Top 10 Beginning of the Year Traditions

As the school year begins there are many reasons to become stressed. You have new students who know none of your routines, your class is bigger than you expected it to be, your schedule is constantly being changed, etc.

Instead of giving in to the stress, we try to find ways to make the beginning of school special for our students and fun for ourselves. Here are ten of our favorite beginning of the year traditions.

1. Journey Through the Year: Each month, have your students draw a self-portrait and write their name on a piece of paper. You can use these pages to keep a consistent format. Let students write the name they like to be called. For instance, Ella changed to Eleanor, then to Ellie, and back to Ella throughout the year so it was a fun way to keep track of that. Keep all the pages and at the end of the year compile them into a book that students get to take home. Your students will love to look at their drawing and handwriting skills from September and how they’ve grown.

2. Healthy Snack of the Month: Encourage your students to pack healthier snacks. Feature 1 snack a month, hang a mini-poster and discuss the benefits of the featured food. You can even read books about each snack and do various follow-up activities.

3. Top 10 Monthly Lists: Use our monthly lists, or create your own, to motivate your students and their families to keep learning and exploring at home.

4. Recruit Volunteers: Send home our volunteer request letter and then confirmation form to solicit much-needed help in your classroom. So many parents want to get involved. You may even discover parents who want to help from home if they can’t come in.

5. Get to Know Your Students: Send home our Student Information Sheet on the first day of school. This valuable information gives you immediate and important feedback.

6. Free Snack: During the first week of school, students sometimes struggle to remember routine. Part of our daily schedule includes an optional snack from home. So for the first week of school we bring in snack for our students. This gets them in the habit of remembering for the weeks to come. Some options are cheese crackers, pretzels, granola bars or fruit snacks. Make sure you are aware of any student allergies before buying!

7. First Day Goodie Bag: To settle first day jitters and to make our students feel welcome, we set up goodie bags on every desk. Possible fillers could be: a “Welcome” postcard, a new pencil, a name tag, an eraser, a small notepad, a snack or a sticker to wear. The students love opening the bags as soon as they find their seats. This also keeps everyone busy and buys us time to greet each student or parents as they walk through the door.

8. A Few of Our Favorite Things: Sometime during the first week of school, read, My Favorite Thing (According to Alberta) by Emily Jenkins. Then make a class book with a similar title such as: Our Favorite Things (According to Mrs. ____’s Class).

9. Take a Tour: After going over all the important information, rules, introductions and drills, make some time to take a tour of the school and playground. This helps new students to become familiar with their surroundings and also gives a nice review to our young students who tend to forget their way. Make sure to point out rooms to which you will be frequently sending students (for example, other classrooms on your grade level).

10. One Time Show-and-Tell: Usually after kindergarten, we do away with weekly show-and-tell. But have you ever noticed how many students still ask to bring things in? Sometime during the first week of school, read Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge by Mem Fox. Discuss the objects Wilfrid has and why they are special to him. Then invite your students to participate in a “One Time Show-and-Tell”. No matter what grade you teach, encourage students to bring one item that will fit in a brown lunch bag. (Send home a lunch bag the day before.) If someone forgets their item, have them draw a picture or write about their special item on an index card to share.

What are your favorite beginning of the year traditions? Let us know!

A Year of Top Ten Lists

If you liked our Top Ten Favorites for Summer, then you’ll LOVE what we’ve done for the school year. Check out our Teachers pay Teachers store to find lists for September through May. Each list showcases a favorite book, website, snack, author, rainy/snowy day activity, family field trip, animal to research, movie, exercise and craft.

Top 10 Favorites for Summer

Looking for some exciting things for your students to do this summer? Give them our Top 10 Favorites for Summer!

You can also check out A Year of Top Ten Lists for a list to send home to parents on a monthly basis!

School Year Count Down or Count Up?

Erin and I were discussing what our first blog entry should be about. We both teach first grade, we love what we do and we want to be helpful to our readers. We also hope to build bonds with new people who can relate, share and learn with us. It’s exciting to begin something new, even though the year is ending. What better time for reflection on how we choose to end things?

