My top 5 activities for the 1st day of school
We know the first day is essential for building community, setting expectations and having fun!
Try these first day activities with your students!
Play Dough
When students walk in, I have play dough on the tables. This engaging and low stress activity helps relieve 1st day jitters. I do review a few rules keep it on the table-(I provide wax paper as a work space), only use your hands, don’t put it in your mouth etc.
This also provides me time to walk around, observe and interact with the students on the first day of school.
Read Aloud
My first read aloud of the year is Leo the Late Bloomer. This is the charming story of Leo and he can’t read, write or eat like his friends. Even though his father is worried, Leo’s mother knows that Leo will bloom in his own time. I read this story and we discuss values such as patience, perseverance and growth mindset.
Here’s a freebie to use with this first day read aloud.
Attention Signal
One of the first management skills I teach is a call and response to get my students’ attention. I use a call and response on the first day because it’s engaging, promotes listening and helps redirect students. I teach specific expectations for the call and response.
Read this post about how to teach with call and response. Then grab the resource below with 20 different call and response options including familiar and original text. Also, expectations are included on all the full page call and response chants that can be displayed for student reference.
Building Stamina
Building stamina is an important skill that I teach my students on the very first day of school.
First I teach my students that stamina means practicing without giving up.
Next I ask my students what activities they have practiced without giving up.
Finally I ask why do we practice an activity? To get better!
Finally to build stamina on the first day of school, I choose an activity where all students can be successful. For example, exploring with blocks or math manipulatives that we will use later on.
Here are the steps I use to teach stamina building on the first day:
- First, I teach the expectations-everyone is working alone with their blocks. I expect students to stay focused on the activity and build their stamina.
- Next once everyone has their materials and understands the directions-they start! I watch the clock and see how long students can stay focused. I don’t stop them if 1 or 2 students gets off task-sometimes they can refocus themselves. I also don’t say anything, students need to learn to be independent with their behavior.
- Then if several students are off task and/or are being disruptive, then I stop everyone and record the time for our stamina. Then we review expectations and students try again to see if they can have longer stamina.
- Finally I repeat this process throughout the day and for the next several weeks with independent reading, writing, math centers and any other activity where I want my students to be building stamina so they can work independently.
Transitions
One of the most important classroom management routines is teaching students about transitions because they are constantly happening! Students transition into the classroom, from their seats to the carpet, from the table to lining up etc.
Arguable this is THE most important classroom management procedure you need to teach. Regardless of the location, transitions should follow these 3 rules:
Transitions should be silent, safe and quick
Take time to teach the correct way you want your students to transition! Think about:
⭐What should the students be doing during the transition?
⭐What should their bodies look like and sound like?
⭐Be specific, consistent and review as necessary.
Need help? Grab this resource to plan out your transitions with explicit instructions👇
Thanks for reading this far! Even if you’ve had your first day already, try these activities anytime to build a positive classroom community!
Supporting you always! ❤️❤️
