The start of a new school year is such an amazing and slightly terrifying time of the year. You might have a completely new class, have a mix of new and old students or maybe the class you have this year is exactly the same as last year. I think there are pros and cons to each situation but regardless of who is in your class the first few weeks of school set the tone for rest of the year.
How you start the year impacts how the rest of the year will go. In order to create the class we want we need to know what an ideal class would be. How would it function and what would be the priorities. Each teacher is different and therefore classrooms are different, which I think is a great thing.
My top three priorities in the classroom are having authentic relationships (with my students and between students), operating with strong rhythms and routines and creating a high expectation and proud learning environment. I think often we rush through the first few weeks, keen to get our groups set up and the explicit, real learning under way. The key for me is to spend least 3 - 4 weeks focusing on establishing my classroom priorities. Learning absolutely needs to be valuable and purposeful but it takes second place to getting to know my students, teaching and establishing classroom rhythms and routines and showing my students what a high expectation environment looks and feels like.
In order to do this you need some great plans which cover the curriculum but are not too academically heavy so there is plenty of brain space for learning the other important things. I start the year with bare walls so my of learning in the first few weeks is focused around getting things up on the wall to get to know each other and help to create a shared space.
If you are looking for some Back to School and Classroom Organisation resources follow the link below to see a range of resources; poetry, art, book bingo, writing.
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