Think you can’t start classroom prep without a class list? Think again! In this episode, we’re sharing low-effort, couch-friendly tasks you can tackle right now to ease into back-to-school mode—no stress, no student names required. We break down four categories of “painless prep” to help you build momentum, set up smart systems, and feel more confident heading into the new year. And if you’re ready to go deeper, our BTS Success course will walk you through setting up a classroom that basically runs itself—all without sacrificing your summer.

Prefer to read? Grab the episode transcript and resources in the show notes here: https://www.secondstorywindow.net/podcast/classroom-prep-without-a-class-list/

Resources:

• Back to School Procedures and Routines Planning Guide and Checklist
• December Teacher Survival Kit 
• BTS Success Course 
• @Thesourdoughmama on Instagram
• Air fryer paper liners
• Join the Teacher Approved Club!
• Connect with us on Instagram @2ndstorywindow.
• Shop our teacher-approved resources.
• Join our Facebook group, Teacher Approved
• Leave your review on Apple Podcasts!

Related Episodes to Enjoy:

• Episode 199, Time, Tech, & Tasks: The 3 Boundaries That Save Teacher Summers
• Episode 201, 20 Easy Back-to-School Teacher Tasks You Can Totally Do From the Couch
• Episode 203, 6 Teacher Traps We’re Saying No to This Back-to-School Season
• Episode 205, Use This One-Hour Teacher Trick to Start the School Year Calm and Ready

This is episode 207 of Teacher Approved.

You're listening to Teacher Approved, the podcast helping

educators elevate what matters and simplify the rest. I'm

Heidi.

And I'm Emily. We're the creators behind Second Story

Window, where we give research based and teacher approved

strategies that make teaching less stressful and more

effective. You can check out the show notes and resources from

each episode at secondstorywindow.net.

We're so glad you're tuning in today. Let's get to

the show.

Hey there. Thanks for joining us today. In today's

episode, we are sharing back to school tasks that you can tackle

without a class list, and we'll leave you with a teacher

approved tip for creating a barrel task calendar.

Let's start with a try it tomorrow, where we share a quick

win that you can try in your life right away. Emily, what is

our suggestion this week?

This week, why not try planning one low key get

together with a colleague? Text a teacher friend and suggest

something simple, like coffee, a walk, meeting at the pool, or

even just sitting on someone's porch. Keep it casual and

pressure free. Summer friendships hit different than

school year relationships, and you both deserve a chance to

enjoy each other's company without all the school pressure

being the focus of your conversation.

If you like this idea or anything else we share here on

the podcast, would you do us a huge favor and leave us a five

star rating and a review? Ratings and reviews are one way

that new listeners can find us, so really, every rating and

review is such a huge help to us.

Over the years, we have created an extensive library of

back to school products. So to help you find the tools that

will make the start of the new year easier, today we're

spotlighting our Procedures and Routines Planning Guide.

Well, if you've been with us for a while, you know there's

one thing we do really well here at Teacher Approved, and that is

overthinking. So Emily and I put our overthinking into overdrive

to come up with thorough checklists and literally

hundreds of guiding questions to help you think through all of

the possible procedures that you might need for your classroom.

Our goal was to think through all of the details so that you

aren't going to miss anything in your planning.

I like to say this resource is robust because it is

stuffed full of good stuff. So you get the procedures and

routines checklist, which is 26 pages, the procedures planning

guide, which is 54 pages, and then a digital version of each

of those. So the checklists are in Google Docs, and the

procedures planning guide is in Google Slides, and then you get

a teacher's guide for using this resource.

Considering how you want your class to run now is going

to pay off so much in the first few days of school, and it will

carry you through the whole year. And bonus, this is

something that you can easily do on your laptop with a good show

on in the background. You're moving the needle by doing

something essential, but you're not having to give up your

summer to do it, and that's the best kind of prep.

You can find a link to the digital procedures and

routines planning guide in the show notes.

Okay, let's talk about that mid summer feeling. You

know the one. It's July, you are enjoying your break. There's

that little voice in the back of your head saying, I should

probably start thinking about school soon.

But then you remember you don't even have your class list

yet. So you think, Well, I can't really do anything meaningful

until I know who my students are, right? And then you go back

to your summer reading or your Netflix binge.

