The first week of school is equally exciting and exhausting!
I love seeing all of the fresh new smiles from my new students. When your new students come in, you know that routines are nonexistent and you won’t sit down for a while. This can be exhausting. here are some tips to guide you through the first week of school!
Tip 1:
Write out explicit plans for each day. No matter how long you teach a grade, it’s better to over plan for the first week. Every class of students is different and you never know how long or how quick your activities will be!
Tip 2:
Make sure you have morning work out and ready to go each day. Don’t worry about rigorous work for the first week. It should be something you know all of your students, regardless of their level, can do independently. This will give you time to guide students into the classroom without having students coming up to you every few minutes.
Tip 3:
Incorporate a “get to know me” activity into the week. Letting the students share about themselves and teaching them to listen to their peers helps to set up a positive community environment in your classroom. Don’t skip sharing about yourself! Your students will have a stronger connection with you if you share about yourself and your life.
Tip 4:
Take a breathe. The first week is not the time to worry about fitting it all in. Slow everything WAY down and embed procedures and routines into every single thing you do. Taking the time to really teach those routines saves you in the long run. Take your class out and practice a line, practice sitting at the lunch tables, practice talk partners, practice turning in papers, etc. Just practice
E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G
until you feel like you can’t possibly practice anymore. Then, practice a little more. You will be thanking yourself in the winter and spring when your class can practically run itself!
Tip 5:
Generate classroom rules as a class. Even if you have set rules posters that you use, let the students guide you to these rules. As the students participate in this discussion, write them down on chart paper. This gives your rules more meaning. I’ve even had my students sign the chart when we’re finished and then I hang it up on the wall. This is a reminder that these rules were agreed upon by everyone in the class.
Tip 6:
Communicate with parents. Parent support is huge, no matter what grade you teach. Find a way to send a positive message about the class as a whole or, if you have time, individual students the first week of school. This will go a long way with building positive relationships with your families!
Tip 7:
Make it a point to get a student work sample up on the walls. Make a big deal of star work and the expectations for star work. When students see their work go up, they will feel proud and excited and work hard to get their work up on the wall again.
Tip 8:
Get to know your student’s names. Make sure to say your students names often during this first week. Getting to know your students names quickly will help you bond with them and will help with management. This also helps setting up a classroom community!
Tip 9:
Leave shortly after your students at the end of the day. The first week of school can be a blur of new faces, visits from old students, classroom supplies and lots and lots of introductions. The first week, I always suggest you leave
at the end of everyday without staying late. You will always have something on your to-do list. It’s more important that you get home, spend time with your family and rest. Your students will need you well-rested and energetic each day, not as the zombie teacher.
Tip 10:
Treat yourself! When Friday hits and you’ve made it through the firstweekofschool, get yourself a treat! Whether it’s a stop at Starbucks before school or a sweet treat for lunch, you made it through one of the hardest weeks of school and you deserve a treat!
