Prepping ESY can be easy and stress-free! You’ve done all the prep you can at the year’s end to prepare for ESY. You’ve downloaded your parent communication sheets and printed data sheets and determined your ESY themes. If you need help with these crucial first steps to prepping ESY, check out this blog post. It’s the week before summer school, and you’ve finally received your ESY caseload. What do you do now? In this blog post, I will detail the steps I will take after receiving my ESY IEPs.
Luckily, my district gives us one paid teacher work day to prep for ESY. This is what I accomplish in a 6.5 hour work day.
Step 1: Read all IEPs and Prepare Data Sheets
This step is the longest, but it’s the most important. Reading through all your student’s IEPs is imperative to understand their goals, preferences, and accommodations. While reading through the IEPs, I type their ESY goals into an editable data sheet. I created one that is free for you to use. CLICK HERE to access my data sheet. This step took me about three hours to complete.
Step 2: Prepare TWO Folders for each student
Next, I print my data sheets and put them directly into a folder. More specifically, I make two folders for each student. One folder holds their data sheets. I keep this folder at school. The other folder will be their communication folder. I created a FREE communication sheet for you to use, as well. CLICK HERE to gain access to the data sheet and communication sheet. I make sure I copy enough data and communication sheets for the duration of ESY. Step 2 took me about 45 minutes to complete. I would have been able to do this quicker, but the copier was giving me trouble (#teacherproblems)
Step 3: Arrange the Classroom
ESY is a short, half- day program in my district. Therefore, I arrange my classroom simply and quick. I also make sure to use the materials I have at hand. This year, all I had were scotch tape and sticky notes! First, I arranged the tables to create 4-5 centers. I put my biggest table in front of the interactive board. This will be our “home base” where we do group activities. I used scotch tape to divide the table into the spaces I needed for students to sit. Then, I drew a line down the scotch tape to make a visual boundary for each student to sit within. Finally, I used sticky notes to make name tags for each student’s space. I utilized the tape on all four sides of the name tags to adhere them to the table. This process took me about 45 minutes.
Step 4: Email my ESY parents important information
Now that I have most of the ESY program set up, I take some time to email the parents some important information. The following is some information I like to provide parents:
- a quick introduction
- the school hours for ESY
- ask parents to send a labeled bag of extra clothes and a snack
- Provide my contact information if they have additional questions
This step took me about 20-30 minutes.
Step 5: Make "Cheat Sheet" Notes and Group Students
My ESY prep day is almost over! Using the data folders I made in step 2, I highlight the ESY goals that need to be addressed for each student in “quick word” form. See the picture provided below for an example. Do what works for you! I wrote the gist of each ESY goal on the inside of the folder. Then, I grouped students by similar goals. This took me 30 minutes.
Step 6: Plan Lessons!
I have one hour left in my day to plan activities. This sounds impossible, but it’s not with my comprehensive ESY resource. I’ve already created my ESY schedule, so now it’s time to plug-in the activities we will actually do. In case you missed it, check out this blog post about setting up a schedule. I’ve included a sample schedule below, as well. My ESY resource includes BOOM cards and interactive PDFs that are perfect for group time. I take this time to pick and choose the worksheets and other activities that coincide with my students’ ESY goals. I typically use the worksheets and interactive activities at the para-run or teacher center. Finally, I already have my ESY task boxes prepped. I double-check that all the materials are ready to go!
