How to Make a GREAT First Day of School (First Days of School Series)

As we continue the First Days of School series, we are going to look at making the very first day of school awesome!

Chapter 7 of First Days of School by Harry and Rosemary Wong presents ideas on how to ensure the first day of a new school year is seen as important.  They have some great theories.  I will share them here along with my own insight.  

Celebrating the first day of school by:

• making your classroom (and school) safe and inviting 
• how????
• hang a welcome sign
• clean the room/building
• greet students at the school's entrances at the very beginning of the day
• greet students at your classroom door
• clearly display your name, grade, and subject
• have your classroom organized 
• allow students to set personal goals 
• ask students to share their expectation of you and the class 
• involve parents and the community
• how???
• ask businesses to donate school supplies and to present them the first day of school
• ask businesses to donate books or other fun things for the classroom or students and to present them on the first day of school
• invite family members that drop off students to tour the school and your room
• if you have students' contact information before school starts as parents/guardians to write an encouraging note to their student 
• have an open house before school starts or a few days after school starts to show parents/guardians their student's classroom 
• write a note to parents introducing yourself and what you teach and send it home with the students
• ask parents to donate school supplies or their time to help your classroom 
• ask local business to volunteer time in your classroom to read to students, help with small groups, or talk about future opportunities 

These are just a few ideas on showing students that an education is important and that the people they see every day believe in them to be successful.  

Classroom Management Series #2: Students don’t understand instructions

Last week I shared my action plan with you.  And this week I want to start brainstorming ideas on how to combat students talking because they don’t understand directions. 

Students don’t understand directions because they 1. didn’t hear you give them, 2. can’t remember them, or 3. didn’t understand the instructions. 

When students have any of the problems mentioned above, they are more likely to reach out to a classmate, which in turns interrupts those around them.  OR a student is likely to call out to you asking you to explain them again which draws all students’ attention to you two.   

To reduce talking because students don’t understand directions here are some procedures to try in you classroom.*

Students didn’t hear you give instructions	-Use a hand signal to get students quiet BEFORE you give instructions      -Use a call and response signal to get students attention BEFORE you give instructions      - Wait until all students are quiet before giving instructions
Students can’t remember instructions	-Simplify instructions (have LESS than 5 steps)      -Write simplified steps on the board during activity      -Use pictures to demonstrate what needs to be done      -Act out the instructions      -Show an example of the completed assignment
Students didn’t understand	-Have one or two students repeat the instructions back to you      - Have a student write the instructions on the board as you say them to the class      -Walk around the room and check students as they work

 

hand signals

call and response

*What are procedures compared to discipline?  Procedures are concerned with how things are done.  Discipline is concerned with how students behave (and correcting it).—The Classroom Management Book p. 9

Next week we will be talking about students are done with work early. Post any tips you have on the topic in the comments section.  

Clothing (TEFL)

We all have to wear them…clothes.  And even if we don’t like it, we have to buy them.  So if you are shopping in a location that speaks your second language this is a good reference.  Show off your knowledge!

Vocabulary

• Shirt
• Shorts
• Pants
• Shoes
• Socks
• Belt
• Dress
• Skirt
• Underwear
• Bra
• Coat
• Hat
• Sandal
• Swimsuit
• Tank top
• Tennis shoes
• Blouse
• Button up shirt
• Tie
• High heels
• Flats
• Slacks
• Necklace
• Bracelet 
• Earrings
• Small
• Medium
• Large
• Extra large (XL)
• 1, 2, 3, 4, 5,6, 7,8,9,10…

Grammar

• I wear a size _____________.
• Do you  ___________ in a ______________?
• Do you have this in another size/color/material?

Warm Up

Play Dress Up
Procedure: Allow students to dress up in fun costumes or old clothes and have conversations reviewing previous content.  

Watch a video

Procedure: Teacher shows a video introducing clothing (Simple Clothing Items and Vocabulary in Sentences) and asks what students remember afterwards. 

Practice

Concentration

Procedure: Students are in small groups (2-6) and given a set of pictures of clothing along with a set of the vocabulary words to correspond with the pictures.  Cards are shuffled and placed face down.  Students take turns turning over 2 cards a time to match a picture with the vocabulary word.  The game is over when all cards have been matched, and the student with the most pairs wins.

Dress A Monster

Procedure: Students are given a drawing of a monster (or person or animal) to draw AND label articles of clothing on it. 