If that sounds familiar, you are not alone, but here's a

little tough love. Waiting to do anything until you know

everything might just be holding you back more than you think.

So today, we are giving you a shortcut to feeling

prepared with a gentler, low pressure approach that doesn't

require having all the puzzle pieces just yet. These are the

class list free tasks that help you feel prepared without having

to do all the hard stuff now.

If you listen to episode 201 on TV tasks and episode 205

about Power Hour, this is kind of like their calm, cozy cousin.

Today we are talking about painless prep. These are tasks

that are low time, low effort, no deadline, and totally couch

friendly. Yes, you can get things done while watching

Bravo.

But first we want to acknowledge the emotional

roadblocks here. We know some of you are thinking, if I start

doing school stuff, it means summer is over, or maybe you're

worried about doing the wrong thing because you don't have all

the information.

And those feelings totally make sense. Waiting

feels safer than starting without your full information.

Nobody wants to waste effort or open the door to school thoughts

and have the rest of summer swallowed up by work.

But it really doesn't have to be like that. There's a

way to start gently. If you joined us for our July secret

webinar or for last week's episode, hopefully you remember

us talking about your readiness anchor. This is how you want to

feel when you walk into your classroom on day one. Maybe

that's calm or confident or energized.

That goal can be your filter for deciding what's worth

doing now. But if you can't even face thinking about that

readiness anchor yet, that's totally okay too. Pick a gentler

starting place. Sometimes the best way to be overwhelmed isn't

to do everything, it's just to do something, something easy,

something straightforward and bonus, something you can do from

the couch with snacks.

It's always better with snacks. When you start with

something simple and clear, you're creating momentum, not

just adding to a to do list. And momentum is what turns summer

anxiety into summer confidence. If you're waiting around for

full information before you start, you're just delaying your

progress. But clarity doesn't have to come from details. It

can come from direction and action.

So let's talk about some painless prep tasks that can

give you that direction and still be done from your couch.

They're low stress, class list proof, and they're going to

build systems that will serve you all year.

And speaking of building systems that serve you all year,

how's this for a segue, this is exactly what we focus on in our

BTS Success course. We help you use those first crucial days to

set up a classroom that basically runs itself. If you

want more help putting these systems into practice, you can

check out the link to BTS Success in the show notes.

But for now, let's talk about four types of painless

prep that don't require a class list and why they're actually

the shortcut to feeling prepared.

First up, we have tasks that will help you prepare for

the unexpected. This is sometimes what we call the

Donkey Kong strategy. So if you're old enough to remember

the original Donkey Kong game, you'll love this analogy. Mario

was trying to rescue the princess, and he's already at

max capacity, scaling ladders and jumping holes. Then a giant

ape starts hurling barrels at him.

The nerve of that ape. Barrel tasks are those things

that get hurled at you during the school year when you are

already at capacity. The spirit weeks, the school contest, the

'surprise, make a poster by tomorrow' moments. We talked

about these back in episode 188 if you want lots more examples.

If you've taught long enough, you know these obstacles

are usually pretty predictable, and yet we never prepare for

them. These are things like coworker birthdays, sub plan

templates, thank you note stashes, class party supplies,

returning from a long break without losing your mind. All

those pop up responsibilities that roll at you mid year and

then they completely derail your routine.

These don't feel urgent now, but they are going to feel

urgent later, and once the school year starts, you really

don't have the margin to add anything else to your plate.

So since these tasks are coming, whether you're ready or

not, you could try picking one of them to prep now. October you

will thank July you for having a plan ready to go for Red Ribbon

Week.

Our second category of painless prep is independent

tasks. These are your solo missions. They're the things you

can complete without waiting on teammates, admin, or district

decisions.

There's such freedom in not needing anyone else's input

or approval. You can draft your meet the teacher letter, plan a

calming first day welcome activity, or put together

emergency sub plans that work any time of the year.

Maybe you want to prep some simple crafts or projects

to display in the hallway during parent conferences. You can make

the copies now and then cut out all the little pieces, so that

you're ready to go in November or whenever your first

conference pops up.

