The first day of school really sets the tone for your classroom! It gives your students a first impression of expectations and routines that you’ll want to instill for the rest of the year. It’s important to remember that not everything is always going to go as planned, but when you begin your year with a clear blueprint as to what each day should look like, you and your students will be set up for success!
I want to give you a step-by-step model for what the first day of school looks like in my primary classroom, along with several tips and resources you can implement yourself!
Pick-Up and Entering the Classroom
No matter where you pick your students up each morning, whether it be outside or just down your hall, you have to give them expectations for how to walk in a line and enter the classroom properly – I use Zones of Regulation! Many other teachers at my school do as well, so it’s something that remains consistent for our students.
I don’t take my students into the classroom until the whole line is in the green zone – focused, calm, and in control. I make sure that I wait until every student is this way before entering to really emphasize expectations for the rest of the year. It’s so important! Upon entering, I show them where to hang their bags and where their seats are. As a class we wait for each student to be seated before we take attendance.
Attendance
There are lots of different ways you can take attendance without having to carry the load of figuring out who’s present or absent. I currently use a smartboard program that uses cute little animals with the kids’ names on them! Each student comes up to the board, touches their name, and it then makes a fun little sound and the animal floats away. They love it and it gives me more time to greet each child individually.
You can also use name cards and pocket charts! Have the students grab their name card and place it in the pocket chart to give you a quick visual of who’s absent. Attendance is taken within the first 10 minutes, so having a quick routine like these really helps give me extra time to tell each child good morning.
Morning Meeting
Once attendance is taken we move on to our morning meetings. These meetings can occur on the carpet, allowing students to sit wherever they want, or at their desks to better align with Covid protocol.
We start each morning meeting with calendar! I love doing calendar time right away because there is so much that can be taught and discussed academically and socially. It also establishes routine, and whether you realize it or not, routine really makes your students feel safe, too. After calendar time, we move on to the shape of the day during our meetings. My students love the shape of the day activities and look forward to me changing the card out every single day! It gives every student the understanding of what’s coming next, which really helps keep everyone’s behavior in check and on task. If you’d like to see the cards and activities I use for this, you can find them here!
Language Arts
Next we move on to language arts! On the first day of school I always choose a read and respond activity. I choose a picture book, sometimes I choose “David Goes to School” by David Shannon, and then discuss it with the kids. I have specific activities available in my store for this story if you’d like to check them out here! I also have pieces of paper prepared for them with half of the area allotted for them to draw a picture of their favorite part of the story, and the other half has printing lines so that they can write about their favorite part of the story, too. You can get that freebie below.
For my early finishers, in the past I’ve let them work on puzzles or leave their seats to play with other things throughout the room, but since Covid I now keep them at their seats and typically give them a coloring page if it’s only 5-10 minutes of extra time. I’ve also had my students draw a picture about something they did over the summer and write a few sentences about it.
Clean Up and Recess
I start the clean up process with my students about 10-15 minutes before recess so they understand expectations. Before setting them free for recess, I take them to the area outside to show them where they’ll line up after recess. Once the recess bell rings, I either really compliment them on how well they lined up, or we practice how to properly line up again. Every class will always be different as to how long it can take to grasp this. 🙂
Getting to Know You Game & School Tour
Once we get inside from recess, we go through our hand washing process and then head to the circle to play a “getting to know you” game. My favorite game is one we play with a small, stuffed soccer ball. I call this one the Name Game. Whoever is holding the ball must say the name of another student and pass the ball to them. It’s perfect for everyone because it allows me to more easily learn the students’ names, new students get to know more names, and ELL and special needs students, too!
After the game we head out on a school tour. No matter if you have new students to the building or not, I find this tour to be helpful for general reminders of where the library is, gym, principal’s office, secretary, recess equipment and where it’s acceptable to play, and just any general information that you think your students should know about the building. It’s also a great time to practice walking correctly in the hallways and using “marshmallow feet.” 🙂
Math & Clean Up
Once we get back to the room after our tour, it’s time for a math activity! My intention during math really isn’t to teach any new concepts, but more so just teaching our math routine. I pass out the worksheets, and the skills are always something that was covered in the previous year, so they are all capable of completing it by themselves. I discuss where they write their name and date, and then allow time for them to work on the worksheet.
I really try to compliment those who are on task and working hard to motivate more of this behavior, but I also tend to allow some chatter on the first day among friends since I know they haven’t seen each other all summer. Just walk around and monitor everyone to make sure it’s more work than chat, though. 😉
Once they’re finished with their worksheets, I allow some play time with math manipulatives! Depending on Covid protocols, I’ve had up to four kids play with a bin of manipulatives and do whatever they want with them together. With tighter precautions, each child is given a bag of Legos to keep at their desk. Dot to dots, color-by-numbers, or any mystery pictures.
By this time we typically have about 15 minutes before lunchtime to teach math cleanup and talk about the lunch procedure. Handwashing, where they eat, and more clean up before they head out for recess.
Reading
Once we get in from recess, it’s silent reading time, but during the beginning of the year I have them read with a friend. If it’s a small book I allow 2 to a book, if it’s a big book I allow 3 students to read together. I then show them where they’re allowed to sit during this time, as well! This reading time usually takes about 30 minutes.
Agendas
I prefer to have my students fill out their agendas around 1:30, right after silent reading time, because it’s easy to forget about them at the end of the day with lots of packing up and things going on. I’ll also pass out any papers they need to take home, like completed work or classroom newsletters.
Social Studies, Science, STEM, Art, or Music
After we’ve completed agendas, I move on to a social studies, science, STEM, art, or music lesson. The first week of school I solely focus on art during this time so we can decorate our classroom! I post number charts and a few educational posters throughout the classroom and keep them up all year, but everywhere else I prefer to decorate with my students’ artwork.
A few art activities I’ve done in the first week are self portraits, directed drawings, or decorating name tags. I’ve also written their names on larger pieces of paper, around a 12×18 size, and then had them trace their letters with bingo daubers, colorful glue, markers, etc. and then I frame their names and hang them for the entire year. I love building a sense of community through our art projects!
Centers
Once art is completed, we move on to centers! Centers look much different with Covid protocols compared to without, but I typically run about 8-10 centers at a time. Each center is its own bin with a label on the outside of what the center is and how many kids are allowed at that particular center. However, at this early in the year I’ll introduce 4 centers at a time, as well as a drawing center.
Departure
By the time we get centers cleaned up, it’s time to go home! I use a yoga bell for my signal that it’s time to stop what they’re doing, and start stacking and packing. They put up their chairs, get their backpacks and take-home items, and that’s it! That’s my first day. 🙂
Every classroom and schedule is different, but I encourage you to be very detailed in your instructions for cleanup routines and expectations! It’ll make a huge difference for the rest of your year!
