Ever feel overwhelmed and in over your head?
My tip for the first day of school, might seem a bit obvious. In fact, it’s not a difficult one and you might not even consider it a tip at all. But it’s something that I took a few years to figure out when I was a beginning teacher.
You know when you’re getting your first class, or changing schools, you want to be super prepared? Well, I used to be like that, and obsess over the first day. I used to be very nervous about getting it right, and so I used to overplan my first day. Now overplanning in itself is not a bad thing, but attempting to complete everything you have overplanned can be frustrating for everyone.
So my tip is
KEEP IT SIMPLE!
That’s it. Nothing fancy.
Where I teach, the kids do not see each other over the summer holidays. I’m sure they all hibernate in front of a screen in the dark all summer. So when they come back to school and meet up with their old friends, all they really want to do is chat and catch up. So on the first day of school, I plan a simple calendar routine, and then a class discussion about the summer and then an easy writing activity about what they did over the summer. Why don’t you hop down over and get your own free copy of my writing activity.
I provided a page for both the Canadian and the American spellings.
I agree – students love to be able to catch up with each other and find out what everyone was doing over the summer so what a great activity you have planned!
Teaching Autism
Sandra, I just followed you and I like the name of your blog! You're so right about the nervousness that we all get in the beginning of school. I've been teaching for over 20 years and I still can't sleep the night before. I'm completely with you on overplanning. It can definitely stress the kids out if you try to get through too many activities.
Here's hoping you have a wonderful school year!
Sharon Dudley, NBCT
Teaching with Sight
I tend to over plan too & over copy. Then I get annoyed that I wasted paper because I don't have time to complete everything I copy. My solution is to make copies a day at a time. So that if I over do it I have copies for the next day.
I couldn't agree more! Definitely keep it simple! Love the colors in your blog, too! 🙂 Thanks for the freebie!
My first day is spent mostly teaching the students Whole Brain Techniques and practicing rule 1, so it is pretty simple. It's a fantastic tip!
You're right. We get all stressed out about that first day when there are 179 more coming behind it that are at least as important. So much better to plan, relax, and go with it.
Great tip to keep it simple! Have a great start to the year!
Laura
http://www.discoveringhiddenpotential.com
Perfect tip!!! Keep it simple 🙂 Have an amazing school year!
Julie
http://bigideasforlittlehands.blogspot.com/
It’s a classic great for me to go to this blog site, it offers helpful suggestions CA