In my last blog post – we Fab Fived your classroom!!! 🙌🏼 After all of the work that you put in to set it up at the start of the year… I hope it finally feels great to be in that space again! It’s perfect timing in preparation for the golden Term 3! So, friend, turn off the laminator! Because this week? We’re going to fab five YOU!!

I want you heading into Term 3 feeling on top of the absolute world! I know that you have worked incredibly hard balancing millions of things last term… so this is not going to be an 18 point list of how to prepare for next term. It’s just a few basics that are about making YOU feel good, so that you step into your classroom on day one of Term 3 feeling ready for the best term yet.

So here’s what I would love for you…

#1 Put the scissors down and turn the laminator off…it’s time to REST!

Honestly…you have worked INCREDIBLY hard during Term 2. Inquiry units, assessments, teaching, school community requirements, reports… need I say more? I really want to encourage you to put the scissors down, turn off the laminator and legitimately rest. It’s so easy after a busy period to just keep cracking on at a ridiculous pace. So let this be a timely reminder that you don’t have to keep pushing yourself. You’ve run the report race and you’ve crossed the line, so now you can do that Kath and Kel hip-swinging brisk walk that prevents you from falling over!! 🤣

You might want to go away for a night, spring clean your house or spend time with friends! And… if you’re not the resting kind? Put your energy into something that’s not teaching related, just for a moment. Go for a bushwalk or build that Ikea flat pack that’s been sitting in your garage gathering dust over the last few months… or is that just me???🙈

Just remember that you are more than a teacher… you’re a friend, a partner, a parent, a dancer, a singer, a candlestick maker! Whatever other parts of you there are alongside being a teacher… give yourself some time over the school holidays to really be that side of you. It will fill your cup and set you up for the term ahead.

#2 Treat yo’self to some new organisational styling

Once you’ve taken a good rest (and I mean a really good, long rest), when you get back into classroom prep… do some prep that’s about you. We can often spend so much time organising lessons, spaces and activities FOR the students – that we end up focused on the details and not enough on the big picture.

So, I’d encourage you these holidays to invest some of your prep time in getting your term overview documents and planners organised. I know that it can be so much more fun to design your creative play space, but at 10pm on a Thursday night when you’re hitting the hay rather than printing out your weekly planner – you’ll be thanking me! Plus, I’ve created the CUTEST binder cover pages and spines to help motivate you!! 😉

#3 Refresh your Teacher Toolbox

There is nothing worse that going to hang something on the first day of term and realising that you don’t have any string or pins! Which is why I see refreshing your teacher toolbox as a bit of an act of self-care. Plus, who doesn’t love a quick trip to Kmart to get a few packets of rubber bands… and ending up with a whole new winter wardrobe!!

So, which one of these top tips for preparing yourself for Term 3 are you going to do these school holidays… Rest? Treat yo’self to some new organizational styling? Refresh your Teacher Toolbox? Maybe all three?