Planning and Managing First Day of School

The first day of class involves lots of activities and teachers should plan for it. Planning for the first day is also important because students will learn about you, about their peers, about your class, your rules and procedures.

Preparing Classroom:
Arrange student desks the way you would like them to be for optimal class instruction? (Rows seating for the first day.). Organize your classroom materials for easy access.
Have your classroom rules/consequences poster placed on the wall and prepare your classroom procedures to present to your students.
� Prepare student name tags to be placed on their desks, and make sure that they are easily noticeable. Have some blank ones ready for unexpected students.
Plan for a place for students to put their backpacks and coats.
Prepare bulletin boards and make sure they are attractive to students.
Check to make sure that there is a first aid kit in the classroom and emergency exit plan posted in the room.
� Label materials and different areas around the classroom, for ESOL / ESE students.

Preparing for Greetings and Introductions
� Attire: Formal attire communicates expertise and confidence, less formal attire communicates approachability.
Arrive early: Arriving right on time or even late communicates disorganization, and so on.
Greet students: Greeting the students as they enter the classroom communicates approachability.
Introduce yourself: Prepare a brief self introduction to inform students about yourself. What to call you, how you teach, and how you expect students to learn, why the subject is interesting to you. Keep this short, this is not an autobiography. Students do not need to know everything about you. In particular, it is not helpful to say you've never taught the before, or that it is your least favorite course to teach, or to disclose any irrelevant personal information that can undermine you in the eyes of your students.
� Plan for get-acquainted activities: For example: asking students to introduce themselves and to name a favorite activity or hobby or tell about something they did during the summer, or pair students to talk about themselves and have one introduce the other. Make sure to keep this activity short. For lower grade students, make sure specify what information you would like to hear from them because they sometimes provide too much information.

Preparing for Instructions:
� Describe the room: Describe the room by pointing out the places and inform students about procedures associated with the room (where to put coats, lunches, pencil sharpening, wastebasket etc.
� Teach your classroom rules and procedures: Show your classroom rules poster, go over rules and have students write-repeat.

Preparing for Administrative Tasks:
� Go over the take-home folders for the students where parents need to read and sign. Give students due dates for returns. Have extra copies ready for unexpected.
� Distribute textbooks. Make sure to record each recipient.

Preparing for a Short Teaching Activity:
� Plan for short teaching: Prepare a brief lecture or a focused discussion that will demonstrate to students at least one of the teaching methods you will use. Another option is to build "a table of contents" for the course coverage and go through the list with some details. Be sure to select activities that are not complicated.
� Plan for Time Filler Activities: In case you need to leave the room for an unexpected event (principal call, emergencies etc), you should plan for time-filling activities such as short book reading, puzzle activity, writing about summer break, or a short topic.

Close the Day:
� Summarize your first day activities (what you covered, students learned).
� Ask students if they have questions, problems etc.

Dealing with First Day Problems
Most Common Problems
� Interruptions by office staff, parents, custodians and others: Invite person in room, face students. If you need to leave the room, give students work
� Late arrivals on the first day: Seat student, catch up what they missed later
� One or more students assigned to your class after the first day: Try to meet with them to catch up what they missed, make sure to provide paperwork they missed � textbook, rules etc.
� A child forgets lunch money or supplies: Learn for school policy first � some schools allow borrowing, emergency fund, keep small change available for emergency � let the parents know
� Large amount of paperwork during the first week of school: Do most important ones on the first day � you have the rest of the year

Special Problems
� A child forgets bus number or misses bus: Rehearse bus procedures, ask students if they know their bus number, and make sure to be available/around (students are not left alone)
� Shortage of textbooks or vital equipment: Check this before school begins, and report to school office
� A disabled student has difficulty understanding or following directions: Seat the student close to you, work individually with this student only after others are busy.
� Crying: Be understanding and try to find out why crying � however, do not reinforce by giving excessive attention. If not disruptive, student can seat until it is over else have someone from the office come and get him/her
� Wetting: Make every effort not to add to child's discomfort, have paper towels and handle as privately as possible, contact parents for new clothes, and make sure to arrange regular restroom times
� A child becomes very sick or injured: Do not leave the child unattended, contact office immediately.