First Days of School
The first couple weeks of school are crucial in developing a strong community within your classroom. Here are some suggestions as far as what to do and explore as a class in those first weeks:
Create guidelines and expectations from the very start: the first few days of school are crucial for establishing a tight-knit group and ultimately a community atmosphere. It is difficult to get that time back if it’s not done early on in the school year.
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Create jobs so that students feel like they are a part of the class and the community.
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Share about yourself: teachers can't expect students to share all about their lives if their teacher doesn't do the same. Make a collage (like above), bring in some pictures, tell students about your hobbies and family. Let them get to know you!
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Ice Breaker activities are great! Here is one example:
Materials: paper bags and pairs of school supplies. Put one of each pair in each bag. Students walk around, feel the item in other people's bag, and try to find their same item. Once they find that item, they introduce themselves and tell about their summer. The class comes back together and each student introduces their partner to the class. This is a great activity to get to know each other and also for the teacher (you!) to get to know who is shy, who is more outgoing, etc. |
Make it a point to touch base with parents and develop a relationship. It's already been stated that developing this relationship is important. However, doing it from the get-go is also important. Parents get to know what to expect and start to feel more comfortable with you.
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Model, model, model! Students may not have models of empathy and compassion in their lives. And you spend a lot of time with them, so what a perfect opportunity! Show them care, respect, and compassion--they will follow your lead!
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Have an organized and predictable classroom so students know what to do at different times throughout the day and where to put things when finished.
Make a morning routine that is predictable. Have a list of other activities students can do when finished with their assignment. |
The Girl Who Never Made Mistakes is a wonderful book to read at the beginning of the year to teach about making mistakes: how it's ok to make them and how we can learn from them. It's also a great way to build a positive learning environment!
Click here or on the picture of the book to order now! |