What to Do in the First Week of School

What are your plans for the first week of school?

Recently, we received a letter from Andrea, a new fourth grade teacher from California.  Andrea sent us a question which is probably on the minds of many of you at this time of year.

Andrea wrote,

“As I begin my first year, I am overwhelmed by a lot. The biggest thing overwhelming me right now is what to do during our first week. Of course, I plan to really layout and enforce those expectations as well as start to build a community within my classroom, but what sort of thing should I be doing curriculum-wise? What sort of fun things can we do?”

Andrea, we love your questions.  The first week of school is an important time to lay the groundwork for a successful school year, but it is also a time to start engaging students in meaningful learning and show them that learning can be fun and engaging!

Here are our suggestions for things you should do during the first week of school:

Be professional.

First impressions matter.  Establish yourself as a teacher, an adult who is confident and in charge.  You don’t need a suit, but you don’t want to look like a student.  The weather may be warm, but this is not the time or place for flip-flops.  Trust us. Yes, some teachers dress very casually, but you want to use every bit of advantage you have to start things off right.  Dress in comfortable clothes and low- heeled shoes.

Professionalism also means being where you are supposed to be.  Do not leave students unsupervised.  Be on time for lunch or recess duty.  Supervise passing time in the hallways. Have a procedure for duties such as attendance and lunch count and take them seriously.

Make students feel welcome.

Welcome students with a sign on the door or in the hallway outside your room.  Great them as they enter the room.  Consider having them create a product in the first few days such as an About Me page to share on a bulletin board.  Another great idea for the first days of school is to ask students to fill out a survey indicating their interests and their strengths and challenges related to your curriculum areas.

Find a few fun, age appropriate community builders and plan to do one each day.  This will help you get to know students and help students get to know each other.

For example, using a marker, write questions on a beach ball such as, What are your favorite foods?  How do you like to spend your free time? What sports do you like?  What kinds of pets do you have? Then get in a circle and throw the ball.  Students answer the question nearest to their right thumb.

Search Pinterest or Google classroom community building activities for many more ideas.

Learn student’s names as quickly as you can.

Seating charts can help.  You may want to create name tags they can wear around their necks or place on their desks.  Greet students by name as they enter the room.  Take pictures of small groups on the first day and label them with names.

Using student’s names as often as possible is good practice.  Dale Carnegie, who wrote the classic book How to Win Friends and Influence People noted that “A person’s name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language.” Knowing student’s names will go a long way towards building respect and ensuring a positive classroom environment.

Teach Procedures.

Have class schedules posted. Have procedures for dismissal, moving to another area of the building, bathroom use and pencil sharpening. Know what your non-negotiables are, and explain them to students. Share your homework policy and what headings you would like students to use at the top of their papers.

Discuss rules and expectations, or consider creating them with students.  This recent article discusses how to create a list of student rights and responsibilities.

Try to keep discussion of rules and procedures to no more than 50 percent of your time in the first week.  You will want to spend 50 % of your time on curriculum, too.

Be prepared with emergency procedures.

Walk students through the plan for fire drills and other emergency procedures.  Know the exit routes from your room.  Have an emergency kit and class lists near the door to grab quickly. You may not have a formal drill in the first week (though some schools require it) but it is a good idea, especially with young children, to practice a drill and set expectations for emergency procedures. Don’t let the first emergency drill catch you unprepared!

Another emergency situation to be aware of is students with medical concerns.  Check student files and be sure you know of students with severe allergies, epi-pens, diabetes or other issues.

Use a little humor.

You may or may not be the funniest person on the planet, but a little humor is often unexpected and welcome.  Share a relevant cartoon or poster. Tell a silly joke that is related to your curriculum.

Why were the early days of history called the dark ages?  Because they were full of Knights.

What do you call a number that can’t keep still? A roamin’ numeral.

Why did the scientist take out his doorbell?  He wanted to win the no-bell prize.

If students are groaning, you have their attention.

You might even have a joke of the day calendar and read it while waiting for announcements.

Plan a read aloud.

Every elementary teacher and possibly secondary teachers should set up a regular read aloud time.  Reading aloud to students is a great way to model many different reading skills and habits and increase reading pleasure.  Most students love to be read to.  Students who love reading will read more and in the process, increase their reading skills.  It is also a chance for secondary students to discover intriguing or fascinating information. Read a chapter a day, and be sure to stop at an exciting spot!

Check out our list of favorite read aloud books. Here is a list of favorite fall books.

Plan an activity to help students become familiar with curriculum materials.

Consider materials that you will use often such as textbooks or websites. Plan a scavenger hunt where students will dig through their books to find examples of things such as indexes, charts and graphs, vocabulary boxes and review sections.  Send them to a website and have students find different sections or different types of information.  Here is a source to get you started planning scavenger hunts.

Plan a few engaging lessons related to your curriculum.

Interactive lessons will engage students more than lectures.  Look through teacher’s guides for problem solving activities, which are often very engaging.  Puzzles are also high interest.  Another idea is to bring in many different resources and have students use different books and materials to find information about a topic and complete a graphic organizer.

Here is an example. To introduce a unit on mammals, one teacher brought in many library books and found many websites related to different animals.  Without defining them, she then gave students a graphic organizer to list as many examples as they could of mammals and non-mammals.  Then students looked at their examples and in small groups, made lists of characteristics of mammals and non-mammals.

Plan at least one portion of each class period during the first week for exploring and getting excited about the curriculum.

Plan a small group activity.

Many students learn best through social interaction. Plan a small group activity that will get them up and moving and talking with others. This will allow you to assess their social skills, and see who the class leaders are.

Give students clear directions and clear explanations for the task. Have a product they must complete individually, though they are working together. Circulate as they work to answer questions and prevent unwanted behaviors.  Smaller groups of 3-4 are better than larger groups.  Graphic organizers often work well for group work. Small group work often makes for a good assessment of students’ prior experience and knowledge.

Example:  In groups of 3 or 4, create a KWL Chart. Make a list of everything you know about the American Revolution.  List people, events, and places.   Then make a list of things you want like to know or things you think an educated citizen of the United States would need to know.

Over plan

If you don’t get to them, you can always use your lesson plans another day.  It is far, far better to over plan than to run out of things to do and try to wing it. Do not succumb to the “talk amongst your selves” time filler.  It is a recipe for behavior problems and sets you up as being ineffective.  Have some fillers always at the ready. Teach students a quick review game and use it when you have a few minutes at the end of a period. Have students make a “Top Ten Things We Learned about ____ ”  list.   Have students write exit slips. Read from a book of funny poems or extraordinary events.

The first week of school is both exciting and exhausting.  When you are ready and well-planned, you can enjoy the week.  This is what you have prepared to do and you are ready. This is your time to shine!

Go knock their socks off!