I am always looking for tips and tricks for the start of the school year. I want my school year to be fabulous and I know that what I do from day one has a lasting impact throughout the year. Over the years I have certain tips that I have gleaned and I pull them out again and again as I start the school year. If you are looking for tricks to make your year full of fun and positivity, read on to hear 10 ways you can make this a wonderful start to your school year.
Self Portraits
Every year we do a self-portrait of some type. Last year it was a masked selfie with words to describe us. This was an art lesson shared by the amazingly talented Cassie Stephens. This year, we will be creating other portraits, hopefully without masks. I love doing these the first day and sticking them up on the wall after the students head home. They enjoy coming back to class in the morning and seeing their art work already displayed. It begins to make the classroom feel like home to see some of their projects on the walls.
Team Building
Team building is a must at the start of any school year. Even if your class knows each other and you are looping up with them, you still need to put some time into building student-to-student relationships. I love to do my Back-to-School art team building challenge. Think Chopped (the cooking show), meets art, meets team building and you have a pretty good idea of the fun you are up for.
Books
Books are important to setting the stage for expectations. I always begin with picture book read-a-louds pretty much every day for the first week or so while we are setting the stage for the year and getting slowly into the routine of being back in school. Believe me when I say, there is no age that is too old for a picture book read-a-loud. I teach in a multi-grade room that has three different grade levels, 3-5, so I have the same kiddos for three years and because of that, I try not to repeat the same books. I have several in rotation. This year, I am using a few new to me books that I cannot wait to try out. I found these books in a resource by Amy Lemons. I have a couple more books I will be using as well, and I will be doing a separate post about those later. I like reading books that talk about behavior, growth mindset, kindness and those sorts of things at the start of every year. We use the books for activities and also discussions about what we want our classroom to look and feel like. Books are powerful conversation starters and have relatable characters and topics that can help to create the classroom you dream of.
S.T.E.M.
S.T.E.M. is not just a lot of fun, but it is also a great way to gauge student mindset. As you roam around, you will see many different types of students that approach work differently. They overcome challenges differently too. In my experience, students who traditionally struggle in school, shine with S.T.E.M. because they are not afraid of a challenge. It's (surprisingly) my gifted students (the ones who know how to play the game of school) who struggle more when the going gets tough, as it often does with S.T.E.M. Not having just one way of solving a problem and having to try and try again can be down right discouraging to this type of student, making him/her want to throw in the towel. Which leads me to my next tip.
Growth Mindset
Students need to know how to fail and that it is a part of learning. They need to know that there is a struggle when learning new materials but that the longer you practice and the harder you push, the more you will grasp and understand. Giving up and giving in cannot be an option. Teaching students that just because they cannot do something YET does not mean they cannot EVER do it. They have the capacity to learn and no one is good at everything from the start. It takes time. I love to share with my students some famous people who struggled and made mistakes but did not give up. Some famously found 10,000 ways that didn't work, but the continued pushing until the idea became a reality.
Games
Games, like ice breakers are always a way to calm the nerves and get students up and moving or sharing ideas in a non-threatening way. I do have a few stand-by ideas that find their way into my classroom time and time again. I love a good classmate scavenger hunt. It's simple, easy, and students forget about their nerves as they walk around getting classmate signatures. Another game I love to play is Two Truths and a Lie. Every student will write down two unbelievably true things about themselves and also one lie. I collect all the game cards. I shuffle them and then read each one while the students make their best guesses about who the card is talking about.
For example, my Two Truths and a Lie card might have these three statments:
1. I went to a U.S. gymnastics olympic training gym.
2. I had to flee the country because of a war.
3. I never had a cavity.
Students will listen and make a guess about which of the three was the lie. Keep reading to find out which one it was.
Most of my students know each other because I work at an extremely small private school and I have them for three years before they move on. We interact a lot with the other classes and our school feels like a family. We of course always have a few students who are new to the school, but we do not generally play name games because the vast majority know each other already. We simply introduce ourselves and help those who are learning our names.
Recess
At recess during the first week, I generally start us off with a group game in the morning and allow for free play at our second recess. This helps students establish rapport with each other again. For most, they have not had much contact during the summer, even though they generally do know each other from previous years. I find group games help to break the ice and also get kids back in the swing of things. It ensures that all students are involved and no one is left feeling alone. Usually, we play an easy-to-learn game that everyone is familiar with or can learn quickly. I love using tag games because every student knows how to play tag. One of my favorite tag games to play the first week is Color Tag. In Color Tag, there are two sides marked off with two cones each or you can use the lines in the gym if you have access to one. All runners stand behind one of the lines. One player is "it" and he/she will stand in the open field between the two sides. The person who is "it" will begin by calling out a color. Any runner who is wearing that color, must run across the field to the other side. Once they cross over the line (or between the two cones), they are safe. The person who is "it" may also call out "all colors" and every runner will need to switch sides. Any player who is tagged will join with the "it" and will help catch the other runners. The game ends when just one player has still not been tagged. That player becomes the next "it" if you play again. If you can join in the play with your students, even better!
