Back to school time is quickly approaching! Now is a great time to start preparing for the start of the school year!
The First Week of the School Year is All About Routines & Relationships
I remember my very first year teaching, back in 2000. I was so excited to finally have my own classroom. My first job was as a 4th grade teacher, which is the same grade I had done my student teaching in, so I probably felt a little more confident than I should have. As I sat down to write my plans for the first day and week of school, I froze. I had no idea how to start the school year. Knowing I couldn’t just jump into math and reading lessons, I was truly at a loss for what I needed to do. I marched down to my mentor’s office, feeling overwhelmed and a bit defeated. Thankfully, she handed me her lesson plan book from the last year she had taught. I held onto that gift and read through it like it was the holy grail of teaching.
The very first day of school, needs to be spent on developing relationships with the students and establishing the routines that you want them to follow for the entire year. The first moments are critical with your new students. Stand outside of your classroom as they are entering for the first time. Have conversations with them, find out their names, introduce yourself. Make sure you have a huge smile on your face that welcomes them back to the new school year. In fact, making a habit of greeting your students at the door on a daily basis throughout the year, is a great habit to form. This helps to start a positive relationship between you and each of your students.
As students enter the classroom, they will need direction of what you want them to do, such as finding their seats, getting started on an activity (click here to grab a free getting to know you activity in my resource library), and putting away their things. Whatever
it is that you want them to do, make sure that it will keep them busy for a set amount of time and make sure students know what to do if they finish early (such as read quietly, label their belongings, draw a picture, etc.). I always write the directions on the board so that they know exactly what to do when they enter the classroom.
After taking attendance, I often let students get to know me through a little true & false guessing game about myself. They always have fun with this! Practicing routines is usually up next. You must take the time to model and practice expected routines and procedures. This will help make the school year go so much smoother! Practice, practice, practice! I get my students up and moving and practicing throughout the first week of school, and throughout the year whenever they seem to be getting a little lax on the routine.
Routines to Practice When You Start the School Year
We discuss and practice routines throughout the week for:
- The attention getter, and expectations when the attention getter is used (lots of practice is needed with this one!)
- What to do when entering the classroom in the morning
- Where to keep belongings
- How attendance is taken
- How to walk in the hallways (we practice this LOTS!)
- When it is appropriate to ask to use the bathroom
- When it’s a good time to sharpen a pencil, and how to get back to their seat after using the pencil sharpener
- What to do if they don’t have a necessary supply
- Where community supplies are kept and how to use them
- The location of calculators, the check-out process and when they can be used
- Where to put completed assignments
- Where to place notes for the office and notes for me
- How to line up
- How to get ready for lunch
- Expectations for group work
- What to work on when finished with work
- How to check out books from your classroom library if you have one
- How to head their papers (Do you want the date? Subject? Hour?)
- Where to get assignments from when they’re absent
- The location of extra copies of assignments
- How you will dismiss them from class
- What areas of the classroom are off-limits (such as behind your teacher’s desk, storage cabinets, etc.)
When you have 10, 20, 30 or more people working together in one room, procedures are essential! Sometimes you don’t know you need a procedure for something until you are in the midst of it and realize that what is being done is not efficient or working. It’s ok to create and practice a procedure on the spot!
Develop Relationships with Your Students as You Start the School Year
Getting to know your students, such as what their likes and dislikes are, what their home life is like, how they handle successes and failures, what they do when they’re frustrated, if they feel comfortable asking questions, are all things that will help you to establish
a relationship with each of your students. Each and every one of your students deserves your attention, your care, and your compassion. Some students are easier to love than others, but the ones that can sometimes be difficult to love are the ones that need your love and care the most. The more time you spend talking to your students and observing your students, the better relationship you can cultivate.
In the first week of school that means completing activities that give insight into your students’ lives. One activity I completed every year was the Fish Bulletin Board activity. This activity was fun for my students, allowed students to see their similarities and differences, helped decorate a bulletin board and gave me some information about my students. 
I always do a lot of observing while they are working on the fish, because it helps me see which students love activities that required art and which ones don’t, which ones are perfectionists, which ones want to get an assignment done as quickly as possible, which ones like socializing as they work, and so much more. Listening to the conversations that students are having with each other gives me so much insight into each student. Interested in the activity? Purchase it here.
Students also enjoy the Top 10 activity, which basically has students come up with the 10 most important things for me to know about them. I learn a lot about students each year by having them complete this activity. I even learn things that are heart breaking but I always feel blessed that the students feel comfortable sharing with me. You can grab this activity for free in my resource library here.
Another activity that can give you great insight about your students and help you to start building the relationship as you get to know them is the ABC book. Students complete the book about themselves. You’ll learn so much about your students if you ask them to list traits about themselves as opposed to just things they like. For example, A is for adventurous. Grab this activity here in my TpT store!
Create a Classroom Community when Starting the School Year
Just as important as your relationship with the student is the relationships that the students build with each other. Fostering a classroom where students feel comfortable with each other, can work with each other and can support each other will provide a positive classroom experience.
A great way to start creating that classroom community is for students to get to know each other. Name Bingo is an activity that is
fun for students and helps them to get to know the other students. You can grab it for free in my TpT store here. I usually have the students keep the bingo sheet in their in-school folders for the first few weeks and we pull it out and play a quick game of bingo whenever we have a few extra minutes.
I also use 4 different team building activities every single year. My students absolutely love them because not only do they get the students working together, but they are FUN!! Notice how I’ve said fun many times about the activities for the first week of school? Yes, fun is important. These activities allow us to discuss the best and most successful ways to work together as a team.
Out of all the activities we complete in my classroom in the first several weeks, the students always say that the 4 team building ones are their favorite. I’ll admit that I really enjoy them as well. I love listening to the conversations students have. I am very careful to not give them my ideas and not to intrude in their discussions. Let them figure things out on their own, no matter how tempted you are to give them guidance! You can get your hands on these activities here in my TpT store.
Academics in the First Week
There will be some time as you start the school year (first week), to get some academics in. I always start my read aloud on the first or second day of school. It’s a super easy way to start ELA. Some time is set aside for exploring my classroom library and previewing books. Choosing a book to read and have in their desks for downtime is a great way to ease into academics. Some school districts require testing within the first week or two. I like to see where my students are in math, so giving some sort of pre-assessment, without overwhelming the students is also a good place to start with academics.
Go Slow to Go Fast
One of the most important phrases I always remind myself of when starting the school year is, “Go slow to go fast.” Taking your time developing the procedures, routines, and relationships will allow you to go faster when you start on the actual academic lessons. It can be a bit nerve-wracking to spend the first week or two on things that are not directly related to your curriculum, and you may feel like you’re falling behind right out of the gate, but I will assure you that you are not. When you spend lots of time going over and practicing expectations first, it will allow you to not have to stop and do so much redirection during your teaching later.
Good luck as you start the school year! You’ve got this!!
