Are you ready for back to school time? What should be the most exciting time of year can sometimes be the most stressful! As teachers, we are required to get back into the swing of things, decorate and unpack our classrooms, plan exciting back to school lessons that engage as well as help us get to know how students. Honestly, I could go on and on. Let’s face it, back to school time is tough! Here are some activities and ideas to make things run a little more smoothly in your classroom.
Practice Rules & Procedures
It is not going to do much good just talking about the rules at the beginning of the year. Students need to practice what following the rules will look like. I also have the students give non examples of following the rules. At the beginning of the year, the students create their own rules booklet! They love writing about why each rule is important, and they also get to draw what following the rule looks like to them. Their favorite part is sharing their illustrations with the class! This rules booklet, as well as rules posters and a corresponding think sheet, can be found in my teacher store. Oh, and they are all editable! Click here to download!
Set Expectations
During the first few days of school, I set expectations on almost everything! Now, this doesn’t mean the students can learn it all at once. We practice all throughout the year. I do however, expect them to learn the expectations of voice levels very quickly because I am not about trying to talk over a group of 30 fourth graders! Established voice level expectations is not only beneficial to you, it is good for all of the students to have boundaries to follow. I have created voice level posters, as well as a back to school activity that requires students to think about when they should use the voice levels and why it is important. You can download this back to school activity here.
Getting To Know Your Students
As I am teaching rules and procedures, I like to work some fun, getting to know you activities in the mix. Nobody wants to spend 7 hours listening to a teacher preach about rules and expectations, right? These 12 activities are fun activities that allow students to share information about themselves. It also allows the students to get to know one another. It helps them get to know their teacher, too! These are all FREE. Yes.. FREE! To download these activities, please click HERE!
More Free Things
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