Congratulations on that new baby, Mama! This time that you’ve been able to spend at home with your newborn is so precious. And it honestly FLIES by. If you read this blog post, you’re likely gearing up to return to your classroom. And if you’re looking for me to tell you it will be painless to transition back in, this isn’t the place. I’m going to be brutally honest with you; it’s hard. Returning to work and switching headspace between Mama and a teacher is rough. It was much more trying than expected; it kicked my tail completely. I want to help ease that transition for you so you can return to work more positively.
Before we dive too deep into this, I want to remind you that your scholars have missed you. As excited and anxious as you were to meet your bundle of joy, they were as well. They have gone home and talked to their parents about what name they picked out and how they can’t wait to see pictures of their baby. I promise. Since you have been gone, they have been anxiously awaiting your return because, let’s face it, our kiddos thrive on routine and normality, and that can be difficult to get when their teacher is out of the classroom for any length of time, especially one as long as maternity leave.
In the weeks leading up to your return:
- Make sure you have your childcare plan figured out.
To give some back story, when I was pregnant, we arranged for a sweet older lady to watch our daughter for us when I returned to work. She had previously watched a coworker’s son and worked in the nursery at our local church, so I felt very safe and confident that it would be a great fit. After we had our daughter, my husband and I arranged lunch with this lady to make sure everything would work out and introduce her to the baby. As we had lunch, stories and statements were repeated several times, but we didn’t read too far into them. Fast forward to 2 weeks before I was supposed to return to work, I called her to check in and make sure she was prepared to watch our daughter in a couple of weeks, and she had no idea what I was talking about. Come to find out, she had been recently struggling with a sharp decline in her cognitive functions and was having some significant memory gaps with new information. She didn’t even remember our child’s gender. My husband and I, along with the sweet lady, all decided it was for the best that we had someone else watch our baby, as we didn’t want to put either of them in an unsafe position.
This meant that we were in a significant tailspin trying to find affordable, dependable, and safe child care for me when I returned to work.
Had I not checked back in to double-check those final details, we really would have been in a difficult position.
- Consider dropping in to see your students.
I don’t recommend this being an unplanned drive-by where you appear out of the blue. But it may be helpful for you to plan a time to come in and visit with your class. You may bring your child to introduce them or want to keep your baby separate to keep the chances of sharing germs low. With or without your little one, the purpose of this visit should be more of a way to give scholars a chance to know what to expect on your return. You can also use this as a time for a Q&A about the baby. If you choose not to bring the baby, having pictures or videos may be a sweet addition to share with your class.
I’ve found that for students who struggle with change and transitions, having this time beforehand to let them know you are coming back soon and reviewing your return expectations can help smooth that transition.
I had a few scholars who were very triggered by changes in routines, so I took this a step further and reached out to their parents the weekend before returning to work. I told them I would be returning so they could help prepare their child for the day I returned to keep the return as joyful and unstressful as possible. (This isn’t something that everyone has to do, but you may already have a scholar or two in mind who you know may benefit from this extra time to prepare themselves.)
- Focus on your sleep schedule.
When caring for a newborn, your sleep schedule is all over the place, as is theirs. As you’re getting ready to go back to work, you must shift when you’re sleeping to match the more traditional times to be awake and functional during the day and make it to work on time. Rather than doing a cold turkey approach where the morning of work you try to magically wake up on time and struggle into work, try spending the week before your return waking yourself up at the time you would need to start getting ready and then going to bed earlier to try to get enough sleep to make that possible. I’m not going to lie; you’re still going to be tired at this stage. Your sleep will likely still be broken, but shifting to more early morning wake-ups and cutting out some of your personal middle-of-the-day napping (if you were able to get them) will help when you return to class.
- Practice your morning routine.
While we’re talking about waking up earlier, it’s also important to note that your morning routine will take way longer than ever, especially in the beginning. The morning routine has been something I struggled with greatly, as I was one of those people who would prepare as much as possible the night before so that I could leave the house within 20 minutes of getting out of bed. I had a RUDE awakening when my daughter was born, and I realized I needed a minimum of 30 minutes set aside to make sure she was ready to go. And that’s on a good day.
To help prevent some of that panic in the morning, I suggest you do a run-through of your routine where you actually wake up in the morning and practice it with a timer. This allows you to see what your pain points may be, approximate how much time you will need, and plan to shift your routines as needed to make this process as efficient as possible.
It is important to note that I said to do this in the morning when you would wake up, not in the middle of the day. I recommend driving to the location of your childcare (if it’s outside of the house) and to your school to factor in the drive time and typical traffic patterns.
Protip: Once you have your anticipated amount of time to get ready, add 30 minutes to it for at least the first three days because things that eat up your time that you didn’t plan for will always come up.
A few days before you return to work
- Check out your classroom:
I’m a big believer in being entirely absent during your leave time; this is your precious time with your child, and you should protect that. I went as far as to remove my work email and parent communication apps from my phone while I was on leave to ensure I could stay out of the loop and focus on my family. However, it must be noted that walking into your classroom mindlessly the same day your students walk in is a terrible idea. You won’t be able to find your things because someone else has been using and organizing the space in your absence. Your lesson plans won’t be thought out; if they were, you would only know what they are telling you to do by reviewing them first. You won’t even have your copies ready to go, and trying to leave your students right away to get copies of worksheets is a nightmare.
Do yourself a huge favor and take the time to go in and see how your room is a couple of days before you actually are set to return. It can be easy to get bogged down with a daunting to-do list when you first walk in, so you must go in with a rough plan of “must-dos” that need to happen.
- Lesson Plans: Do you have lesson plans ready?
In these plans, schedule some downtime for building classroom culture routines and procedures, as you would at the beginning of the school year.
