10 Things Chemistry Teachers Should do Before the End of the Year

It’s almost that time! Whether you’ve just got a few weeks left, or maybe a few more than that, the end of the school year is fast approaching. With the end of the school year comes that rush to get everything finished and wrapped up. To make life a little easier, I’ve compiled a list of some tasks you can complete NOW to save you some time at the end of the school year. Or maybe to save some time in August or September when the new school year starts. Check out this list of 10 things chemistry teachers should do before the end of the school year.

1. Put Stuff Away.

Easy enough. Just put away the stuff that you won’t need again until next year. Or maybe you put your stuff in locked cabinets or closets over the summer while summer school is in your building and you don’t want anything to walk away. Either way, you know you’ve got stuff that needs to get put away or back to its proper location. If you’re not gonna need it until next year, you can put it away today. Even five minutes here or there can really make a difference.

2. Clean Equipment.

Chemistry equipment can get dirty over the course of the year, especially if it is used numerous times and by several classes and teachers. And sometimes, the chemicals that come in contact with our equipment can cause corrosion and other issues over time. Now would be a great time to clean any equipment that might be at risk before it sits all summer in the hot heat. I’ve got some electronic balances in our department that get used so many times. And even though I provide brushes to brush off spills, there are specks of chemicals visible on many of these balances. The longer those chemicals sit on that equipment, the more likely it is to discolor or do damage to the equipment. So take some time now and clean equipment so that it can be maintained (and hopefully last) for a longer period of time.

3. Breakdown Labs.

If you have labs set up on carts or in your room that you’re finished with, you should break those down before the end of the school year. We only have so much space. Plus, depending on where you keep your lab setups, you may have unintended access by random people to those chemicals and supplies over the summer. Maybe summer school is in your building, and all the people in and out of the building could now have access to those labs if they’re stored somewhere easily accessible. I know over the summer in our building, many of the classrooms will be unlocked for a while. They’ll come in and fix things and wax the floor and do all these other things. You don’t want labs to be easily accessible. Regardless of where you keep everything, though, you should still breakdown lab carts before the end of the school year.

4. Classroom Inventory.

Look through what you have. Not saying you need a full blown spreadsheet for a classroom inventory. But you should have a general idea of what you do have, what you do not have, and what you might need more of. At some point, you will likely have to order supplies. As a department chair, we collect lists from teachers before we leave at the end of the year. Our new budget year rolls over on July 1, and I can do any ordering after that point. It is super helpful to have that list ready to go, so that any ordering done over the summer can get delivered by the start of the school year. Your schedule may be different, but the premise is the same. You know you are going to need to order supplies, or that someone else is going to have to do it for you. Having a list ready to go will make your life easier, whether you start to order over the summer or at the beginning of the year.

5. Chemical Storeroom Inventory.

You should inventory your store room too. For a lot of the same reasons as above. Someone is going to have to order chemicals at some point for the start of the new school year. Having that list prepared and ready to go will make your life, or the life of the person doing the ordering, easier.

But beyond that, you should know what chemicals you have in your storeroom. They should be organized and stored appropriately. You should keep track of chemicals that need to be disposed of. Every few years, we try to do a professional disposal of chemicals that we just cannot put in the trash or down the drain. Sometimes, there are chemicals that need to be disposed of professionally. I’m lucky in that we did a MAJOR cleanout several years back and got rid of a lot of the chemicals that aren’t great to have around, or got rid of the chemicals that are difficult to dispose of. And when teachers ask me to buy something for them, I check the materials to see if there’s anything in it that we don’t want hanging around our school. There are oftentimes different labs that can be done with safer chemicals. But even with the major cleanout and checking what we order, things still pop up. Like mercury thermometers that were hidden in the depths of drawers. So there are always going to be some chemicals we need to dispose of professionally, and an inventory can really help with that. And if you don’t have an inventory log, check out my Google Spreadsheet for keeping track of chemicals in the store room.