Lunch Bunch
Building a relationship with my students is vital. One way that I foster this relationship is by taking time to get to know them in non-academic ways. I love to have a lunch bunch with a small group of students every Friday. For the first month, I rotate students until everyone has had a chance. At lunch bunch students sit with me, at my table, while we eat. I take the opportunity to chat with them. I find out about what is going on in their lives. We talk about their families and things that are important to them. It is priceless, really. I always bring a treat to share with my lunch bunch and that makes it really special to them. They love sitting at my table. They find it a privelage to sit with me.
Read-a-loud
We always have a read-a-loud time, each day, throughout the year. I read for about 15 minutes after lunch recess. It is a time when students can come back after running and getting hot and sweaty and they can just relax and cool down for a few minutes before diving back into the curriculum. The students grow to look forward to these few minutes. I almost always choose a chapter book and they always beg for more. Starting my read-a-loud time right away, the first day, builds anticipation for what is to come and sets the expectation of what we will do at that time every day for the school year. And believe me, if we ever do miss our read-a-loud for any reason, I hear about it. During read-a-loud it is just a time for kids to enjoy literature and not have to do responses or activities. It is purely for the pleasure of it. It helps my students fall in love with a good book. It is perfect to use when building interest in a book series. Read the first book in the series and when kids are hooked, show them other books in the same series and let that spark a passion in them. Sometimes I pick up books that have ugly covers and ones that are neglected by my kids becasue they look old or uninteresting on the outside. When choosing books, chose a wide variety of characters that represent those in your class or in the world at large.
I love Three Keys, it features Asian and Hispanic immagrants and their struggles to fit into their new lives in America.
Blended is about a biracial girl. She is also struggling to make sense of her life as the child of divorce who is forced to go between two parents.
My Name is Tani is about an African Immigrant who perserves to become a Chess champion.
The Thing About Georgie is about a boy who is a dwarf and the challenges of facing that at school.
Also, I can read books that are out of their independent reach and so it opens a whole host of possibilities for them. Here are some of my favorites that I've used through the years and some I am looking forward to trying out.
Put Your Positive Pants On
It's something I often hear Michelle Emerson from Pocketful of Primary say, but it is so true. I purchased a sign for my classroom with this saying and I refer to it, literally ALL.THE.Time. I want my students to have a positive mindset because mindset truly matters. If they think they can do it, they will more than likely find a way. The opposite is just as true. If they think they cannot do it, it turns into self-doubt, talking down to yourself, and in the end not doing something because you told yourself you couldn't. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Something I like to do to spread positivity, is to look for it throughout the day and send positive notes home several times per week. Let me just say that kids look forward to earning a positive note! A side note here, the babies in your class that struggle the most, need these notes the most. As the saying goes, "Kids who need love the most, ask for it in the most unloving ways."
Can I share a personal experience with you? A few years back, I was teaching second grade. It was the start of the school year and this one little boy's reputation had proceeded him. I had heard all the stories...you know the kind. I had even seen him physically carried to the office, kicking and screaming, (since my window faced the office building). I knew I had to find a way to reach this family. Families with kids like this hear a lot of feedback and not necessarily the type that makes Mom and Dad proud. I wanted to turn that around. I decided to make it my job to find little victories as often as I could. Nearly everytime I handed out positive notes, this little boy had one. He needed to unlearn that he was more than his behavior. He needed to know that I saw the good in him, no matter how small. I know some people might say it isn't fair to focus so much on one student above the others. I would say to them, the others got what they needed from me. They all received praise as well. But this little boy had a deeper need. I was also trying to fill his need. He had a need for more than the normal amount of praise because he had been known for his bad actions for so long. He needed to be rebuilt. Fair is not always equal. Fair is giving each student what he/she needs. It will never look the same.
The first few days of school have the biggest impact. It is where you set expectations, show you care, and get to know your students. Don't miss an opportunity to make this the start of a fabulous school year. You won't regret it.
Here are links to some of the mentioned resources in case you are interested in them.
Team Building:
Back to School Games
Positive Notes:
More back to School Blog Posts to Check Out (click the links below)
Oh, and by the way, if you made it all the way to the end, thanks for sticking with me. The answer to the two truths and a lie is that I never had cavities (until I had my first one just recently). Now I will need to come up with a new truth to tell.
