First day of school ideas

[nellgirl]

I need some new ideas for the first day. We keep our old kids for a week, and the first day I only have them for an hour. The rest of the week, we do review of math and some writing, etc. to use as a sample for the new teacher.
I’m stuck on a first day of school activity, though. I’ve had many of the same kids for a couple of years, so I can’t really reuse what I’ve done in the past. The kids don’t bring anything the first day (so no pencils, but we do have markers, pencil crayons, and crayons) and we don’t have access to any tech beyond the classroom computer and Smartboard since we don’t have permission forms in the first few weeks.
Kids are new grade 6s. It’s a small school, so they know one another very well already.
Any ideas?

[UMaineTeach]

I just got done reading this article and thought it was a good idea. I bet you could do it in an hour. It’s also good since your students know you, each other, and your procedures/expectations, but don’t know this content yet.

Basically, the teacher models the reading habits she wants the students to develop over the course of the year and has them try out the various discussion techniques she will use. Gives them an overview of what the class is about.

www.kqed.org/mindshift/51943/leading-with-learning-on-the-first-day-of-school-to-build-class-culture

[nellgirl]

Aug 27, 2018 8:59:18 GMT -5 UMaineTeach said:

I just got done reading this article and thought it was a good idea. I bet you could do it in an hour. It’s also good since your students know you, each other, and your procedures/expectations, but don’t know this content yet.

Basically, the teacher models the reading habits she wants the students to develop over the course of the year and has them try out the various discussion techniques she will use. Gives them an overview of what the class is about.

www.kqed.org/mindshift/51943/leading-with-learning-on-the-first-day-of-school-to-build-class-culture

Great idea!

[erbear]

I do a "teacher museum" on the first day. I bring in a bunch of "artifacts" about my life and ask kids:
1. how old am I?
2. What do I do in my spare time?
3. What three words best describe me?

Then I push them - how do you know? what's your evidence? how do you know you're right? It allows me to talk about evidence and analysis, questioning, multiple perspectives, etc.