Preparing for maternity leave can be so overwhelming. Not only are you still teaching each day, but you’re also asked to put together sub plans, get your classroom ready and basically spell out all you do depending on what time of year you go on leave. One way I got ready for my leave was putting together a teacher maternity leave binder. This binder houses many important aspects of my classroom that I wanted to leave with my long-term sub to help her transition smoothly into her new role.
What’s Inside My Teacher Maternity Leave Binder
Classroom Logistics
In this section, I include where things are in my classroom. I’ve never been a long-term sub but I imagine it can get pretty overwhelming, especially when you don’t know where things are.
In my classroom, I have three big storage closets. I made sure to include what was in each of these closets and how they are organized. I also include information about each section of my classroom such as the math manipulative area, word work station, writing center etc. It’s important that my sub knows where teacher materials are as well as student materials.
Procedures
These pages of the binder explain arrival and dismissal as well as how we start our day, end our day and go to recess and lunch. Kindergarten is a very special age where routine is a necessity. I wanted to include these procedures so my students would hopefully be on their best behavior, since the routine would stay the same.
Important Random Information
While I was putting my binder together, I noticed that I kept coming up with things I wanted to tell my sub that didn’t really fall under any of my binder categories. This is when “Important Random Information” was born. In this section, I include how we celebrate birthdays, Scholastic information, the Art Show (event at our school) and our upcoming in-class field trip.
Random Information about Subjects
Similarly to the section above, I wanted to explain a few things about each subject that wouldn’t be covered in the schedule or the year long pacing guide. “Random Information about Subjects” tells my sub where to find certain things such as big books for language arts, or that we use interactive notebooks in science and that I have Friday math centers where we play math games. Any random piece of information about the different subjects she’ll teach!
Behavior Management
This section holds information about my three different behavior management strategies. I explain what I do for whole class, table group and individual behavior management. It also explains if student is on a special behavior plan and how to use that.
Passwords
This page holds passwords to websites I use and our page to make announcements to parents. It also includes any other helpful passwords my sub will need while she’s in my room.
Classroom Schedule
Here the sub can find our weekly schedule of what we do and when. I typed this in a table so it is easy for her to see what happens each day of the week.
Year Long Pacing Guide
Our year long pacing guide shares what we’ve covered so far in the year and what my sub is expected to cover. Luckily, I went on leave in February and I don’t have to return this year. That means she’ll be responsible for covering everything from February until May. I also typed this up into a table to explain what she should be covering each month in each subject. This will help keep her on track.
Weekly To-Do
This section is one I probably could have done without. However, my goal was to give more information and my sub could decide what she would use and not use. This section explains what I do weekly to be prepared for the following week. I included things like sending out our weekly newsletter, stuffing Friday folders and sending home sight words.
Homework and Projects
I send home monthly homework menus as well as monthly projects. This section holds all the monthly homework menus my sub will send home as well as the projects. That way, she can just grab a master, copy it and send it home for the month. No need to think!
An Inside Look at Kindergarten Projects Throughout the Year
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End of the Year
When I was prepping for my maternity leave, my friend (who went on leave the previous year) told me she wished she left a “how to end the year”. Of course you’ll only need this if you long-term sub is ending your school year. This section tells my sub what students can take home, what I keep and reuse for next year, how to leave the room, etc.
Of course, I don’t expect things to be left perfectly or the way I would leave them. However, I’m hoping that including this section will help her wrap the year up as best as possible.
Teacher Maternity Leave Binder Set Up
Setting up your teacher maternity leave binder is very simple! All I did was get a binder, print out all my information sheets, put them in sheet protectors and put them inside the binder!
If you’re interested in other ways I prepared for my teachers maternity leave, read this post.
How to Prep for Teachers Maternity Leave
On my Instagram: One_Kreative_Kindergarten, I show my entire binder and what I’ve included. If you’re interested, follow me on Instagram and check out my highlighted story – Maternity Binder.
