Some ideas

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Some ideas
By Cathy-Dee

Tammy, since you know your grade level, contact your district office or state department and ask them where you can find information on the curriculum you will be using. Usually curriculum guides are accessible through several
avenues.

With the others who do not know what they will be teaching - try preparing a bit generically just to help you feel you are getting somewhere.
As far as decorating ideas - most bulletin boards can work for any grade - if you might be teaching an older grade then think of something not too cutesy.
My brother did a fruit theme once and it would work well for grades

3 upwards

Orange you glad to be in grade _______
So you wormed your way into grade _______ (worms with apples)
Isn't it grape to be in grade ________

You can get the initial board up and just wait to put on students names, etc., if that's what you might do.

You can plan some things for the first day - a get-to-know you inventory worksheet - some get-to-know you games - writing a paragraph about their summer - discussing class rules and expectations -a gym class -

If you are wanting to buy some materials for your room - look for borders that are coloured or with nice designs and not ones that have cute pictures on them. These will work for any grade level and are actually more versatile than the cute ones.

Find old calendars and choose pictures out of them for laminating - they are great for themes, decorating, and even to use as writing prompts.

Write out poems you want to use with your class - again many poems work with many grade levels. I read some quite advanced poems to my younger students just for them to hear the language and flow of the poem.

Most administrators recognize that new teachers will need time to plan and organize especially at the beginnig of the year so they will not be expecting you to have all your unit plans done right away.

And even with limited time it's amazing how much you can get done when you finally have the information. For my first job I was only hired 2 1/2 weeks before school started and I had to move as well. It was stressful but I was ready for the first day of school. Hopefully you will have great colleagues who will also help you out that first month.