The first assignment I have on student desks when they walk in the door is Time Capsule project. Students fill out the questionnaire and write a letter to themselves the first day of school. They receive it back the last day of school and compare answers.
I want a writing sample for the first week of school. I keep this all year to see growth. Click here for a writing prompt with printable stationery for students to write about one event from their summer.
My first math assignment is the Birthday Graph. Students survey their classmates to create a bar graph of birthdays by month.
In order to start establishing classroom climate, I have small groups look up the definitions of rights, responsibilities and privileges. Then they list some examples. I use this as a starting point for classroom rules.
At the end of the first day, I send home a questionnaire to parents. I keep these forms at least until parent teacher conferences so I review any goals or comments parents had at the beginning of the year.
I have students create this name patterning project early in the year for a bulletin board.
After I have introduced the rules and routines, I use this organizer to quiz students on how the room works. I don't necessarily do this the first week of school, but I make sure I have introduced these procedure and that they know how to follow them.
I hope you have a great school year.
Mary, I love the idea of having them start working on their Rights and Privileges! Such a cool way to start building community on day one!
ReplyDeleteI work at building community all year. Thank you for hosting this blog hop.
ReplyDeleteHi Mary. I put Brownbag's blog button link on my post, but I couldn't get other links to show up like you have under your post. I use Wordpress self hosted and it gave me several codes. I wasn't sure which to use!
ReplyDeleteDebbie
I would try one and see if it works. I don't know Wordpress very well, so I'm not very helpful.
DeleteI got it to work:)
DeleteGood job!
DeleteThanks for sharing your ideas for getting started. I love the visuals for names and patterns.
ReplyDeleteCharlene/Diamond Mom
Diamond Mom's Treasury
Thanks for providing so many freebies to get the year started!
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome
DeleteI love your time capsule idea! It would be fun to have my 2nd graders write a letter to themselves. I've never done that before. Thanks for the great idea!
ReplyDeleteChrissy
First Grade Found Me
You're welcome. I hope you have a great year.
Delete