- Copies: Are your copies done?
- Misc Materials: Are there any other materials you may need (especially if you choose to do any icebreaker activities when reaffirming your classroom culture.)
Are there any school supplies that may need replacing? Note this, but don’t go to the store and purchase anything. When I returned from my leave, my classroom was completely out of pencils, markers, crayons, erasers, and whiteboard markers.
- Plan out your meals for the first week
There is nothing more stressful than getting back from work and not knowing what you are going to be eating when you have a newborn baby you have been missing all day. Or not knowing what you will eat for lunch and then going without because you failed to make a plan. Make sure you have a practical list of foods to eat that week. You could make and bake dishes, like casseroles, or even crockpot meals that you throw together in a baggie and then dump into your crockpot during the morning before you go to work.
If you didn’t have the time or energy to precook or assemble the meals physically, at the very minimum, make sure that you have purchased the groceries you will need and have a set of meals planned out to cook from during that first week.
When planning meals, I would consider how much effort it takes to cook, how much time, how many dishes that meal requires, and whether it makes leftovers that could be repurposed into lunches if need be. Trying out new meals during this week would be difficult because your brain would need to work harder because each step is new. Defaulting to more of your tried-and-true meals will be advantageous to you in this set of meals.
I would also keep on hand a quick dinner go-to in case you get home one day and have absolutely no energy to cook anything, regardless of your good intentions. A frozen pizza or a box of Mac and Cheese can be a huge lifesaver in those instances.
Within the First Week of Being Back at School:
- Classroom Routines, Procedures:
I touched on this briefly earlier, but now that you’re back, it is going to be important that you plan to reaffirm classroom culture and review classroom expectations, routines, and procedures. Your kids have been working off of different rules and expectations during the time you were gone, and most of the procedures you instilled before you left have likely gotten sloppy at this point without you having been there to maintain them.
Rather than diving straight into academics, make sure you integrate time to review your expectations. Otherwise, you will find that you spend more time than you should stopping class to correct behaviors, which in the long run will be a bigger hit to your overall instructional time left for the year.
If you’re looking for a fun review game to refresh your scholars on classroom expectations, I have this neat Routines and Procedures Kaboom game for sale in my TPT store: There’s a Plan for That. If you’re interested, you can click the picture below for a link to check out that product.
- Rearrange Classroom Seating:
You’ll likely find that your kiddos are too lax and chatty. It’s time to bring some new energy to that comfortable complacency that has happened. What better way to do that than by giving a new seating chart? The picture below depicts a couple of possible seating chart ideas, though you can find many more arrangements with a quick Google search if you’re looking for inspiration.
- Talk to your teammates and administration about what needs you may have:
When I first returned, I was so worried about picking up the slack of what I may have missed being gone that I burned myself out quickly, trying to overcompensate. I have a vivid recollection of being on a virtual IEP meeting while on “break” during specials and while also trying to pump in the “lactation/sick child” room. My supply of breast milk took a huge hit when I transitioned back to work, and part of it was a lack of communication on my end about what I needed time-wise to pump at work. There will be some give-and-take here because you can’t expect your team to carry you eternally, but you must be all on the same page regarding your needs while back in the classroom.
- Clean out Desks and Cubbies/and or Lockers
I’m likely preaching to the choir here, but the kids are gross. They can and will eat food from their desks if left to their own devices. Leave the crumbies and half-eaten food packages to be squished behind books and rot and attract bugs. When you return to the classroom, you’ll find the broken crayons, the dried-out markers, the spilled pencil sharpener shavings, and ALL KINDS of “goodies” will be left in those desks. Plan a fresh start for everyone and clean out the desks when you first get back and then take that moment to reiterate your expectations on desk usage and maintenance. If you have one of those handheld vacuums or access to one of them, they will be your new best friend during this activity. There is nothing better to reach those crumbs than a vacuum!
- Reach out to parents
Now that you’re back, I would send a message to your parents explaining that you have returned and giving a rough expectation for what this return will look like. For example, you may state that while you were gone, the students worked on the ____ unit. Now that you have returned, scholars will wrap up this unit and move on to the next unit shortly.
You may let parents know if any disruptions in the grading remain from that period to be scored and entered. Fewer grades from that period will be entered, or it may be an increase from normal because many things are scored and need to be entered.
Remind the parents how excited you are to be there and that you are open to being contacted if any new needs or issues arise. I would likely emphasize that you are aware that different expectations may have been happening while you were away, but now that you are back, everyone is starting with a fresh slate.
This may be a time when you mention school supplies that may have “disappeared” while you were out. Please send out a small wishlist of classroom items that need replenishment because of overgenerous usage in your absence.
This blog post has provided a wealth of information to help prepare you for returning to work. The critical takeaway is to ensure you have a practiced plan for your routines, including getting ready and going to school and your nighttime dinner routines. You’ll also want to double-check that your plans, like child care, are all in order before the big day.
When you’re in the classroom, you want to give yourself a solid plan of what you’ll be doing and teaching and a set of class copies of any worksheets you may need so that you’re not scrambling in the morning.
While you’re back in the classroom, treat it like the first week of school again. Your kids are readjusting to your rules and expectations again, the same way you are readjusting to being back in the classroom. There will be growing pains for both of you, but being armed with a plan will likely make this transition much smoother.
Well, mamas who have done this before, are there any tips and tricks to prepare for this return that I have missed? I would love it if you could share them with us in the comments below! On this topic, we could all use all the help we can get!
If you still need to do so, remember to join my email list so that you can get notices when new blog posts come out, as well as exclusive access to freebies in my free resource library, and I’ll catch you next week!
There's a Plan for That 
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