I cannot believe it is almost that time again - the children are excited and the parents are even MORE excited because it’s almost time to go back to school. * This post is relevant to my Australian readers as we start back at the beginning of the calendar year. However, I hope my readers from other parts of the world who start back in September can also take value from this post and lock away a few ideas for later in the year. My Dad, whose teaching career spanned over 35 years, and I would always joke that it was around this time of year when the dreams began. Those ‘back to school’ dreams. They always had a similar theme involving something disastrous happening at the beginning of the school year. From memory, a couple of such dreams involved me turning up on the WRONG day; not being able to control my new class, and forgetting to wear clothes to school. Basically all your fears presenting themselves in those last few weeks before the big day. Thankfully, I could always laugh about the dreams because I LOVE the first day and touch wood, it has always been a fun, memorable and successful day with my students. Whilst many teachers tend to ‘wing it’ a bit on those first few days before routine really sets in, I have always found quite the opposite to be effective. Those first few days and in particularly the FIRST day completely set the scene for the entire year ahead. It is the perfect opportunity to kickstart those relationships with your students and between your students. So plan ahead! Here are my SIX TIPS FOR A GREAT FIRST DAY BACK: 1. Visual Instructions Regardless of the grade level you are teaching, the first day involves lots of excitement and some apprehension from both the students and the parents. In some cases, this can be the first meeting with your students and their families. I find it really effective to have a simple activity planned, with a list of 3-5 instructions on the board at the front of the room. This makes it possible for you to be completely available to greet students and their parents without pausing to explain the task over and over. In my experience, this is just a really simple way to create a seamless start to the first day. 2. Create a Class Display Whilst it’s tempting to have everything set up before the very first day (we’re teachers after all, we pride ourselves on being a tad too organised), this is a really important one for setting up a cohesive space for your new class community. There are LOADS of things you could do for a display, and you could even integrate it with your morning activity I mentioned earlier. For example, last year I had a large puzzle piece on every student’s desk. When they came in to the classroom, they decorated it with their name and all the things that make them unique (sport, siblings, favourite food etc). By the end of the morning, I had my class display ready to go! I put the pieces in a random order with the title: “Why fit in when you were born to stand out”. It turned out so well that we left it up all year! I love doing this because it means the students are given ownership in the space and seeing something they’ve created being displayed on day one can decrease anxiety and help student settle in. 3. Send students home with a little something Now I’m talking about a big, extravagant gift to send home with your students. It could be a card, a letter, a little treat; just something to let your new students know that you are happy to be their teacher and excited for the year ahead with them. I have done this at the end of the school year also but this only works if you are able to meet and greet your new class prior to the school year commencing (which isn’t always possible). Therefore, it would still be a great idea to have something ready to send home with students on the first day. Check out the photo below of the little card and treat I gave to my students last year. It probably cost a total of $6.00 in Smarties and an hour or so to print them and cut them out. Well worth it, in my opinion. The look on the students’ faces was priceless. 4. Introduce transitions and routines TODAY If there are certain ways in which you like things done in your classroom, I strongly suggest introducing them to students on the first day. It might be how the students come into the room each day, how they greet you or how they line up to go out for lunch. Whilst you want to focus on the warm and fuzzy things today that will help to foster positive relationships with your students, making your expectations known from the very beginning will have a flow on effect that will last the entire year. I usually pop a little slideshow together with some funny pictures, including a different expectation or transition on each slide. This allows it to become a fun, meaningful conversation with students as opposed to drilling a whole bunch of rules into them at the start of the year. 5. The testing can wait! It’s so tempting to get a head start on the long list of pre-assessment that needs to be done at the beginning of the year. But it doesn’t need to be done on the first day. I made this mistake a few years back because there was a lot of pressure within my school to get everything done from the word go. And that year I went home feeling a bit disheartened that I hadn’t had that great first day with my students. So put the testing aside, at least for the first day or two, and just enjoy being with your new class. This will allow your students the space to get to know you and really settle in for the great year ahead. 6. Write a class contract Lastly, have a brainstorm with students on the first day about all the things that make a classroom fun, supportive and welcoming. Write them all down on the board or on a poster and encourage students to add to it. Then have a discussion with students about the class rules that need to be enforced in order for your classroom to feel, look and stay this way all year. I usually encourage all of my students to write down a rule or two on a piece of paper and put it in a hat. Over lunch time, I gather them all and condense them into a list of 8-10 class rules and turn them into a class contract. The reason for this is that all the students SIGN the contract. I find this a million times more effective to just having a list of rules hanging up in the room. The reason for this is that when students sign the contract, they are taking ownership of it, something that you can remind students of if you have a few that forget as the year progresses. I hope you find these tips useful as you prepare to start a new school year! I hope 2020 is a fantastic year for you and your students.
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