As a teacher, I’ve had the school year begin in total chaos—particularly those years in the beginning of my teaching career. I hadn’t quite gotten a handle on how to begin my school year with a relaxed and confident tone. It didn’t help that I taught kindergarten. So those first couple of years began with a wave of students and parents surging into my room. It sounded something like this:
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“I brought extra Kleenex boxes because I thought you might need them!”
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“Honey, stop crying. Mommy will see you right after school.”
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“Sam has a little cold, but we didn’t want him to miss the first day.”
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“Where is your cubby? Let’s find your cubby.”
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“Emma won’t be riding the bus today. I’ll pick her up.”
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“I brought an art smock for Asa. Where should I put it?”
Well, you get the idea. Any kind of serenity was usually shot for that first day. I was interested to check out how other teachers manage to have a serene first day of school, and I stumbled across this blog, “Setting the Tone in the First Ten Minutes of the First Day of School.” He has some great thoughts—and free downloads!
What do you do to create a serene atmosphere on the first day of school?
We always have a parent orientation without Children before school starts. It answers lots of questions that parents may have. One way we handle receiving scshool supplies is we have a basket outside the room where parents can place things. If its for their child they place their childs name on it. If its for the class they just leave it.