First Day of School

Planning for the first day of school is the hardest for me. I get very anxious for school to start and when I begin planning, I get fixated on the little details and find myself running through each lesson word for word in my head. This is my second year teaching 1st grade, but by the end of my first year, I felt like I developed a different teaching style. I'm trying something completely new this year by putting more on building a classroom filled with "bucketfillers", respect, and love.  

Day 1- This lesson was created with help from Pinterest and other fabulous teaching blogs. I cited the materials that were taken from other teaching blogs. Hopefully as I get more adventurous and confident, I'll begin creating more materials on my own.  

I work at a late-start school. The students arrive by bus to school between 9:10-9:45. The students are served breakfast during this time. I take attendance and chat with the students. I usually have all the students' names memorized before we head up to the classroom.

Once we're in the classroom, the students get to pick their desk. This year I will start their day by playing an ice breaker game. You can play this game using PowerPoint on a Smart-Board or projector cart.


Get To Know Me! A student picks a question to answer. Once they answer it, they click on the question to revel the teachers response  I thought this would be a fun way for the students to learn more about each other and their teacher while integrating technology.

After the game, the students will get to unpack and label their school supplies. Then, they'll have their first read aloud of the school year to the story First Day Jitters! I got this idea from the blog Crazy for First Grade. 

After reading the story we will discuss what the word jittery means and how it's normal for everyone to feel nervous on the first day of school. The students will then go back to their desk to write/draw about their first day jitters.

Next the students will head back to the carpet and to listen the story Have You Filled a Bucket Today?

I didn't begin reading Have You Filled a Bucket Today? until the end of the school year last year. After the first read aloud my class fell in love with this positive behavior message. We even made our own buckets and put stamps on them to represent "filling up a bucket" like in the story. I noticed a difference in my students' behavior and self-reflection skills once we began discussing how we can become bucketfillers. I'm so excited to start the bucketfillers101 program that I bought all of the bucketfilling books and even some of their posters. (I''ll post pictures of the posters once my classroom is finished)

After our read aloud we will discuss what it means to be a bucketfiller. Then together as a class we will create a classroom expectation poster that every student will sign. (Picture to come!) 

Now that the students know the classroom/school rules, they'll get a chance to practice them. I encourage them to have the best First Grade ABC line order while we take a tour of our school! If we finish our tour before recess/lunch, the students will get to color their own buckets to match the story above.

The afternoon is here and so is one of my favorite subjects to teach...Math! This year, for the first time, I'm introducing Touch Math. Touch Math is a multisensory way that uses touch-points to teach counting. I'm hoping that starting touch math early in the school year will help my students counting skills.

I made number flash cards that show the students where to touch/count.

After introducing how to use Touch Math the students will cut out their own Touch Math cards. The cards will be stored in baggies that the students can use anytime. When the students are done practicing their Touch Math, together as a class we will complete a number listing and shape assessment.

I like to collect performance data early in the school year to document my students growth and use the data to help drive my teaching. This assessment asks the students to draw and label as many shapes as they can, and write as many numbers as they can in order. I'm still working on the Class Record Sheet and Tracker. Once completed I will post online.

By now it's around 3:10, there is an hour of school left, and the students are usually getting tired and missing home. This year I'm going to end my day by reading The Kissing Hand. I found two great The Kissing Hand Activities on the blogs Crazy for First Grade and Classroom Fun.

First I'll read aloud the story The Kissing Hand. We will infer the feelings of Chester the Raccoon and make text-to-self connections. The students will then be shown an art/writing activity that will be completed in steps. First the students will make their own Chester Raccoon Art. The next day they will reflect on their first day of school by writing on the First Day of School writing paper.

I'll end the day by going over bus procedures and end of the day routines. By 4:45 bus duty is over and so is the first day! Now on to Day 2 and Day 3 lesson ideas...

Next week I will be teaching these wonderful activities instead of daydreaming about them. I will post how everything went and post some student work once completed!