First Day of School Toolkit
Does the first day of school make you a little nervous?
Sure you have your fun bulletin boards up, assigned seats ready to go, and your classroom library all set up, but now what?
What do you do when 30 middle schoolers actually walk into your classroom, sit in the plastic blue seats, and stare expectantly at you?
I know it can be a little daunting to plan for the first day along with the hundreds of other things you have to think about, so I’m going to share exactly what I do on the first day of school.
Before Students Arrive:
Print student rosters.
Have seating charts made, names written on index cards, and placed on the desks.
Make the Get to Know Me Bitmoji Slideshow.
Print Name Tent activity.
Set up supply baskets on each table with the Name Tent activity papers, markers, and a variety of pipe cleaners.
First Day Plan:
1. As students come into the classroom, I greet them at the door while shaking my light up tambourine, let them know how excited I am they are in my class, tell them to find their seat, and start on the Name Tent activity. (3 Minutes)
2. Take roll while students are working on their Name Tent. (15-20 minutes)
During this time, I take attendance, change names on the roll sheet as needed, and write the more difficult names out phonetically to help me with pronunciation.
Side Note: I think it’s super important to learn names ASAP, so I spend time talking to each student when I call their name on the roll sheet. I might ask what one of the favorite things are from the Name Tent activity. Do they warm up their Pop-Tarts or eat them cold? Do they prefer to fight a bear in a tree or on the ground? Just random questions so I can start making connections. When I learn a new name, I cycle through the names I already learned because repetition is always key to remembering!
3. Share the Get to Know Me Bitmoji Slideshow (10 minutes)
Students love to learn who their teachers are outside of the classroom.
I share about my family and friends, how I love to run, where I went to school, and our travels.
4. Pipe Cleaner Activity (20 minutes)
This is a fun little activity where students use two pipe cleaners to create a person, animal, or object. They give the pipe cleaner creation a name, a personality, and favorite activity.
Allow students the opportunity to share.
If you have a longer class period, students can write short stories with their creations as the main character. Other student's creations can also make appearances in their story! I love seeing how creative the students are with this activity.
With any remaining time, students can complete their Name Tent activity.
5. Teach and practice the dismissal procedure (5 minutes)
Nothing irritates me more than students hanging out at the door or packing up early, so teaching this procedure day one starts sets my expectations and starts us off on the right foot.
I hope this helps spark some ideas or helps you plan your first day.
And now for the BEST news...
I have all of these activities available in the First Day of School Toolkit! It is my gift to you because I want you to have an amazing and hassle free start to your school year!
I hope you have an amazing school year! I’m pulling for you!
Savannah Kepley