Classical Conversations Tutor Prep

Doing my Classical Conversations tutor prep during the summer helps me SO much during the school year!  I try to get as much done as possible then when I have a little extra time so that I’m not having to spend much time week-to-week getting ready.

I originally wrote this post before my first year tutoring (last year, cycle 1) and am now updating it for my second year (cycle 2).  Most of this is generic and can be used year to year, but for the sections that change with each cycle I’ll add links for cycle 1 and 2 (and next year I’ll update with cycle 3).  I also have a lesson plans for each cycle so make sure you check that out as you’re planning your lessons (Cycle 1 tutor plans / Cycle 2 tutor plans)

Last year I had a mix of Abecedarians and Apprentices (ages 5-7); this year I have mostly Apprentices (ages 6-8) so my prep for the last two years has had those ages in mind.

---

This post contains some affiliate links.  If you purchase a product through an affiliate link I make a small commission at no cost to you.  Thank you!

Cycle 1 prep video here:

Cycle 2 prep video here:

In no particular order, here’s what I’ve prepped.  Let’s get in to it!

Resources

These have been my go-to resources as I’ve prepped for tutoring.  I’ve found lesson plans, hands on activities, ideas for review games, ideas for introducing new grammar, printables…all sorts of things!  I’m sharing my favorites with you in this post but there’s a wealth of helpful info so check these out.

• CC Connected (aka CCC).  Once you’re contracted to be a tutor you’ll have access in CCC to a tutor forum where people share tutor files.  That being said, there isn’t a whole lot of stuff there.  Some, but not tons.  There are quite a few resources in the regular CC parent shared forum though.  Everything I’ve found on CCC I’m linking here.
• CC official Tutor Facebook group for 2025-2026.  This has been my go-to resource.  Make sure you check the files for all sorts of downloads.  There is a new group each year though so make sure you rejoin the new one each summer.
• Abecedarian Tutors Facebook group – lots of good ideas for our littlest learners
• This blog shares her weekly tutor plans (here’s cycle 1 week 1 and cycle 2 week 1)
• Love, Mrs C. on YouTube shares video recaps of what she does each week in her class.
• This document has a TON of great ideas of how to present new grammar and this document has a bunch of review games ideas (click “make a copy” to see them) (shared in the tutors group)

I have cycle specific planning resources (for example, people who shared documents on CCC with their full, filled in lesson plans for each cycle, the specific art projects I’m using, scripts for hands on science, etc.) in separate posts so make sure you check those out also!

• Cycle 1 Tutor Plans post
• Cycle 2 Tutor Plans post

Classroom organization

I made a couple of things to help with classroom organization

• I made a moveable schedule for our day – I used velcro so I can change it if needed.  We typically follow the same schedule but sometimes things change (going outside for science, needing to share art or science materials, etc.) so I wanted the ability to update my schedule if needed
• A list of the students’ names for presentations – I also put velcro on this so I can rotate the order we present each week

I also made a few things for my tutor board (God with arrows for the middle, subject headers to go above the memory work.)

You can purchase a file that has all of these things (the schedule, student name list, subject headers, etc.) HERE.  The file also includes an editable Canva template so you can personalize it.

A couple of other things I found:

• I printed a scientific method poster (here is one option, there have also been several shared in the CC tutor group) to hang up during Hands on Science
• I printed out these cute, free food pair partner cards to help pair kids up for activities

New grammar

One thing I’ve done over the summer and I’m so glad I did, was I wrote all the memory work out for the whole year.  It took a ton of time and my hand was so tired lol, but it made my tutor prep each week much quicker because these were already written out!  I use shop ticket sleeves and magnet clips to put my memory work up on the board each week. (These are some fun examples you can imitate if you’re artsy: cycle 1 / cycle 2 / cycle 3)

Some items I’ve gathered to use during new grammar:

• shakers (rice inside small containers from Dollar Tree, you could also use Easter eggs)
• q-tips (for erasing on maps)
• toothpicks/tiny popsicle sticks (for pointing to things on the maps)
• googly eyes/finger puppets (also for pointing to things on the maps)
• agility ladder (kids can jump through it while reciting the grammar) – I bought this one.  You could absolutely just make one with painters tape but I knew this would be easier and quicker for me when getting things ready in the morning so I bought one
• history visual cards (my kids love putting these in order on the board) – cycle 1 / cycle 2 / cycle 3
• Latin visual cards (laminate and use magnetic tape for the white board or velcro for the smaller ones) – cycle 1 / cycle 2 / cycle 3
• Math visual cards (great for building the equations!)

We use our Yoto to listen to the memory work songs at home (see my tutorial about that here); I thought about bringing the Yoto to use as a speaker in class but instead decided to use a bluetooth speaker we have.

You can see what specifically I’m doing for New Grammar each week in my Cycle 1 tutor plans post HERE and my Cycle 2 tutor plans post HERE.

Fine Arts

During the summer I go ahead and plan my first six weeks of fine arts (drawing) including making my example projects so those are done and I don’t have to worry about them each week.  My first year I only planned the first six weeks of fine arts (drawing) in the summer, then planned the other quarters as we got to them.  Now that I’ve tutored for a year though I was able to plan more of my fine arts during the summer – tin whistle is the same each year (other than the song changing) so I’m able to use all my visuals and plans from last year, we (the tutors at my campus) will plan the great artists unit together later in the year, and orchestra is pretty similar as far as my visuals and activities go, which are done from last year, so I’ll just learn more about the songs closer to time.

If this is your first year though, don’t worry if you can’t get all of fine arts planned at once!

Drawing Resources

I mostly use Inside the Lines and Art with Allie for my drawing projects, along with some pages from this drawing workbook and other things I found on CCC, in the Sandbox, Facebook groups, etc.

Tin Whistle Resources

Tin whistle does not change from year to year, other than the song that we play, so here are my lesson plans that can be used with any cycle.

Here are a couple of resources that I’ve found very helpful in planning for the music theory/tin whistle unit:

• This is my favorite set of tin whistle lesson plans, but this one, this one, and this one are good too so check them 0ut and see what you like best
• These YouTube videos give ideas for each week and have been very helpful!
• This workbook and this workbook have some great worksheets/visuals/printables
• If you have an older class, this tin whistle karate looks so super fun!

These are my plans that are in addition to what’s in the CC Foundations Guide so please refer to the guide for the bulk of your lesson planning.  I’ll use it and the lesson plans I linked above for my lesson, these are just a few additional activities I’ll be doing for each week

Week 7: Parts of the Tin Whistle

• Visual aids: printed/laminated the tin whistle picture with the tin whistle song and picture of cacophony vs. unison (both from here) to put on my white board
• Song to teach the parts of the tin whistle and that matches the song on my printed poster can be found here (3 minutes in to the video)
• Activities: Simon Says with identifying the parts of the tin whistle (Simon Says show me the fipple, Simon Says touch the barrel, etc.) and Thumbs up, Thumbs down with positioning (I’ll hold my tin whistle either right or wrong and they’ll give me thumbs up or thumbs down)
• Put painters tape on their left hands to help them remember which hand goes on top

Week 8: Dynamics

• Visual Aid/Activity: Note cards (printed from here) with the various dynamics on them – used to introduce the concept and a game/activity for the kids to put in order on the white board
• Activity: make a list of examples (bomb exploding, feather falling from a bird. mom calling a child in from outside for dinner, etc.) and have kids identify what dynamic that would be

Week 9: Note Values and Staff

• Visual Aid: laminated picture of the types of notes (printed from here) and laminated/cut out large individual notes
• Activity: practice drawing a staff and notes using this method
• Activity: Make note flashcards/game cards (from here) for the kids to hold up as I ask “Show me a whole note, Show me a note that gets 1 beat”, etc.

