Planning for the First Weeks of School

This is a very long post, but make sure you stick it out the whole way through because you’re going to find a freebie along the way!

No matter what grade you teach, knowing your expectations is key.  There are so many things to think about!  From the way you organize the desks, to how you gain student attention… it all matters.

Here’s just a few classroom procedures I teach in the first week of school:

Above all else, no matter what your expectations are, it’s so important to keep them consistent.

CONSISTENCY IS KEY!

So, whatever you choose, stick with it!

Over the years, I’ve developed a learning sequence that I use to build my classroom community and create my class agreement.  I’ve also created a sequence for teaching about the brain and a growth mindset.  To me, these things needs to happen first.  I can’t teach the academics until I’ve got a solid community in my classroom.

Click here for a previous post on how I build my classroom community in more detail.

To sort everything out and keep myself on track, I’ve developed a plan for my first 5 weeks of school.  It’s more in depth than my year long previews, but less so than my day to day plans.  It just gives me an idea of where I’m going in that first month when things are so hectic.

Here’s a shot of what that’s looking like for the 2015/16 school year:

You can see it’s just snippets of lessons, titles really.  But I can tell at a glance what each of these items represents in my room.

(If you have any questions, I’d be more than happy to answer!  Just let me know in the comments.)

Are you thinking, wow! I need this?  Well, you’re in luck then!  I’ve created a fully editable version of this for you

Click here to get your own free copy! 

One of the items I’d like to draw your attention to is under the classroom management section: Voice Levels.

I place all posters from 0-4 on my whiteboard in order from lowest to
highest ahead of time.  I’ve also got a summary piece with all the
levels on one page.  This is the page that remains up all year for
reference.

I go over each card one by one.   The first card is the easiest for kids
to understand, 0 – silent.  No sound.

Things get a little bit louder
from there: whisper, partners, groups.

When you get to 4, it’s a bit
trickier.  One voice is nice and loud (the loudest in fact) but all the
rest are silent and listening.

Once I’ve talked about each, we practice.  I start at 0, everyone is
quiet.  Then I move to 1, and the room is filled with whispers.  We work
our way up and then back down to 0.  I like to them randomize the
numbers.

The kids find it fun and it shows me they really understand
each level.

Even as soon as the very next day, I was able to say “I would like a
volume level 1 for this activity” and my class was able to get off to
work with a whisper voice!

If you’re wanting to grab this item, it comes a few different versions:

Helping to inspire,