First Day of School, First Day of School!

1. Greeting the students – I will be in the hallway eagerly waiting for my students to arrive. I will shake each of their hands (or do a fist bump during cold/flu season) when they enter. I will greet them by name and tell them that I am happy that they are with us on this beautiful day!

 

2. Introductions – I will have a powerpoint about myself ready to show the kids who I am. Once they know who I am, I will definitely want to get to know them better! I will have a “Getting to Know You” handout that is all about the students. While they are completing these I will take first day of school pictures that will be attached to their getting to know you handout. Then I will have the students stand one at a time; tell me their name, and one interesting fact that I should know.

 

3. Room Descriptions – The students will get acquainted with their room. I will show them where all of the important areas of the room are and if I am teaching kindergarten, I will give the students a tour of the school.

 

4. Get-Acquainted Activity - Use tagboard to create a large jigsaw puzzle or buy a blank puzzle kit at any craft store. Put each child's name on a different puzzle piece (you can place this at the students assigned seat when they come in the room). When kids arrive on the first day of school, instruct them to find the pieces of the puzzle with their names on them and to draw pictures on it of their favorite things to do. Later in the day, instruct students to find one classmate with whom their puzzle piece connects; kids should do this activity without talking. When they "connect" with a classmate, they sit down and talk quietly about themselves until everybody has "connected." Kids can use the pictures they drew as prompts as they talk about themselves. As students introduce themselves to their partners, go around the room and tape the pairs of pieces together. Next, instruct each pair of students to find another pair with whom their puzzle pieces connect. Those groups of four students introduce themselves as you go around the room and tape together the groups' puzzle pieces. Eventually, you will have one big puzzle with all of the children's names on it. You might talk about how a puzzle is incomplete if one piece of the puzzle is missing, how all the students fit together as a team like pieces of a puzzle, and how you will be the tape that holds the pieces together all year long. Laminate the puzzle and display it all year.

 

5. Rules and Procedures – I want the class and I to come up with 3-5 classroom rules that we will all follow. I will make this on an anchor chart and type up the rules so that I can have a small copy and the students can have a small copy to keep and give to their parents. I will also give a copy to the office. Then I will teach the procedures needed for that day, and as the school year progresses, I will teach the procedures needed.