First Day of School: Thriving Not Surviving
As the first day of school approaches every year, I start to feel some anxiety. Will the students like me? Will I forget to do something? Is everything ready? Honestly though, over the years, the first day of school has become less of a headache because I’ve learned to take it in stride. Maybe not everything is set up, and maybe there are still a few loose ends to tie up, but so what? I’ve simplified my first day of school expectations for myself and have found it to be so freeing and helps me set the tone with the students for the rest of the year. Even if a few displays are incomplete, or the library isn’t ready, it’s okay. I now focus on three main things on the first day of school and have included some favorite activities to share with you! By the way, stay till the end for a first-day surprise!
Get to Know Students
You’ve all heard about how first impressions matter. I believe this to be true in the classroom as well. The first day sets the tone, and since I believe that student relationships are crazy important, and I see this as a critical step right there next to setting expectations. Especially when you’re teaching a subject that kiddos come into your room thinking as useless and impractical and hard (#mathteacherlife), it’s important to build a relationship that fosters the feeling of a safe space. Show the students that you genuinely care about them. Making an effort to learn their names quickly, and smiling and welcoming students by creating a common interest is sure to have them going home excited about the rest of the school year. By the way, as you likely already know, students looooove learning things about their teacher and making connections that way too! Don’t be afraid to share some details about yourself!
Set Expectations
Expectations on the first day are important, but rather than bore the students with a list of things they’ve likely tuned out anyway, hit key expectations that they’ll be sure to encounter on day one (like bathroom and pencils) and save the rest for later. If your school, like some of mine I’ve been at, is school-wide activity heavy, you won’t likely have time to establish good arrival and dismissal routines on the first day anyway. There’s nothing wrong with breaking up expectations on a as-needed basis. The kiddos aren’t likely to remember everything anyway - especially if you teach in a setting where you only have them once or twice a day.
Have Some Fun
Set the tone that learning is indeed fun. Have some fun seeing where your students are at as well. They’ve just come from weeks off and might freak out if you present them with a pre-course test in the first hours of school starting. Try something light and low key that will engage them, work their minds, and give you an idea of where they’re at. In math, an activity I’ve tried is called “Math is like…” where the students come up with what they think math is like. To maximize the activity, keep their responses until the end of the year and see if any of them have changed their mind! Check out a few of the examples I’ve seen in my class below! Another fun one is one I got from teachingonlemonlane (??). I get the kiddos to brainstorm how math is used in everyday life, and let me tell you, the list is LONG every year. I then assign a topic to each of them and add it to the prepped bulletin board. Not only do they love adding to displays, they think outside of the box. Finally, I love to do a math inventory about their feelings about math and school in general. The students are always surprisingly detailed and honest and I love reading their responses. You can get a copy of this math inventory in my teachers pay teachers store!
Bonus: Reach Out Before School Starts
One of my favorite things to do before school starts is send out some teacher mail introducing myself and welcoming each student to my class. I’ve done this a few different ways, but my favorite by far is sending postcards. When I had a small class, I would literally get postcards from any place I visited over the Summer and send them out. I would encourage students to bring their postcards and I would talk about each place I’d been to. It was a great icebreaker on the first day. Alternatively, I’ve also sent generic ones. This is great for middle school. When students come on the first day, they’ll already feel some kind of connection with you!