Week 10: Rhythm 

• Visual Aid: Rhythm and bar line page (printed from here) to put on my white board
• Visual Aid: Note fraction chart to show relationships in the note lengths (could also be used for week 9)
• Worksheet: kids fill in note fraction chart to match mine (could also be used for week 9)

Week 11: Note Names and Scales

• Visual Aid: poster with note names and rhyme for remembering them (from here)
• Activity: Large notes/letters cut/laminated/magnetized for students to place on a large staff on the white board in the correct position (from here)

Week 12: Review

• Music Theory BINGO (our community brings all the classes together and does a tin whistle concert during our review on week 12 so I won’t have much, if any, time to review with my class…but if I did I would 100% use this Music Theory BINGO because it looks like such a fun way to review!  I may still use it anyway and squeeze it in for 5-10 minutes in the day.)

Orchestra Resources

The songs/composers change with each cycle but learning about the orchestra and instruments does not, so here are some resources that can be used no matter what year you’re in.

• Here are several options for listening to the music (mp3s, streaming, YouTube videos, etc.) – I went with the mp3s (from here) so I could put them on a Yoto playlist (tutorial about CC + Yoto here)
• These YouTube videos are SO helpful for planning each lesson! cycle 1 / cycle 2 / cycle 3

Visuals for my orchestra board:

• orchestra seating charts for each period
• describing music page
• orchestra song and descripton of each of the instruments
• Meet the Instruments cards

You can see specifically what I use for tin whistle, great artists, and orchestra, including links to as much as I can link, in my lesson plans (Cycle 1 / Cycle 2 )

Hands on Science

Notes/scripts

There are several fantastic Hands on Science scripts available on CCC.  I found them very helpful!  Check them out and see which one(s) you like best (I linked some that I like in my lesson plans: Cycle 1 / Cycle 2 )

I also printed a very simple science “journal” (basically just a blank piece of paper with the title at the top) so my students can draw a picture of what they observed.

YouTube videos

There are a couple of places to watch videos about the experiments before you attempt to do them yourself in community.  I will be watching one (or more) of these each week as I prep.

• Classical Conversations of Mt. Pleasant on YouTube
• Emily the Homeschooler on YouTube
• Elizabeth Wilcox on YouTube
• The Learning Center on CCC has a video for each week too, you can find it under each week’s tab

Review games

My goal over the summer was to come up with 12 review games so I’d have a different game prepared for the whole first semester.  Then (theoretically) I’d repeat them 2nd semester.

You can see what I prepped below.  I didn’t end up following this exactly (see what I used in Cycle 1 here and what I plan to do in Cycle 2 here) but this gave me a huge start to have all this ready to do, then I tweaked/changed/reevaluated as needed once I got a feel for my group of kids, what they liked, what they didn’t, etc.

Also, some people repeat way more often than this (some people will use the same game for 6 weeks at a time before changing and so only need 4 games for the whole year, some people will find 6 games they like and rotate through them every 6 weeks, etc.) so don’t feel like you need to do something different each week, I just prefer variety and wanted to be prepared even if I didn’t use everything.

Here are the 12 I came up with:

• Week 1: Would you rather? (review will feel very long this week since there’s only one week to review, so we’ll ask/answer a would you rather question, then a review question, and back and forth to fill time and use as a “get to know you” game)
• Week 2: Wiggle Worm (if you want to buy on here is this one on Etsy, but I just took popsicle sticks and wrote a subject on each one then made 2 with worms on them)
• Week 3: Ouch! (posted in the Tutor FB group so this link will only work if you’re in that group)
• Week 4: Pom Pom Bomb
• Week 5: Beanbag toss (tape subjects on the ground, the closest one they toss their beanbag to is what they answer)
• Week 6: Bug swat game
• Week 7: Mystery Bag (gather a bag of random stuff from my house, they answer a review question then draw something out of the bag and have to “act” like that item) (ended up doing Rocket Blast Off for week 7)
• Week 8: Stinky Feet
• Week 9: Target practice (draw a target on the board with subjects in each ring, shoot with a sticky dart gun)
• Week 10: Bingo
• Week 11: Roll a Pumpkin
• Week 12: Pass the present (will put my review flashcards in a Christmasy box and pass it around while playing Christmas music.  When the music stops, the person holding the box opens it and pulls out a card for the class to answer)

