The first week of school provides the foundation for everything you’ll do this school year. This is an important time for establishing trust, creating a safe space and communicating expectations for your students. Whether you are new to teaching science, or if you are just looking for more ideas, this post is for you.
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What to Do the First Week of School
Here are some of the most important things to do during the first week of school. Notice the first several activities, focus on establishing community, routines and more. Then, I discuss science specific ideas at the bottom.
1. Co-create expectations.
One of the biggest issues I see in the classroom isn’t a lack of expectations. Teachers generally do a good job of stating what they expect from students. Instead, there is a lack of mutual understanding about why the rules and expectations are in place. As a result, rules feel arbitrary, and students push back. When rules feel arbitrary, students respond in way that are labeled misbehavior.
Co-creating expectations is an easy way to solve this problem. This process gives students a voice, ensure that expectations are clear, and provides a strong avenue for addressing concerns in the future.
Check out this blog post to learn more about co-creating classroom expectations.
2. Create a clear entry routine.
The first few minutes of a class period set the tone. When students know what to expect at the start of class, it reduces anxiety and saves time. That’s why it’s vital to establish a clear entry routine.
Consider what you’d like the first 10 minutes of class to look like and create a well-established, predictable routine.
Using an Inclusive Welcome Activity
An academic warm up is a good way to start a class, but I suggest making this the second step. Instead, I highly recommend using an inclusive welcome prior to your warm up activity.
Inclusive welcomes help students feel seen, safe and ready to learn. Once the routine is established, they only take a few minutes. This is a vital step in creating and inclusive classroom environment.
3. Survey your students.
A well-crafted survey provides great insight into what students want and need from your class. That’s why I do one at the start of each school year and then repeat them regularly.
Here are a few things to include in your survey.
- Seating Preferences – Ask where they would like to sit and why.
- People They Work Well With (Or Don’t) – Give students space to name peers they collaborate well with. Also, give them the opportunity to share who they don’t work well with. This helps you avoid conflicts later.
- Things They Struggle With – Include a checklist of common challenges including staying organized, reading aloud, test anxiety, etc.
- What Helps – Ask what other teachers have done that worked for them in the past. You’ll get practical ideas that are easy to implement.
- What Doesn’t Help – Knowing things that potentially triggers a student is essential. And, this helps to establish trust.
- After School Obligations – Sports, jobs and family responsibilities affect how students perform in the classroom. It’s helpful to know what their life after school looks like.
Refer back to the survey.
A survey is a great way to establish trust. But, that’s only true if students are able to see that you used the information you collected in the survey. Use this information to strike up conversations with students to help establish relationships with students.
Also, this is a great place to start if you notice that a student is demonstrating challenging behavior or falling behind on assignments. When you notice these things, take a moment to revisit their survey.
4. Use collaborative discussion strategies.
It’s common for students to struggle with collaborative discussions. Even if they are chatty, that doesn’t mean they know how to engage in collaborative discussions. That’s a skill that need to be explicitly taught with clear, consistent routines.
Even routines we expect students to be familiar with, like turn and talks, likely need instruction. And, partner talk is a low-stakes routine to start with.
5. Do your first community circle.
Community circles are a valuable tool that is usually. However, I rarely see them being used in the classroom.
Community circles are regularly-scheduled classroom meetings that allow for students discussion about non-academic topics. This is an excellent place to discuss what is working and not working and how the classroom environment feels.
By establishing this routine early, students learn that there is an outlet to address concerns. This cuts down on student conflicts and creates a regular space for problem-solving and connection.
Science Tasks for the First Week of School
Everything I’ve discussed so far has been about establishing a strong classroom environment and community. But, at some point, you’ll need to move into academic content. Many of the routines you regularly use can only be introduced in the context of your science lessons. So, don’t be afraid to start with science content. Just be careful to start slowly and make sure that the community and routines are still a clear focus.
6. Introduce the SEP of Asking Questions
It’s important to teach the Science and Engineering Practices explicitly and one at a time. You don’t have to start with the practice of Asking Questions. However, it’s my favorite to start with. Students are already familiar with the idea of asking questions. But, they need context about what this looks like in science.
This is a great way to introduce a routine like a card sort, reading or something else – just focusing on the practice of asking questions.
Though it’s common, its best to avoid teaching an introduction to science unit or to teach all of the practices at once. To find out why, check out the blog post below.
7. Start Using Your Interactive Notebooks
Interactive notebooks are used almost daily in my classroom. So, I like to start using them early.
The focus is on organization and routines for the first week or so. Start by teaching students how to maintain a table of contents, how to keep pages in order and how to glue and tape things into their notebook. To learn how I structure my notebooks, read this blog post.
8. Introduce Your First Phenomenon
It might feel a little early. But, phenomena are key for providing context to student learning. That’s why it’s smart to introduce your initial phenomenon during the first week.
It gives students something to wonder about and allows them to practice the SEP of Asking Questions in a meaningful way. If you’re not ready to start your first unit, consider using an investigative-level phenomenon instead. These smaller phenomena can still drive questioning and set the stage for deeper learning—without requiring full unit prep.
More Things to Consider in the First Week of School
The first week back is hectic, and I’ve given you plenty of things to consider. But, if you need a little more, here are some resources for you.
- The Science Supplies That You Need for Your Classroom
- The Back-to-School Guide for Science Teachers
- Podcast: Why You Shouldn’t Teach and Intro Unit
- The Most Important Things for Setting Up Your Science Classroom
- 5 Surprising Reasons You Should Ditch the Scientific Method
- Why I don’t do lab reports in my classroom (for now).
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