first days

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Home : 2003 : July : 26

first days
By Susan/5th

I know this has probably been said, but I always recommend The First Days of School by Harry Wong. It is a HUGE help to new teachers (and veteran teachers!). I can't emphasize enough to teach PROCEDURE, PROCEDURE, PROCEDURE.
It will make your class run so much more smoothly the rest of the year if the students know exactly what to do, and are given an opportunity to practice it over and over.
I also recommend finding a good read aloud that goes along with the unit you're on. You can either start or end the class with it. It's a good way to wind down the class after doing experiments. You get the

class to clean up and put their heads down (yes, even 5th-6th graders!) and just listen. In the first few days, you can teach procedures, practice them, go over classroom rules, go over the textbook (let them browse it, look at the index, table of content, etc...) and then read a book about something that will tie in with your first unit of study. You can also give them a survey to find out areas they're strong in, what they like, what they'd like to learn, how they'd like to see the class taught, etc...