6. Clean.

Just do some cleaning. Take five minutes and clean a table top. Or take five minutes and clean a shelf. It might be one less thing you have to do upon your return to school in the fall. Let’s face it. Most of us are not dusting our classrooms on the regular. There’s too much to do as a teacher. But your room could probably use a decent clean a couple of times a year, and now is a great time to tackle some of the dust and grime. Clean as you go. If you’re packing up a bin to store it for the summer, wipe it down first. That way when you pull it out at the beginning of the year, it will be ready to go. You can dust the major things, like tables, and be ready to put out everything else because you cleaned it before you stored it. Save yourself some time and clean a little bit as you start to pack up your classroom.

7. Copy Ahead.

One of the most time consuming tasks can be make copies. Especially when the copier jams several times during your copy job. Save yourself some time at the beginning of the year, and make copies now. If you’re lucky enough to have a print shop or copy center in your district like I am, you can usually pre-send copy requests for delivery in August. If that’s not an option, copy what you need for the first week of school now. We all know what the first week of school can be like, so save yourself the hassle and the frustration. I usually request copies of anything I’ll need that first couple of weeks (or maybe even the first unit) as well as make copies of things I know we’ll need all year. For example, I request copies of our periodic table we use at our school in color, and ask that it be laminated. The print shop will take care of all of that and send it over at the beginning of the year. You could also do this with things like equation sheets and reference sheets. It saves me so much time. Do yourself a favor and get copies now for those things you know you’ll need right away in August or September.

8. Get Organized.

There’s no better time than now to do a little organizing. Why not declutter, put stuff away, and organize all at the same time. It might take you some time upfront, but you’ll benefit from it in the long run. Or maybe you need to label some containers so you know what supplies are where. I always find that if I reorganize my space, I can usually find more storage room for additional supplies or materials. I make it a habit of reorganizing every 2-3 years, and it always amazes me how much space I can free up just be doing a little reorganizing.

9. Declutter.

Now’s a great time to get rid of the extra clutter you’ve got lying around. There’s nothing better than simplifying your space and coming back to less stuff. And why would you want to drag all of that extra stuff back out of storage anyway?! Or better yet, you leave it shoved in a closet and now you have less storage space. Just why?! I’ve been in my current building for 10 years now, and I’m still getting rid of stuff I found in my classroom all those years ago. And we have classrooms in our building that have supplies from the 1970’s and 1980’s (and even older) that no one uses and it hasn’t been used in decades! Why do science teachers hold on to all that stuff? Now’s your chance to get rid of some of it. And if you can’t do it all now, that’s fine. Do some more the following year. And repeat until you’re finished. And it doesn’t have to all be thrown away. Maybe some of it can be recycled or donated. Maybe it can be repurposed. I recently took apart some really old, wobbly ring stands and sent an email to all the teachers in my building…an industrial technology teacher and an art teacher came by to take some of it for projects in their classrooms. Which means I don’t have to put as much in the landfill. Regardless, you can declutter and you’ll be happier for it in the long run. Do this will you organize, and you’ll be checking two goals of your list.

10. End of Year Check-List.

Do yourself a favor and write out or type of an end of year checklist. Better yet, get my freebie end of year checklist. As teachers, there are just certain things we have to do at the end of the school year. There’s usually some paperwork the office needs you to fill out. Or maybe you have to turn in your keys. Submit end of term and semester grades. The list goes on and on. And so you should make a list. It’s hard to keep track of all the little things you need to get accomplished before you head out for the summer. Make a list so you don’t forget anything. And start your list now so that you can write down tasks as they pop into your brain. Plus, what’s more satisfying than checking off those boxes when you accomplish a task?!

There you have it! Ten things you can do now in your high school chemistry classroom to prepare for the end of the year! Do you do any of these things currently? What other tasks do you complete as you wrap up the end of the year? Let me know over on Instagram. Happy teaching!