Or you can work on your emergency sub plans. Plan enough

simple activities to fill any random day of school. Then

you're all set for a day that you break a tooth or have a sick

kid or just need a mental health day.

These kind of tasks are grounding and anchoring. They

give you a little burst of control, which can feel really

good in a season full of uncertainty.

Now, foundation tasks are our third category of painless

prep. Some things are sure bets. No matter which students are in

your class, if you are a second grade teacher, you can safely

assume that your students will be familiar with addition by

December. If you teach fourth grade, you know you'll cover

place value early on in the year.

So use that information as your starting point. Do you

want to make the week before winter break a little saner? Go

ahead and copy those December review packets and just fill the

pages with September and October level content. Pull together

math practice with concepts you teach in that first quarter. And

you could even draft writing prompts or reflection pages that

you want to use after the break.

And we actually have a resource to help you with this.

It is our December teacher survival kit, and you can use

this to do a little Christmas planning in July, if you want.

And it has everything you need to do to make December not the

craziest month of the school year. And we'll walk you through

everything you need to do. And there's a lot in that you could

do now to make December easier.

Some other things you can try are gathering the read

alouds that you use every year, or organizing partner games that

always work. A good rule of thumb is that if it worked last

year and it's not tied to a 'maybe we'll get to it by then'

standard, go ahead and prep it. That's your green light. These

foundation tasks are calming and confidence building, because you

know that one way or another, they're going to be useful.

So our final category of painless prep is framework

tasks. If you don't have your class list yet, no problem.

Names come later. Systems come first. You can stuff writing

folders without knowing whose name's going to go on them. You

can design your class job system even if you don't know who will

be the line leader.

This is actually one of the core principles that we

teach in our BTS Success course, how to set up classroom systems

and routines that work regardless of which specific

students you have. The framework is what creates that smooth

running classroom.

So set up your basic classroom organization, create

bulletin boards with blank namespaces, plan your morning

routine structure. The power here is in having the structure

ready.

And that way, when that class list finally shows up and

you're trying to get everything organized, you're not going to

be starting from scratch. You'll just be ready to plug kids into

a framework that's already humming.

Now, you might be thinking, okay, but is any of

this really essential to preparing for back to school?

And truthfully, no, not all of it is, but that is kind of the

point.

Even though Emily and I have spent all summer telling

you to prioritize your time and focus on what's essential, right

now we are saying that you might need to do the exact opposite.

It's how we keep things interesting around here.

Yeah. And also, we know that making the bridge between

full time summer mode and letting school thoughts in mode

can be overwhelming. But the antidote to overwhelm isn't to

do everything, it's to do one thing. So when we're

overwhelmed, it's because we don't have a clear next step,

and we solve that by completing something small and painless.

Then once we're done with that, it makes it easier to take

another step. These types of tasks give you momentum, and

momentum in the summer, for if you're a teacher, is everything.

Because action drives motivation, motivation doesn't

drive action. Doing just one of these things can be the jump

start that helps you tackle something bigger next week.

So how do you actually use this? Well, you could use

the power hour strategy that we talked about in episode 205,

pick one of these categories and focus on it for just one hour

this week.

Or embrace the TV task mindset. Add two or three of

these to your couch friendly prep list. These are wins that

can happen during downtime.

And if you're ready to think about your readiness

anchor, ask yourself, which of these tasks would help you feel

more the way you want to feel in August.

Okay, before we close, let's quickly recap our four

categories of painless prep. We have barrel tasks, which is

prepping for unexpected interruptions. Independent

tasks, which are things that you can do without anyone else's

input. Foundation tasks, where you build from what you already

know, even if you don't know everything yet. And framework

tasks, which is setting up systems even when you don't have

your names.

The gentle reminder here is that this is about momentum,

not perfection. Every step forward, no matter how tiny, is

still progress, and you deserve to feel good about that.

We would love to hear your suggestions for painless

prep tasks. Come join the conversation in our Teacher

Approved Facebook group.

Now for our Teacher Approved Tip of the Week, where

we share an actionable tip to help you elevate what matters

and simplify the rest. This week's tip is to create a barrel

task calendar. So tell us about that, Heidi.

