What a Teacher Needs to Do on the First Day of School

The first day of school is the most important day for both teachers and students. How you meet and greet that student can set the tone for the whole year. Meet the student with a smile and a handshake when appropriate. Wait for the bell and address the students enthusiastically. The first thing on your agenda is to establish class rules and expectations for your classroom. Your rules should be posted on the board or on a poster in large enough letters for all in the classroom to see. As you go over each rule, one by one, stifle any negative behavior before it continues. If you see a negative behavior and you do not confront it. The child will see that you are not going to confront and will continue or repeat the behavior later.

Have a list of expectations ready for your classroom. I have used the Bee expectations. They are simple and easy to understand. They are basically Bee Respectful, Bee Polite, Bee Productive, and Be Have. They are general so that you can manipulate behavior by having it fall into one of the Bees. Your expectations should also include your homework policy, your late turn in policy, the headings on your paper, and any other thing you might want to put in there in writing so there is no misunderstands. If is advisable to have these expectations signed by the student and also for the parent. The last thing that you want is having the parent angry because they did not know what to expect from your classroom.