First year teacher first grade?

Question

This is my first full year to teach 1st grade (I taught half a year after graduating in December). Does anyone have some tips for my first week of school? Procedures, lessons, getting to know each other activities are all welcome. Also if anyone knows of some good websites I would be very grateful!

Answer 1

Tell them EVERYTHING.  Do not assume that they know how to do anything the way that you would like it to be done.  It will take a couple weeks to teach them the routines in your classroom.  Start your routine on the very first day and stick with it.  It is amazing what you can get kids to do as long as there is consistency.

GOOD LUCK!

Answer 2

Plan a day in which there are very light academic activities.(e.g. read a great story about the first day of school, have some clay out at the art center for free exploration, have coloring sheets out at the writing center, have easy manipulatives in the game center, same thing for blocks. Make it a happy day for the students.

One thing I do on the first day is  to take time to explain things thoroughly and to ask the children if they had any questions.

After we had our opening activities which include singing (I let the kids suggest the songs and even lead them if they feel confident about doing so), poems (mainly fingerplays), a story, roll call where everyone tells the child "Hello _____."

Then my parapro takes half the kids to the playground to demonstrate, explain and have the kids practice the correct use of the equipment and what the consequences are for not playing safely. (usually 5 minutes time out). While she's teaching the playground rules, I am inside with the half the class giving a tour of centers. I explain everything carefully. For example, I lift a puzzle off a shelf and carefully remove the pieces. Then I put them back in and put the puzzle back on the shelf. I then have a child or two demonstrate. We talk also about use of the bathroom (if we have one in the room ) getting water, noise level (the 12 inch voice), etc.

Before the parapro and I swap groups, we take the children to the bathrooms and demonstrate how we take turns and how we play a simple game while we're waiting for everyone.

I have helpers for everything. Line leaders, door openers, water fountain helpers, bathroom helpers, floor helpers (checking floors for clay or paper dropped) lunchroom helpers (checking tables for napkins or milk cartons dropped.). I have a checklist the kids use. They wear little yellow hats when they're doing their jobs. They love it. They give reports on how everyone did. For example, if the block center students did not put away the blocks correctly, they have to go back and do that while the rest of us sing or have another story. They learn very quickly to clean up well the first time. I give the children responsibility, but only responsibility they can handle. This eliminates many, many problems. We have light academics the first month. Our units of study are I'm Me, I'm Special! Colors Colors All Around, The Shape of Things. We have lots of activities for all of these.

Taking a tour of the school is a great idea.  Have each person they meet (principal, AP, counselor, nurse, lunch room staff, janitors, etc.) give them a treat you've prepared in advance.  It could be a peppermint, an eraser, any little thing that is easy for you to purchase.  Come back to the room and do a group writing about the workers.  Children contribute sentences.  You can follow up by making a book About Our School, where some children draw the principal and write a sentence about him/her, some write about the nurse, etc.  You can put them into one big book and read it when the children request it.  If you put it in your book center, they will soon be reading it themselves.

During the first week you could make group thank you notes to the workers who gave the children things.  I believe in teaching good behavior by letting them experience it and by example.

A good idea I got from another teacher was the Problem Solving Book.  If two students get into a squabble about sharing or who's first in line or whatever, give them the blank Problem Solving book.  They must talk with each other and draw a picture of the problem on the left page.  They should write a sentence or two if they can.  Then they arrive at a solution and draw a picture and write about that.  We had far fewer problems when I initiated that activity.  The children did a good job every time.  We kept the book in the Book Center and if the same problem occurred again we could read about it.

You can see I made reading and writing real life tasks, but we also read from our literacy books.  They are so much better than the old reading books.  

Happy Year!  Hope you are very successful!

Answer 3

Be very patient since they are young and probably a little scared. Arrange for a get together with them and their parents as an ice breaker. All including you might feel a litle more comfortable.

Answer 4

Go to the Responsive Classroom Website. Order the book, "The First Six weeks of school".  If you follow these lesson plans, you'll spend those first few weeks creating a cooperative and supportive learning community (and its really fun!)  With a healthy, functioning group, you can tackle the curriculum in week 4 or 5.

Have fun!

Answer 5

Decide how you want things done NOW, so that you can start right from day one.  And be sure of your decisions because its hard for the little ones to get into a routine if you are not consistent.  Tell them everything- where to hang up their coats, how to do it so that they dont fall off the hooks, etc.  It may sound picky after a while but its not, its your job to teach them what you expect of them.  :)

Always start the day the same, always start your first class after lunch/recess the same (maybe at the carpet? They come in, put their indoor shoes on and sit and wait for you at the carpet- I even knew a teacher that had a label maker and printed out their names, covered the name with a piece of tape, and had them sit in the exact same spot every time they sat at the carpet).  Show them where the bathroom is and take everyone down as a class for the first few times so that you know that they know where to go, and what your expectation is for bathroom behavior, behavior in the hall, etc.  Learn the sign in sign language for 'bathroom' and teach it to the kids.  That way, when you are in the middle of something you can see the student give you the signal and you can signal back yes or no to them without them interrupting you and giving the rest of the kids a really good idea :)

Many a time have I seen a gr 1 or kindergarten kid wandering the hall to the bathroom because they dont know what they're doing.  When they are sitting and you are instructing have them give you 5- sitting, legs crossed, hands folded, eyes on you and mouths shut.  That way, once they know what "give me 5 is" all you have to say is "give me 5" and they will do the 5 things that you want them to do.  Have a song or a sound, shutting off the lights, whatever, that you give them when you want them to stop what they are doing.  When you give the signal they have to: stop what they are doing and look at you, close thier mouths, and put each hand on their opposite shoulder so it looks like they are giving themselves a hug- that way they cant play with things on their desk when you are giving further instructions.  On the first day of school I have an empty bulletin board.  The first activity that I do with the kids is have them write their name on a little card (this will take about 30 minutes as they will have to copy from the little name things on their desks).  Then I do an easy craft and put that craft up on the bulletin board with their name tag.  That's what I did at the time, but hey these are just suggestions, you are more than welcome to think that I'm just full of it:)! I just really love grade 1! Oh, and 2 more things- Have a rule that "there is no tapping Mr./Mrs./Ms whoever" because that will drive you crazy in 3 days, and pay the 20 bucks to use the enchanted learning website.  Hope this helps and that I didnt bore you to tears :)

Answer 6

On the first day, I always have a cute little project for them to do while I sort through supplies, write names on everything and get stuff in order.  I usually give them a 'get to know me' activity to do, something they can share with the class when we finish.  When I was in first grade, I did a booklet.  One page said 'my name is..." and they drew a picture of themselves.  "I am .... years old"  "I like to..."  At school I hope to learn...  etc.

On the first day of school, I bring a sack (i use a Bath and Body bag because I love that store) full of things that represent me and my likes (cardinal baseball, menu from fav. restaurant, picture of my family, fav. book, etc.).  I share all my things with my students and help them get to know me.  I invite them to all bring in a bag full of their favorite things throughout the first week.  We do a few each morning and they love it!