First Day Ideas

I've continued thinking about ideas for the first day of school and wanted to share some of what I do on the first day.  It always feels like it is the fastest day of the year, and I never do all that I want to do.  My students trickle in over the course of about 30 minutes and most of them bring parents who want to talk to me, so I have to find a way to keep everyone busy before school officially begins.  I like to have a student questionnaire on everyone's desk that they can begin filling out as soon as they're situated.  The questionnaire is only 14 questions, but it takes a loooooong time for students to complete it, so I usually have everyone busily working while I'm talking with parents, writing names on supplies, making sure everyone knows how they're getting home, etc.  I also like the questionnaire, because it allows me to get to know my students a little better.  You can get your free copy at the link below.
First Day Questionnaire

Once I get the room to myself, I introduce myself and tell them a couple silly stories about my summer and read First Day Jitters.  Then we start working on our procedures and routines, which has always been my least favorite part of the day, because I've found it to be a little boring.  No matter how funny I try to be or how interesting I try to make it, I can typically see my students' eyes start glazing over.  I've learned that it helps to discuss a few routines and then do a short activity to wake my class up and then go back to the routines.  This will be the first time I've had a Smartboard at the beginning of the year, so I've made a Smartboard lesson for teaching rules and routines.  I think this will help make it a little more fun for students, and I've added several interactive slides to help keep students' attention.  I've posted this on TpT, and you can click on the link to see a full preview.
First Day Procedures

 

I'll be sharing some of the fun ice breaker activities we do at the first of next week, so be sure to check it out!