Day 1 Thoughts

We welcomed each student as they walked in, shook their hand, introduced ourselves, and then welcomed them to their seat. I don't have data, but I think it was important to do this because of the message it sends to our students: I care about you as an individual and want to spend a few moments to get to know you. I think school can become a "clock in/clock out" experience and so want to avoid that as much as possible. We'll be working together for an entire year and it's very natural to greet anyone we meet for the first time this way. I know that establishing strong relationships with each student is important and this is just a good way to start off the year. Or so I think...

Our first day of class began with a yellow folder filled with handouts for the first week of school. Given all the "chaos" involved with the first few days of classes...especially without any established routines, this was a huge time saver in the classroom. All handouts are there, nicely organized, and the students have a special place to store their important classroom items. This takes care of any students who are still working on organizational skills and/or have not purchased a binder yet. It also saves time in terms of handing out all the important first class documents. It even gives students something to do/read/think about while class is getting together. I really believe that classroom routines are critical to a smoothly run class... but day 1 has none of that kind of infrastructure. This takes care of a week's worth of handouts. Love love love this and would definitely implement this in my own classroom.

I would like to spend about 1/2 the class on an activity that is science related. I know that it is important to go over classroom routines, academic expectations, and other administrative items, but...I think that developing community and making it clear that this is a SCIENCE class should be established as well. L.N. and I are developing a Day 1 science activity. Nothing special (modified "ID what's in the mystery box" but the hidden purpose will be to go over the scientific method, observation vs inference, and definition of hypothesis...while being a bit of fun for all involved.