In part one, I talked about the two things I couldn't live without in my classroom - my Google Slides agenda and printed student warm-up book. To read part one and get my two essentials, click here.
As an introverted student, I remember being a nervous mess trying to keep my cool and act like I knew what I was doing on the first day of school. I dutifully would complete all tasks without gusto for the sake of - gasp - looking like I enjoyed school! I now plan the first day of school with those memories fresh in my mind.
Luckily, my school doesn't do a ton of schedule-changing in the first week. This allows me to get essential tasks done on the first day and avoid unnecessary fluff. In case you missed it in the last post, here is the agenda for the first day of school:
As an introverted student, I remember being a nervous mess trying to keep my cool and act like I knew what I was doing on the first day of school. I dutifully would complete all tasks without gusto for the sake of - gasp - looking like I enjoyed school! I now plan the first day of school with those memories fresh in my mind.
Luckily, my school doesn't do a ton of schedule-changing in the first week. This allows me to get essential tasks done on the first day and avoid unnecessary fluff. In case you missed it in the last post, here is the agenda for the first day of school:
I let students pick their seats on the first day mostly because I *hate* making seating charts. I let them know of my seat-chart-making disgust. I try to go as long as possible without having a chart. Students know that if they can't handle sitting next to a buddy, I get to choose their seat for the rest of the semester. After seats and names are figured out, I give them their warm-up book and we work through taking notes on their syllabus (see previous post).
Next, I like to get them set-up with the Remind App and Google Classroom. I like use the Remind App to give them an assessment reminder, and if I don't get them registered on the first day, I'm certain to forget!
We then practice going through the warm-up procedure. This is the most important procedure because it is done daily and saves Mrs. Gartner's sanity (I tell students this!). Instead of having them walk out of the classroom to have them practice walking back in, I plan to entice them out of their seats with candy. I'll have them take a lap of around the room, grab a piece of candy, and head back to their desks to complete their warm-up independently. My warm-ups for the first 7 days of school are get-to-know-you questions. This is private enough so that they feel open to respond, routine so that they get used to the procedure, and provides me an opportunity to get to know them on a longer basis than just Day One.
I like to do math on the first day of school to give them a break from Day One activities. I plan on doing a basic geometry vocab card sort that another teacher is creating. I'll have them work in groups of three and tell them to sort the cards in any manner they see fit. I'm excited to see how it goes!
Since I'm on a block schedule, I'll have about 15 minutes left for them to work on homework, which is mostly personalizing the front of their warm-up book. We'll then practice the 3-minute rule for exiting class:
Their verbal exit ticket for the day will be, to finish the statement, "You're going to be..." with "(successful/awesome/worth-it/amazing/strong) in geometry!"
Until next time,
-Rosanne
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