Mrs. Wheeler's First Grade Tidbits: 1st Day of School Ideas

I've had some people ask for ideas for the 1st day of school so I thought I would dedicate a blog post to it. I try to keep my 1st day pretty low-key and orderly because it sets the tone for the entire year. As students arrive, I like to have a coloring sheet of some sort on their desks. This allows for me to fly around and get their supplies organized. It also gives me an idea of their personalities right from the start. Who is sharing? Who is not participating? Who is chatty? Other options for first day, right away activities are Play-Doh, blocks/manipulatives, and Legos.

After the kids have had some time to color, I introduce myself and get to know them a little. I have a book that I made many moons ago that tells about what me and my interests and has real photographs in it. I like to do a Skittles activity to learn a little about the kids, too. I put Skittles into a brown bag and display a chart with a color code on it. We also do a little question in a bag activity, where I read aloud questions for the kids to answer.

I firmly believe in the importance of introducing routines by modeling and then giving children the opportunity to practice them both correctly AND incorrectly. I continually model and practice routines the first month of school and then on an as-needed basis. I'll be doing a post about my procedures on August 5, so look for it!

After we've gone through routines, we will do some picture book read-alouds and activities. I like to use all the books and activities from my Back to School Printables pack. Check out some fun activities included below. My favorite books + quality activities = winning!

No, David craft and writing

First Day Mini-Book

Chrysanthemum Craft

Jitter Juice Fun!

For the first few weeks of school, I do take my students for an extra recess break. We typically only get one recess and it's right after lunch. Expecting them to sit at the beginning of the year without some good physical activity is asking too much of them, in my opinion.

In addition to an extra recess, I also give my kids a Play-Doh break. Giving them time to just "be kids" is important to me. This Play-Doh break continues daily for the first few weeks of school, as well. We do my "Magic Play-Doh" activity on the first day. It's always a hit! Snag it for free below.

I may do an assessment on the first day. Usually it's one of the simpler ones, like having the kids write their abcs or numbers. I use all assessments from my "BOY Assessment Pack."