Signature Bingo

Procedure: Students are given a bingo sheet with the blanks written like (Find someone who is wearing a blue shirt. Or Find someone who is wearing tennis shoes)

Production

Fashion Show

Procedure: Teacher provides a box of old clothes or students bring in some old clothes.  Students then dress themselves (silly, like celebrities, or in themes).  Students take turns being the MC to announce what another student is wearing. 

Commercial

Procedure:  Students create a short skit (30-60 sec) to convince their audience to “buy” that specific article of clothing. 

Drama

Procedure: Students create and act out a skit about buying clothes in the store using actual props.  

Why Positive Expectations are Important (First Day of School Series)

I cannot rave enough about the The First Days of School!  I read it every summer as I prepare for the next school year.  This year is no different except I am sharing what I gain from the book with you!

*Disclaimer: This series is based on my own understanding of The First Days of School and my personal experience.  If you would like to read all of what Harry Wong and Rosemary Wong suggest please buy a copy of their book *

So last week, I skimmed the first unit (chapters 1-5) and shared what I gained.  I am taking the rest of the book chapter by chapter now.

 

Chapter 6: Why Positive Expectations are Important

There is absolutely NO research correlation between success and family background, race, national origin, financial status or even educational accomplishments. There is but one correlation with success and that is ATTITUDE.  (The First Days of School, p.35)

I love that quote.  So many people see these things as a disadvantage, especially in education.  BUT the factors above make little impact compared to the teacher’s expectation of the students. 

Expectation: belief of what can or cannot be done (Erin’s definition)

There are two types of expectations:

	Positive	Negative
Definition	An optimistic belief that what you do or who you teach will succeed	A pessimistic belief that what you do or who you teach will fail
Why?	You are aware of opportunities to help you succeed	You are looking for proof of why you failed
Examples	“You can be anything you want to be. You can even be president”	“I only give one A each year. I have very high standards”

what can or cannot be achieved <-- Expectations ≠ Standards --> level of achievement               

Please don't confuse expectations and standards because

Expectations are set by teachers

Standards are set by school, state, tests

The expectations you set in your classroom sets up your students to succeed or fail.  You decide. 

Teachers who have negative expectations will prevent a student from learning and achieving.

Students tend to learn as little or as much as their teachers expect (The First Days of School, p. 40)

So what do I gain from this?

• Remember all students can achieve no matter what.
• Set positive expectations, show them, and verbalize them.

And what did you gain?  Comment below.  

Classroom Management Series #2: The Reasons

Last week I challenged you to list your classroom management problems on this template in order to address the underlying reason why students do things.  

We tackled specific issues in the first classroom management series BUT it didn’t focus on the real reason why students were acting in that manner sooo…the behaviors were more likely to return. 

This classroom management series will tackle the core problem of the students’ behaviors and the procedures to prevent them (not punishment).     

Let’s get down to business...here is my My Classroom Management Plan.  I am still brainstorming issues and their reasons, so my list is ever evolving.    

Classroom management is not about discipline. 

Classroom management is about organization and consistency. (The Classroom Management Book, p. 8)

Next week we will start on students don’t understand instructions and procedures to help combat that.  If you have any procedures (how things are done) for giving instructions please leave them in the comment section below.  Remember procedures have no penalties or rewards.  

If there is a classroom issue you want me to address, please leave it in the comments section as well. 

The authors of The Classroom Management Book and The First Days of School do not know I am using their books and I am not benefitting from mentioning them.  However, I HIGHLY recommend reading both of these books if you are teaching.  

First Day of School Series

If I haven’t shared this enough with you (haha…I am known to repeat myself-ask the Hubs), I plan to teach this fall in a new school in a new state soooooo I have been getting my little booty in gear!  I am rereading an old faithful, The First Days of School by Harry and Rosemary Wong and reading some new books to ensure my future students have the BEST year possible!  Confession: I have sticky notes sticking out and hand written notes in my notebook because of this book

amazon.com- I highly recommend this book to all teachers

It is stated at the beginning of the book that most teachers do not have training on how to prepare for the first days of school.  Most of us are prepared to teach the content but are lost on how to start the school year.  With this thought in my head as I read, I decided to share some of the things that stood out to me.  And it shall be called first day of school series. 

*Disclaimer: This series is based on my own understanding of The First Days of School and my personal experience.  If you would like to read all of what Harry Wong and Rosemary Wong suggest please buy a copy of their book *

I dabbled in a few first day of school posts at the beginning of 2013 when my Tico teachers were beginning their school year (one of my first blog posts! Ahh!) and this will be building on those rough blog posts.

