[beachteach]

My school decided that we are not teaching content (spelling, LA stories, science, and social studies) except for math the 1st week of school. I am completely ok with this since I'll really get to go over routines and building my class. What types of activities do you do during the first week of school? I teach 2nd grade but I would love to hear from any grade because I might be able to share with my friends in other grades. Thanks!!!

Jen

[teacher2]

We have a short week our first week back. I think all of the teachers cover at least some content that first week. You are going to need a ton of actvities to fill all of that time. On the first day, we do several ice breaker type activities, I always have some sort of hands on craft at the end of the day. One of the activities I use sometimes is a summer vacation survey. Basically, it asks children to note which activities they participated in over the summer. It has things like I read a book, I went to the library, I saw a movie, I went swimming, I went camping, I went of vacation, I flew on a plane, etc. Then I create a bar graph on a large piece of poster board or colored craft paper. And we graph the results. It can be a fun project. Best wishes to you.

[MJay]

I agree. The first week was spent with procedures. If the procedures are not in place you can forget the rest of the year. Started right off with math lessons. As for the literacy block the teachers found time to pull groups of students to the reading table and listen to them read, assess using the DRA, and assess the word study work using the DSA (developmental spelling assessment from Word Journeys). Practice the procedures and activities for independent work during the guided reading time. This Monday the schedule is in place and the real teaching begins.
MJay, Lit. Coach

I'm using the same plans I used when I taught fourth. We'll see how it goes in a new grade and new school. My motivation is to fill the bulletin boards quickly because open house is around the corner. One activity is called lollypop buddies. The students choose a lollypop from my group of tootsie pops. Same color pops form buddy groups who learn about one another. My fourth graders interviewed each other, but I think I'll have the third graders complete the questionnaire by themselves. They later introduce their buddy and their interests to the rest of the group. The students also write a "summer short story." First they prewrite by coloring shorts with a picture of the summer memory they want to write about. In fourth grade it took two plus weeks to get five paragraphs written, edited and published. I anticipate it will be shorter in third since they write less. I also begin to learn about how much they can do in math. Depending on your grade, different skills may need to be reviewed before moving forward. In between these key activities we practice rules and policies. I also include several read alouds that relate to the writing. This plan always worked well for me when I taught fourth for five years.

[grade4curlyQ]

Have you seen the post on the 4th grade site about the "Get to know you" necklaces? It's really creative!
Have a great start!

[Miller]

practice every procedure, from fire drill to getting a tissue in class

practice:
centers if you do them
asking questions