My First Day Schedule of Activities (I Hope)

School starts here on Wednesday. I've already been back at work for over a week, doing professional development and working in my classroom. I have one more day of PD and then the kids will show up.

That first day, I've given some thought to what I'm going to do within my given day. A few constants for me are the school day itself (from 8:00-2:30), lunch (12:00-12:40), and the rest of the schedule can vary somewhat. This first day of school, I have a lot on the to do list. We have introductions, going over procedures, taking questions, setting up expectations, then getting some things set up in the room. My focus with my activities will be getting to know my students a little better, and work on team building stuff. My first day will look more or less like this:

8:00-8:30: Introductions and basic information about the classroom
8:30-9:30: Rules, Procedures, and Procedural Practice
9:30-10:30: Make the PDSA board: I always have students make the letters of the PDSA board, here is the example from last year:

10:30-11:30: Social Studies introduction: How to research. Get in groups, introduce Maya, Inca, Aztec research project (more info on this project can be reached here on my blog at Unit 1: Pre-Columbian History, and you can find the student expectations and scoring rubric page HERE).

11:30-12:00: Science Inquiry: We have a variety of activities we do in the first days of school to get kids excited about inquiry.

12:00-12:40: Lunch

12:40-1:25: Math: Go over Drops in the Bucket worksheet #1 together (daily math practice for the year)

1:25-1:55: PE

1:55-2:20: Read aloud (I will begin the year with Castle in the Attic, by Elizabeth Winthrop

2:20-2:30: Get ready to go home, go over end of day expectations. Make sure all items have been passed out.

So that's pretty much what I'm hoping my first day will look like. Of course, as always, I have to be ready to change what I do depending on what is going on in the school, or changes in the overall schedule. So what does your first day look like, at least in your mind?