I ended up switching week 12 to Hot Stew and my kids LOVED it.  It was a favorite!  (posted in the Tutor FB group so this link will only work if you’re in that group but here’s another version that’s not from the FB group)

I also made a list of a couple of no/low prep games that if something happens (I forget part of that week’s game at home, the game is a flop, we finish way too soon, etc.) I can pull out one of these on the fly.

• Tic Tac Toe on the whiteboard
• Alien face/silly face (they get to add to the face on the whiteboard after each review question – you can let them just add whatever or you can have them roll dice to determine what they add)
• Mural (you start a picture on the whiteboard and they get to add something to it after each review question
• A tisket, a tasket (basically the same as pass the present above, just not seasonal specific)
• Say it like, while… (also a good one to use for new grammar)  or Animal Antics
• Dice (I have one dice with dry erase on each side from Dollar Tree and one dice with CC subjects; write actions or silly voices on the dry erase one, they roll both so one dice tells them the subject to review and the other tells how to say/do it)
• Sticker the tutor (they get a sticker to put on me after they answer a question)
• 4 corners

Some others that I have written down to maybe use next semester if I don’t want to repeat all of these:

• Blind balloon grab
• Buried treasure
• Jeopardy
• If (posted in the tutor group)

Other quiet activities (some tutors find that their students do better listening to the memory work while playing with a quiet activity during review time rather than doing games/activities.  If that turns out to be the case for my class I’ll try some of these):

• playdoh
• brainflakes
• coloring sheets (used code MYCHOCOLATEMOMENTS for 20% off anything in her shop)

My planner/binder

Now that I’ve shown all these other plans I can tell you how I set up my binder and it’ll make sense!

Tip – If you’re using page protectors, get tabs that have a pocket on them.  Those stick out more than regular tabs and will stick out past your page protector (if that matters to you).  I used these.

• Front of my planner: our schedule, our class rosters, the timeline motions our community uses, and a 6 week overview of the memory work
• Tab 1: Tutor planner (I have my cycle specific tutor planers linked here: Cycle 1 / Cycle 2 )
• Tabs 2-7: each of these is a week, right now it’s weeks 1-6, after week 6 I’ll switch them to weeks 7-12, and so on.  Behind this tab I have my hands on science scripts/visuals, fine arts scripts/visuals, any memory work prompts I need (like hand motions, lyrics, etc.), and review game rules if needed
• Tab 8: Some random review things – rules to some of the future review games, some Would you Rather cards, and some silly voices/actions

In my bag

Here’s what I carry in my tutor bag each week:

• my tutor binder (see above)
• an accordion file folder that has printed worksheets/hand outs, my schedule/presentation list, and some review games
• pencil pouch with small pieces I need for that week (magnet headers for my white board, timeline cards, visual history cards, little animals or pointers, etc.)
• pencil pouches with other small pieces that I like to have on hand just in case (four corners cards, Say It Like, While…cards, etc.)
• painters tape
• sticky notes
• wet erase markers
• dry erase markers
• sticky tack
• scissors
• magnet clips
• bluetooth speaker

Between my tutor stuff, lunch, water bottles, my Essentials materials for the afternoon, my toddler’s things…I have a lot to carry in so I use this wagon to get it all inside.

First day/last day of school signs

I love having my students hold a “first day of CC” sign on the first day and then a “last day of CC” sign on the last day, then I put those pictures side by side in the end of the year portfolio I make with their art.  You can get this one that I made here.

I hope this helps you as you’re planning and you have a fantastic CC year!

You might also like:

• Cycle 1 Foundations prep post
• Cycle 2 Foundations prep post
• Essentials prep post (all cycles)