Planning the First Day of School

I love these resources and know you will too! 

The Best Resources For Planning The First Day Of School

August 8, 2011 by Larry Ferlazzo 

The summer always feels so long at the beginning and so short at the end….

It’s getting that time again — a new school year.

I have an extensive chapter in my book, Helping Students Motivate Themselves, on getting the school year off to a good start, and I thought I’d also share here some free online resources.

Here are my choices for The Best Resources For Planning The First Day Of School:

I’ve got to start off with a previous post titled Answers To “What Do You Do On The First Day Of School?” There, I shared what I do on the first day, and many other teachers shared their strategies, too.

My Teachers Leaders Network colleague Jane Fung wrote a two-part article on this topic for Education Week Teacher. See “Teaching Secrets: The First Days of School (Part 1)” andTeaching Secrets: The First Days of School (Part 2).

Another talented TLN colleague, Elena Aguilar, wrote Teaching Secrets: First Days in the Elementary Classroom.

Peter Pappas, as always, has some very creative and useful ideas at First Day of School? Here’s How to Get Students Thinking.

Education.com shares a number of first day ideas, and I can’t endorse all of them. But I particularly like one — having students share their high points from the previous year. Not only could that be energizing, but a teacher could learn a whole lot about their students based on what they say.

Over the past few months, I’ve recommended several posts from Gary Rubenstein’s blog, and here’s another one — this time, about the first day of school. His book, Beyond Survival, also has many more hints — about the first day and beyond.

30 Interesting Ways To Get To Know Your New Class comes from Tom Barrett.

Eva Buyuksimkesyan published a fabulous 24th Edition of EFL/ESL/ELL Blog Carnival chock full of “Warmers, Fillers and 1st Week Activities.” This is a Blog Carnival that teachers will be referring to for years to come!

And here’s a ESL Carnival on a similar topic, hosted by David Deubelbeiss.

What Is Your Technique For Memorizing Student Names?

Getting To Know You comes from the Learning Is Messy blog.

Shelly Terrell has created another very useful Slideshare presentation, “10+ Getting to Know You Activities for Teens & Adults”: