The Colorful Apple

The First Week of School in Grade 2

I remember back to my first year of teaching. I had completed my student teaching and had a few years of subbing under my belt. I felt fairly confident about teaching in general. 

The first of school, though? I was petrified! I had never even witnessed the first day of school from a teacher’s point of view.  They didn’t know the routines and I barely knew their names!  I was NOT prepared for this at all. What was I supposed to do to get the year started off on the right foot?
 
Well, first off, I find that having a plan works (imagine that!). And not only having a plan, but having a LOT of extra activities ready to go. You never know how that first week is going to go. 
 
Here is a schedule of what I do in that first week of second grade. You can download this schedule and every activity is linked so that you can find the exact resource you are looking for. 

A full week of back to school lesson plans for free! Includes all links to activities and resources. This made organizing my first week of school so much easier. A great find!
Morning Routine:
Creating a morning routine has made a huge difference in our entire school day.  It really helps to get the day started off on the right foot!  I start working on our morning routine on Day #1.  We practice it over and over for the first few weeks of school, until it becomes second nature to my students.  You can read more about how I run our morning routine here.

A full week of back to school lesson plans for free! Includes all links to activities and resources. This made organizing my first week of school so much easier. A great find!

Morning Journal:
Part of our morning routine is to write in our morning journals.  To say I love these things, would be an understatement.  It’s a great activity for my students to work on while I collect notes, take attendance and do lunch count.  It also allows for my students to have a little extra writing time in their day.

A full week of back to school lesson plans for free! Includes all links to activities and resources. This made organizing my first week of school so much easier. A great find!

Morning Meeting:
This is my favorite part of the day!  I write a morning message to my students each day, previewing what we will be doing and any changes to our normal schedule (assemblies, etc).  We read the message together, do calendar time and exchange a morning greeting.  It’s such a positive way to start our day!


Dismissal:
As much as we practice our morning routine, we practice dismissal as well.  We have a system for how we get packed up at the end of the day.  I call students one by one to hand back their take-home folders, they then go to their mailboxes to collect their mail.  They return to their seat to put their mail IN their folders and then go to their cubby for their backpack and jacket.  We use these posters to keep track of how students are going home on a particular day.  Underneath I hang each students’ name and they can be moved around easily if someone is going home a different way on a particular day.

A full week of back to school lesson plans for free! Includes all links to activities and resources. This made organizing my first week of school so much easier. A great find!
What are some things you do the first week of school?  I’d love to hear some new ideas!

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Brandy Lehmann says

    That'so cool! I am always complaining about school, but this is so cool!
    That allows little students grow up being well at computers, not being 17 y.o and being able only to enter FB and that's all.
    That's really great. Applause for the teacher.
    But i guess what kind of homework do these pupils have?
    And how can parents help with homework

  2. amany says

    تعد شركة البيت الافضل افضل الشركات العامة في الخدمات المنزلية تقدم افضل الخدمات باعلى جودة وباقل الاسعار
    شركة تخزين عفش بالرياض
    شركة نظافة بالرياض
    شركة غسيل خزانات بالرياض

    ونتميز في جميع الخدمات بان اسعارنا تعد ارخص الاسعار بالمقارنة مع الشركات الاخرى
    شركة نقل عفش بالرياض
    رش مبيدات بالرياض

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