and decompress.  I do run a successful tutoring business.  I'm taking a little bit of a break from that, especially heading into the new school year knowing that I'm going to have a lot of stress.  The reason I've built up other parts of my business that are passive is so that I can do things like that, like my TPT store so I can take a break and not have to stress about not making money tutoring.  One of the biggest ways I do that is with my TPT store and like I said, kind of marrying the new content I have to learn with the business I've already created is going to help me with that and keeping my after school time free.  If you are switching schools or grade levels, please tell me in the comments below. I would love to hear what you're doing. Maybe you have some good advice for me if you've made such a big grade level switch I would love to know what works really well for you.

Be kind to yourself this school year

Remember that switching schools/grade levels is a big deal. Be kind to yourself this school year and give yourself some space to take it all in.

Grab the first 10 steps to make literacy time so much easier!

If you’re looking for more structure and a better way to get to all your reading groups this school year, click here to download my FREE 10 step guide to transform your literacy block!