Thanks for reading!

Every year, Erin and I do our best to avoid the “countdowners.” You know who they are, the people who inform everyone of how many days are left in the year and announce that number daily (usually in an overly enthusiastic voice). Our countdowners start right after spring break, exuding the urgent, anxiety-ridden message: “You only have ___ days left with these kids - just survive!”

The definitions of the word countdown are as follows: “An act of counting numerals in reverse order to zero, especially to time the last seconds before the launching of a rocket or missile” and “The final moments before a significant event and the procedures carried out during this time.” Ok, so I guess in a way, we are “launching” kids to the next grade (hopefully) and completing another school year is a “significant event” - but does it have to feel so hurried?

Erin and I always find ourselves wishing for more time. Does anyone else do this? Last Monday, one of my first graders announced, “19 more days left!” and I got an immediate pang in my stomach and thought, “But I’m not ready yet!”

It always feels difficult to let go of my students (even the tough ones). You hope you’ve taught everything, opened their minds and hearts and imparted profound and useful words of wisdom. Counting down seems to take away those final opportunities to make lasting impressions. So Erin and I choose the opposite. We choose to be “countuppers.” (Technically this isn’t a word so I can’t give you a definition.) Simply said, we “count up” the many ways we can send our kids off happy and not anything like rockets or missiles!

Here is our Top Ten End-of-the-Year Traditions List. Please share your own ideas with us too!

1. Last Letters, Lasting Impressions: Write a letter to each student and include it in their last report card. We like to include personal details and celebrate accomplishments. These become keepsakes. We’ve even had former students come back years later and tell us that they’ve kept their letters!

2. Doorway Greetings: Stand at your doorway every morning for the last week of school and greet your students. (Maybe you already do this!) It may be the only “Good Morning” they hear for a while. It’s always great to start the day with a smile.

3. Class Magazine: Choose a title like “Teacher’s Name Young Writers” or “Teacher’s Name Remarkable Writers.” Include an autograph page, a short story written and illustrated by each student and surveys like: “What is your favorite memory of first grade?”, “What will you be doing in ten years?”, “What is your favorite food?”, “What is your favorite book?” and “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Ask all of your students to illustrate a cover page and have an unbiased party choose 1 winner to be the cover of the magazine. We even put report covers on the finished product so they will last longer.

4. Teacher Autograph Book: Using a blank journal, encourage your students to write a good-bye message to you and sign their names. Include a class picture, add the date and do with your class every year!

5. Classroom Escape: Create getaways, like a campsite, right in your very own classroom! We use a bed sheet and prop it up in a corner or throw it over a table to replicate a tent. (We aren’t allowed to hang anything from the ceiling anymore.) Stock with books on camping, flashlights/battery operated lanterns and marshmallows/s’mores. Hand out passes to students who need an escape from the daily grind. Other escape ideas: puzzles, the beach, Washington, D.C., the zoo, the circus and the farm.  Click here for passes.

6. The Special Table: Clear off a table with enough room for 2-4 students to work. Invite students (we use an actual invitation) to sit at the table for the entire day. Choose your hardest workers first. They will inspire others to land a seat at the table another day! Set up “special” items for each student. For example: a placemat, a snack, an individual bottle of water, hand lotion, the teacher’s supply of crayons, colored pencils and any other extras you choose.

7. Make Each Day Special: Hang up a sign titled, “Make Each Day Special.” The sign lists Monday-Friday and 1 fun idea for each day. Choose from our list or create your own.

8. Conversation for Closure: On the morning of the last day of school, sit in a circle and share compliments, favorite memories and proud moments. This helps calm anxieties about the big good-bye and it’s a touching way to end your time together. Be prepared for some tears- both yours and your students!

9. Top Ten List: Make a list of the class’ favorite activities from the whole year. You may need to start with a larger list and vote to narrow it down to ten. Type up the list and send a copy home with each student.

10. Thank You Notes: Have your class write thank you notes to staff members. Include cafeteria workers, office personnel, custodians and specialists. They all deserve to be recognized for their dedication and hard work throughout the year. 

Ann Marie