Well, this just fits so well with our painless prep

discussion. So to do this, make a list of all of the predictable

barrel tasks that pop up during the school year. And I think

this is one of those things where once you start thinking of

one, soon the whole list will follow. Think of things like

Valentine's Day activities, Teacher Appreciation Week,

holiday parties, field trip reminders, the school's annual

math night and so on and so on and so on.

And then take that list of tasks and assign each task to a month

well before it's due. So maybe you prep Valentine's Day

activities in January, when you have a little breathing room to

get things done, and not on February 12, when you suddenly

realize that the holiday is in two days. You can try gathering

thank you gifts for your parent helpers and your end of your

student gifts in March and not in May, when you can barely

think straight. You could even try scheduling one prep time,

like the last Monday of the month for tackling the next

month's barrel tasks.

Once you have your calendar, keep it somewhere,

you'll actually see it, maybe on your phone or taped inside a

planning binder. When you need a painless task to tackle, you've

got options ready to go.

This works because it removes decision fatigue and it

spreads the load throughout the year. Instead of all of these

tasks hitting you at once during their official times, you are

getting ahead of the game.

And honestly, there's something so satisfying about

having your Valentine's activities already prepped in

January. I have to tell you, this is a strategy that works so

well for me. I am so much more interested in getting something

ready for three months from now than I am with doing the task

that needs to be done tomorrow. But it helps, if you can be

consistent about always being ahead, you're going to be giving

your future self a huge gift, if you take time to do things like

this in advance.

To wrap up the show, we are sharing what we're giving

extra credit to this week. Emily, what gets your extra

credit?

I'm giving extra credit to paper liners for the air

fryer. So we started using these about six months ago, and we

just finished up our first box. So they're fresh on my mind.

They have been a total game changer. Our air fryer was such

a pain to clean, and especially because it was getting used

multiple times throughout the day, and the kids weren't

cleaning it after they used it, and then the next kid wanted to

use it, but it was dirty. This just makes it so much easier.

You just put in the little paper liner and then pull it out and

throw it away. It's so easy, and I'll link to the ones that I got

in the show notes, but you'll want to make sure you get ones

that fit your air fryer.

Yeah, that's smart. I saw something online about getting a

silicone mat for your air fryer, and I bought a square, and my

air fryer is round, so that did not work.

Yep. You got to remember that all air fryers are

different. And I did look at silicone, and almost did that,

but I was worried that it would make it harder for the airflow,

like paper seems like it could rotate around it better, so...

I haven't actually used it, because I had that same,

where it's like, how is this gonna work? So I haven't even

actually used it, but I went and got the round one, and still

haven't used it. The paper sounds good because then you

don't have to clean anything.

Yeah, that is the win there. What are you giving extra

credit to, Heidi?

Well, I'm giving extra credit to the Sourdough Mama on

Instagram. Have you seen this, Emily?

I have not.

Okay, well, you're missing out. Now, I am not any

kind of baker. I don't even have aspirations to be a baker, but I

love her page so much. She just makes the most beautiful loaves

of bread. And it's not just pretty because, you know, all

bread is lovely, but this is artistic bread. So before she

bakes it, she scores a design in the top of the loaf, and then

when it's fresh out of the oven, she cuts the design loose, and

it makes the most gorgeous designs, like flower petals that

are like blooming or flapping butterfly wings.

Oh my gosh.

And she adds color, they're so beautiful. They

really are works of art, and it's super soothing to watch her

work. I highly recommend her videos if you need a few minutes

of calm.

Okay, well, I'm checking that out for sure.

That's it for today's episode. Try knocking out one

painless prep task this week, and don't forget to create that

barrel task calendar.

And if you want a complete roadmap for using those

first crucial days of school to set yourself up for success all

year long, check out our BTS Success course. It is an audio

course that shows you exactly how to teach routines, build

community and create systems that make your classroom run

itself without spending your whole summer planning. We walk

you through everything step by step so you can start strong and

actually enjoy those first weeks back.

We hope you enjoyed this episode of Teacher Approved. I'm

Heidi.

And I'm Emily. Thank you for listening. Be sure to follow

or subscribe in your podcast app so that you never miss an

episode.

You can connect with us and other teachers in the

Teacher Approved Facebook group. We'll see you here next week.

Bye for now.

Bye.