I had a nightmare last week that it was the first day of school and I had no plans! NO PLANS! AGHHHH!!! I didn't know what I would teach, what to say, what to do! The struggle is real! And I have been teaching for 10 years!!! In real life, I don't only plan, but I overplan! I don't ever get all the things done that I plan for each day!
So, I thought about making a list of things to do to get ready for that first day...er... first week!
1. Think about furniture placement. Look at your furniture arrangement and make sure it has good flow around the room. If you have students with special needs coming, make sure they have their space ready.
a. Students in wheelchairs need to be able to navigate all parts of the room
b. Students with special circumstances may need an end place with special seating.
c. Consider placing desks in a way that all can see the smart board or main teaching area.
d. Don't forget YOU need enough room to walk through and be able to work with students.
e. Think about stations or centers and where they will be placed.
2. Organize the things in your room. Rather than think about the whole, break it into parts! Have a place in mind for each area and even label. Labeling helps me because I forget my system when I am busy and just toss things in a cabinet on the fly!
a. Think about where your supplies can go that students bring in. Those pencils, crayons, erasers, scissors, paper, binders, notebooks, tissues, paper towels, etc. It adds up and will be crazy until you find a place for everything! Have a place in mind before they come!
b. Think about where you will store math manipulatives.
c. Where will you keep you teacher books, math games, reading games, recess toys?
a. Walking in the room, putting away backpack
b. Storing supplies in desks
c. How to line up in our room
d. How to line up outside
e. How to play outside (We walk around our playground in a long ling and talk about each area, playground equipment, where we can play, where we can't play, and consequences.)
f. How to walk in the hall
g. How to go through the lunch line
h. How to write your name on your paper
i. Bathroom procedures (taking turns, washing hands, put hand drying paper in the trash)
j. How to pack up, line up
k. Car rider, bus rider, bike rider, and walker procedure
4. Plan, plan, plan that first week! Plan a time to meet with your teaching partner to make a plan!
Have games, breaks, games, breaks to get you through that first week! I plan Language Arts game if it is my LA time and Math games or Stem if it is Math Block time! Here is a little run down of the first few mornings. Your morning may look different depending on your grade. Remember procedures continue through each of these!
a. When the students come in, I plan to have a fun morning work sheet
b. Read a book on the rug
c. Around mid-morning, we go outside that first week to learn playground procedures, then we get to practice those! Yes, we let them play, watching for and re-teaching procedures to the littles that forget. This is a great time for both student and teacher to unwind for a bit from all the nerves built up!
d. Back in the room, play a game
e. Lunch
f. Specials
g. Math is in my afternoon, so I will plan a math stem project.
h. Get ready for home
5. Have your curriculum ready! You don't want to be scrounging around to find things for your students to do. Get them organized and ready to grab in a hurry! Get extra of read-alouds, fun sheets, quick assessment printables, first week of math, and reading ready to go!
a. Back to School Read-alouds: Your personal books, school library books, public library books!
b. Quick fun sheets for morning work or in-between work, beginning of the year assessments.
c. Bring home the first week of math and reading from your adopted curriculum. I don't follow these word for word, page for page, but it gives me a starting point for my plans.
d. Look ahead and get your curriculum plans sketched out for the next 6-9 weeks. I like to look at my curriculum guide our school has implemented and pair it up with our adopted curriculum for topics needed to be covered. Pencil these in!
Most of all just be yourself! You can't be someone else, they are already taken!
I teach first grade and have some fun and educational printables that I will have ready. I will use some of these for morning work, and assessments. Some may seem a bit easy, but it gives them confidence especially that first day. Color by number? Oh, I can do that!
Back to School First Grade
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