SO! Down to what I read this week!  I will only be posting on Fridays so I don’t get over whelmed with TWO series. 

The first section of The First Days of School addresses the teachers—each chapter addresses a different idea.  I will break the other chapters into smaller posts but since this section is about us I thought I would just do a short little recap. 

• Good teachers do things right consistently
• Good teachers are effective because:
• they set positive expectations,
• they are good classroom managers, and
• they know what they are teaching.
• Good teachers have teachers they look up to, ask questions to, and share with
• Good teachers research and use proven techniques in the classroom like:
• Wait time: waiting 3-7 seconds after asking a question before calling on a student to answer <-- this really makes a world of difference, I have used in my own class
• Extensive reading: having a classroom library or access to school’s resources about subjects taught that students can read beyond the things read and discussed in the class

My desk for the day-ah! the life of a nomadic blogger

That was all that stood out to me in the first chapter!  Next week things will be in more detail as I tackle the second chapter.  

Classroom Management Series #2

The classroom management series is BACK! I will be beginning a new year at a new school in a new grade in a new state soon, soooooo I want to dive deeper into our classroom management series that is every Wednesday.  I really need this since I am jumping back into teaching in the States after working with only teachers for two years in Peace Corps. 

In our first series we addressed different issues one by one, such as students using cellphones.  But today, let’s stop and make a PLAN to get us back in the mindset.  Before we can implement our wonderful solutions we need to prepare (again I want to say thank you to all the Tico teachers for their input) for how and why.

But WHY prepare?  Why not deal with issues as they arise?  Because if we don’t already have an idea of how we want to deal with these issues then we may react out of frustration/anger/etc. instead of composure AND our reaction may not fit the issue (i.e. yelling at students who get out of their seats when they really don't know what to do with a broken pencil).

So today, we are going to start planning with the help of my classroom management plan template.

1. In the first column, we (yep! I am doing this too) will list issues we deal with on a daily basis. (talking when teacher is talking, talking during transitions, using cell phones, waiting on students to listen, etc.)

Seriously, sit and think.  Take a couple of days.  Or if you are still in school, keep a list going throughout the day of things you want to deal with. 

The beginning of mine

2. Okay, now this is the part that we will walk through TOGETHER—the middle column.  The middle column is where we will brainstorm why the issues listed are happening.  MOST issues are not because students are deliberately acting out but BECAUSE they do NOT KNOW WHAT TO DO.

  

3. The last column we will also work on together.  I really would like your input on possible solutions.  YOU all have great ideas!   I will post an issue a week before (like I tried in classroom management series #1 so you can write your idea in the comments section.  

SOOOOOO...your goal before NEXT Wednesday (June 18) is to complete YOUR personal my classroom management plan AND post it in the comments.  I cannot help you if you don't participate.  So please list the issues you want to address in the comments section before next week.  

Also check back on Friday for our new First Day of School series!

SNNB is growing UP!

Hello faithful readers!  I hope all is well in your part of the world.  Things are moving along here in my small corner of the US.  These past two months have flown by! 

A couple of months ago, I asked for some patience as I transitioned back to a US citizen after being a resident of Costa Rica for two years as well as plan the future of this blog.  I appreciate the encouraging comments I got while I was absent, and look forward to hearing more from readers. 

While I was gone, I was able to celebrate with family, visit new places, and grieve with a friend.  I also got a chance to brainstorm and create some new things for the blog AND my new store!  So now I feel fresh and ready to embark on the next part of the journey for sticky notes and notebooks.

You may have noticed an updated about section as well as a freshly organized lesson plans tab.  If you have not checked either of these tabs out, please do so now!  I will wait. 

While you are looking around the blog, check out the right side bar!  There a few features that you should take advantage of!  

#1: add your email to get the latest news from sticky notes and notebooks in your inbox

#2  click on the teacherspayteachers banner to visit my store and follow me there to get ORGINIAL sticky notes and notebooks documents

#3 click on the pinterest follow me button where I pin inspiration for the classroom, teaching clothes, and much more! 

And please share this blog, store, and pin board with fellow teachers! 

As I mentioned in an older post, I do not plan on teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL) in the near future.  HOWEVER, I know many of my faithful readers do, so I plan to post a new lesson plan for TEFL teachers ONCE a month starting this month.  I will also continue to provide classroom management tips, downloadable documents ALONG WITH lesson plans for the subject(s) I am currently teaching (which that is still in limbo since I am moving states and have to be certified in that state before obtaining a job). 

So please check back as sticky notes and notebooks  continues to grow up!