First Grade Teacher Tips

I'm back from my trip abroad and still in vacation mode.  The kids go back on August 31, so I still have some leisure time left as I ease back into classroom setup mode next week.  It will be a very different experience from last year, which was my first year teaching first grade.

Last year's goal was, well, survival.  I needed to learn so much about the age range and curriculum, so I had to seek out and rely on help from a new set of colleagues.  Research and team-building were two of my goals.

I also needed to project an image to the children and parents that I was competent when I felt like a total noob.  One way I did that was to devote half my summer to designing and setting up my classroom.  It helped me become more comfortable in my new space as well.   

This year I envision the physical setup of the room will be very much the same.  I enjoy decorating, but I want to focus my energies on improving my instructional routines and differentiation.  So this weekend I have been looking back over what I learned about incoming first graders.  I'm linking up with Jen Bonner over at Sparkling in Second Grade (who has also moved to first grade) to share my top 3 tips for teaching incoming first graders.

Find out what routines your firsties used in kindergarten.  First graders can remember and follow certain routines just as well, if not better than some of my former fourth graders.  They found their hooks in the closet to hang up their coats, they found their own desks with their names on them, they put folders into their mailboxes...which was not a routine I asked them to do.  Apparently that was something they did in kindergarten!  So check in with the kindergarten teachers to see what routines they used, and continue the ones that work for you.  If there is a routine you want to change, acknowledge the old one as you teach the new one.



Here is an example of how I put my own spin on a routine half the class had mastered in kindergarten.  I was lucky to be able to visit the kindergarten classrooms in May before teaching first grade in September last year.  I saw that one teacher used "Calming Position," which was sitting still, with hands folded, and eyes closed.  When I first taught "Whole Body Listening" (drawing heavily from Erica Boher's diagram) I asked who could show me Calming Position.  Once half of my class modeled this, I explained that good listeners use their whole body to listen.  We sit still, with hands folded, and mouths closed, but our eyes are watching the person who is talking.

Make the first day of school lots of fun.  When I taught third grade at a charter school in Springfield, MA, let's just say the principal followed the "Don't smile until Christmas" philosophy.  With first grade, although I don't have kids, it was immediately clear that these kids were my babies and they were looking at me as another parent.  So although I needed to make them feel safe and establish control with routines, the content and activities on the first day should be as much fun as you can muster. 

One example of how I ended the day with fun was to use the Magic Playdough recipe from A Cupcake for the Teacher.  After making the dough balls at home with food coloring hidden inside, each child got one to squish up and squeal in surprise as the color of their prize was revealed.  I wrote about this activity and more in my First Week of School blog post.

Read alouds are just as riveting as television.  I was surprised in this day in this day in age of cartoon channels and videos on demand on the T.V. and internet that kids would be completely tuned in to a book I chose to read at a time I dictated.  And yet, their eyes were locked on me and their mouths open when I read them their first story about the first day of first grade.


If you have your own tips to share, join Jen's linky party at Sparkling in Second Grade.  Or, if you're interested in more tips for teaching first grade, you can check out my thoughts two weeks into my first year with my Top 10 Things I Learned About First Grade blog post.







My Teachers Pay Teachers Store
My Pinterest