5 Things to do on the First Day of Math Class

The first day of school is always a whirlwind for me. There are new faces, new procedures. New notebooks, new pencils. 100 boxes of facial tissue to be stored away and 100 lockers to help open. I love the first day of school.

Of course, as a math teacher, students come into your class with lots of baggage surrounding math. It can vary. Perhaps they have a parent at home who claims they are “not a math person” which gets passed down over the years. Maybe they had a previously bad experience in math and have therefore signed your class off too. Even still, you could have students who absolutely love math and are good at it. Math anxiety is real.

On the first day of math class, I like to do things that aren’t math! It’s important to establish your classroom as a safe learning space. Setting that tone is important for the rest of the year. You may have read my post on the first day of school, but here are some activities you can do in your math class on the first day that isn’t technically too math-y. You’ll likely have time in your block to do more than one!

1) Get to Know the Teacher

I love any kind of get-to-know the teacher activity. You can do this in a variety of ways. A PowerPoint presentation featuring your life, a pop “quiz” about yourself, or even a fun investigative activity. Let the students get to know you for who you are. It goes a long way!

2) Math Attitude Survey

This is a fantastic way to gauge the overall attitude about math in your classroom. You may want to keep it anonymous or have an optional spot for student names. I’ve tried both ways, but honestly, middle school students are pretty darn honest, even if you do ask for their name. This survey is not to see what their grades are in math, or what they know it is to assess their general attitude toward it.

3) “Math is….” Activity

This is a fun activity that I love using every year. This is another great way to assess math attitudes. Hand out a piece of paper or a sticky note and have the students complete the following sentence, “Math is_____.” They can write a simile, metaphor, or whatever. Some fun examples I’ve had over the years are:

“Math is like riding a bicycle and then falling off”

“Math is like a fun puzzle that I enjoy solving”

“Math is a boxing match that I keep losing”

Keep these papers until the last day of school and then repeat the activity. Then let the students see how their attitudes changed over the years, if at all.

4) “Math in our World” Activity

I am a big believer in student involvement, and for this reason, I keep one large bulletin board free on the first day of school. I found this awesome activity from Teaching on Lemon Lane where students brainstorm where they use math in their everyday lives. They each are then given a hexagon, and they can fill out with words or pictures (or both) one way math is used. The hexagons get added to the bulletin board for all to see. There are a lot of “a-ha” moments with this activity and students love seeing how they can apply what they’ve learned to their lives!

5) “Numbers of You” Activity

This is a fun activity that I’ve seen floating around for years and is great for you as a teacher to get to know your students better as well. Honestly, anything that aids in that is a great activity in my books!

I hope that you’ve found some activities to try out on your first day of school! What are some things you usually do on your first day?