Secrets to Having an Awesome First Day of School

Tomorrow is the first day of school.  Your body is flooded with a mixture of equal parts nerves and excitement. 

You scramble semi-productively around your home checking and double-checking that all the supplies you need is packed.

You simultaneously review the physical checklist in front of you and the mental checklist running through your overworked brain.

You envision your classroom, as you left it hours ago.  Everything seemed to be in the perfect spot earlier today.  You hope that is still the case.

Your eyes nearly bulge out of your noggin when you read the time on the clock. 

You drag yourself to bed.  You channel an optimistic mantra to overshadow the anxious thoughts residing in your mind.  You have a symphony of positive messages and negative messages colliding in your thoughts.  It is unclear which side is winning.

You force yourself to take a deep breath and close your eyes, wondering, hoping, that you have everything prepared before you drift off to sleep.

Does that sound like you?  Are you cringing?  Is your anxiety skyrocketing from picturing that chaotic scene?

Read on to learn how to avoid this scenario to have an awesome first day of school!

Materials for your classroom and your students

Every teacher knows there is a plethora of materials needed for your classroom and your students, both for the first day of school and from the second day through the last day.

Check out this must-have list of classroom-related and student-related items to have ready for the first day of school.  Your anxiety, as it vanishes, will thank you.

• Handouts of the school’s daily schedule and the school calendar – these items are especially helpful for students who are new to the school to help them grasp the flow of each day and of the academic year.  As you plan your units, and even more so if you are new to the school, it will be helpful to reference the school’s schedule and calendar to roughly map out the days needed for each unit.
• Name cards taped on desks – for each desk, print out and tape down a roster of each student, each period, who will be sitting at that desk.  For simplicity for the first day of school, seat your students in alphabetical order so each student can easily find his or her seat.
• Looseleaf paper, notebooks, sticky notes, and index cards – distribute large index cards (5” x 8” works well) to have students make name cards by folding index cards in half to stand like tents.  This is a fun activity to help students ease into the first day of school, plus it helps you remember each student’s name.  Loose leaf paper is great to have for writing assignments, notetaking, scrap paper, etc.  It is always good to have a few extra notebooks for students who use up their notebooks and need new ones, especially if the new notebooks are needed in the middle of class.  Last, but not least, sticky notes – aka one of my favorite things ever!  Be sure to have a variety of sticky notes in a variety of sizes and colors.  They come in handy for students to take notes and to jot down examples, for you to jot down reminders, and for you to jot down words of encouragement for your students who are doing a great job working independently (I “stole” that idea from another teacher!). 
• Pens and pencils – have more pens and pencils than you can imagine using.  Chances are that you will lose more of them in 10 months than you ever thought possible.
• Crayons, markers, colored pencils, and highlighters – perfect for students to use for organized notetaking, as well as for visually creative projects.  No real explanation needed!
• “Getting To Know You” form – a great first day of school activity to help you learn about the personality of each of your students.  The form should include information such as name, nickname, pronouns, academic goals, personal goals, interests, fun facts, etc.  It is helpful to look to these forms throughout the year to find ways to connect with your students.
• Ice breaker activity, such as “This or That” – your students will appreciate this low-key game to adjust to you and to one another.  The options posed in “This or That” can revolve around the course subject as well as around random interests and preferences.
• Slideshow overview of course content – the unknown is unsettling for many, so having a preview of topics to be covered in your course will likely put your students at ease.  Most teachers review this information on the first day of school, but I recommend (as suggested by another teacher!) to do this on the second day of school.  On the first day of school, students’ brains are likely in overdrive from the amount of info being thrown at them.  By reviewing your course content on the second day, it will likely stand out from other teachers’ presentations and will be memorable.
• Slideshow of expectations and procedures – reviewing your classroom expectations and procedures allows everyone to be on the same page about how to successfully operate in your class.  Students thrive when they have routines to follow.  Postpone reviewing this information until the second day of school, for the same reasons listed above.
• Contract to be signed and returned – a class contract ties in well with introducing course content and class expectations and procedures.  So, you guessed it, review this on the second day.  The contract is a semi-formal way to hold students accountable for abiding by the expectations and procedures.  Requiring each student’s guardian to sign it lets you know that the guardians are also in the loop.  It is helpful to include space for guardians to include contact info so you can easily reference email addresses and phone numbers in the future. 
• Textbooks, novels, etc. properly numbered and/or labeled – having these items numbered or labeled ahead of time saves you a step when distributing them to your students.
• All handouts for the first day of school printed and ready to go – cardinal rule #1 of teaching: do not wait until the day you need copies to make the copies because the likelihood of the copier malfunctioning is highly probable.  This will leave you frazzled.  So please, make your copies at least one day prior to when you will need them.  Doing this also gives you time to set aside the appropriate number of handouts for each class and to make modifications, as needed. 

Did I forget anything?  Leave a comment with anything you would add!

