The first day of school! It is a nerve-wracking and exciting time for both students and teachers.
Tip #1: Greet the students at the door.
Greeting students at the door is one of the best ways to build a relationship with students. It creates a connection, a sense of belonging, and increases engagement within the classroom.
Tip#2: Save the syllabus for a later day.
You can only make one first impression. Make it an engaging one. Most middle school teachers don’t assign homework the first day. The syllabus can wait. Let your students get to know you and vice versa.
Tip #3 Have a fun yet low-risk team-building activity.
Like I said earlier, the first day is nerve-wracking. Ice breakers can add to that anxiety. Having a low-risk activity is the way to go. This means an activity that all students can participate without the fear of doing something wrong or embarrassing. That’s why I use my Cereal Slogan Team-Building Activity. I pass this activity out to my students as they walk into class. It gives them something to focus on and take away from the nerves.
When the starting bell rings, it’s time to introduce yourself. I ask students to flip over the Cereal Slogan Activity for now; we’ll come back to it soon. To briefly introduce myself, I put together a slide show that encompasses some facts about myself.
Once they have an overview, I give a True or False quiz all about me! It gives the students a chance to get to know their teacher even more. Check out my FREE Editable True or False Teacher Quiz in my TpT Store here! To reveal the answers, I read the statement and have the students either shout out “True!” or “False!” This increases the camaraderie of the students.
Now, back to the Cereal Slogan Activity. In my classroom, I have students sitting in teams of four, pre-COVID. In Comprehensive Distance Learning (CDL), I put students into Zoom breakout rooms. I give them sentence frames to introduce themselves and then have a timer set for students to work together to figure out which slogans go to which cereals.
Tip #4: Incentive team-building activities.
As I get ready to send students into their breakout room, I let them know whichever team gets the most correct wins a prize. Giving an incentive to students, whether it be candy or in-class currency, gets them excited to work together. They have a common goal to bring them together: Winning.
When the breakout room ends and brings students back to the main screen, students are eager to see who won. I use a slide presentation to go along with the answers. Each slide contains the slogan. Then with a click, the answer appears as well as a picture of the cereal box!
Tip #5: Have fun!
If you are having a good time, chances are your students are too. Whether it is your first year or your fifteenth year of teaching, don’t stress it too much. Put on a smile and enjoy watching your students have a great first day in your class.
3 Responses
I didnt full on read this blog, i skimmed it and almost cried the way u go about it, u make it about u to take the focus off the kids being nervous or scared, its kinda brilliant, and i love u.
Wow! Impressive efforts to get a great start! I am so glad you are my mentor, Mrs. DeMuth! ❤️
I love all of these tips. They are very insightful and helpful! I especially like that they focus on building the community first before giving the syllabus and getting straight to academics. These tips will be helpful in setting up for a year of success!