Materials for you

There are a few items you should have ready and things you should do the night before the first day of school to be as prepared as possible.

This list will serve you well not only on the first day of school but on every day for the rest of the academic year.

• Calendar and/or planner – as a teacher, you will have a lot on your plate.  Having a calendar or a planner helps keep you organized “aka” it helps maintain your sanity.  Some teachers like to use separate calendars for school responsibilities and for personal plans (I am one of those teachers), while others use one for everything.  Find a system that works best for you.
• School ID tag – school personnel will likely take a photo of you to use for your ID tag in the days leading up to the start of the school year.  If this does not happen, be sure to inquire about it, especially since ID tags sometimes also serve as keycards to get into the building.  I’m sure this goes without saying: be sure to wear your ID tag all day.  This way, all faculty and students know that you belong in the building, plus, you won’t need to worry about losing it. 
• Classroom key – attach your classroom key to a lanyard or your school ID tag, if possible.  Always have it on your person so that, just like with the ID tag, you won’t need to worry about losing it.  Prior to the first day of school, practice using your key to lock and unlock your classroom door.  This is extremely important in preparation for emergencies, and sometimes the locks on doors have nuances to locking and unlocking them. 
• Seating chart for each class – have your seating charts prepared a few days ahead of time.  Rule of thumb is to have your students seated alphabetically by last name.  If you obtain information ahead of time about students who need preferential seating, you should of course incorporate those seating arrangements into your seating chart.  Keep in mind, you will change the seating chart numerous times throughout the year based on students’ needs, behaviors, and personalities as well as by changing up the layout of seats (individual, pairs, groups).
• Attendance lists printed out and in order – even though attendance is submitted electronically, I find it helpful to have a written record of it as well, especially as you adjust to your school’s electronic system.  You can use printouts of your seating charts for recording attendance. 
• Band-aids – it is inevitable that you and your students will require band-aids for minor injuries throughout the year.  Do yourself a favor and have a box of band-aids on day one.  Plus, having band-aids prevents unnecessary trips to the nurse’s office for those students who love nothing more than to aimlessly wander the halls.
• Water bottles and snacks – store a few extra water bottles and snacks in your classroom, both for you and for students.  You may have days when you stay at school late and need these items to make it through the late hours of the afternoon.  Plus, since we’re all human, there could be days when you or your students forget to bring drinks and food. 
• Bag packed, lunch packed, clothes picked out, go to bed early – have everything you need for the first day ready to go at night so that you are not scrambling in the morning.  Try your hardest to get your ideal amount of sleep so that you are refreshed and ready to confidently and pleasantly take on the first day of school.  Of course, doing these things every day throughout the school year is the goal. 

What else would you include?  Leave a comment!

Information that you need to know

There will always be a plethora of information you’ll need to know, as a teacher.  You will basically become a walking encyclopedia of knowledge about your school, your students, and your courses. 

Here are a few topics you should be well-versed in for the first day of school.

• Your schedule – for your sanity and for organizational purposes, familiarize yourself with the order of your classes.  This will help you plan how and where you store materials for each period, especially if you teach multiple courses.
• Teacher duties – be sure to find out if you are expected to perform specific responsibilities throughout the day, such as cafeteria duty or study hall duty.
• Times to use the bathroom – an important part of knowing your schedule is knowing when you have a prep period or a lunch period aka time to use the bathroom!  On that note, become friendly with the teachers in your hallway so that, when nature calls at an inopportune time, one of those teachers can watch over your students.
• Safety protocols – it is extremely important for your students’ well-being that you become familiar with the school’s safety protocols.  You must know the procedure for emergency drills, locations of each emergency exit, how and where to gather your students, etc.   
• Info about your students – it is important to know details about your students concerning health issues, as well as educational accommodations and/or modifications.  Familiarizing yourself with this information is vital to meeting your students’ needs as best as possible.
• Intro about yourself – this may seem silly since you know yourself, but it is helpful to prepare some talking points for your introduction to your students.  On the first day of school, you may be a little nervous and be thinking about a million things.  This might cause you to freeze or stumble on your words.  Have a few fun facts ready, such as where you grew up or your favorite cartoon character, to make your students feel like you are a human, just like them.

What did I miss?  Comment with any info you think should be included!

You can have a successful first day

Now that you know the ingredients that go into having a successful first day, you can set the tone for a successful school year.

Allow me to send you off with a few reminders:

• Any of the activities you do and information you share can carry into the second day of school
• As one of my fellow teachers once told me, expectations and procedures can be revisited at any point in the year as a “reset”
• Everyone in your classroom (you and your students) contributes to the class environment, so be sure to spread a positive attitude
• Be kind to yourself – whether it is on the first day or the seventy-first day, things may not go as planned, which is okay.  P.S. I often need to remind myself of that!

Let me know your thoughts and comments, as well as the elements you recommend for having an awesome first day of school!

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Peace.  Love.  Reading & Writing.

💗 Miss M