Lauren Sammon

2/25/14
First Days of School
1st Grade
Mrs. Campbell is a first grade teacher at Bellwood Elementary school. She has taught
there for several years. The discussion we had about her preparation for the first day of school
mainly focused on her experiences this past year, beginning in September 2013, when she began
teaching first grade. She was previously a Kindergarten teacher, and many of her Kindergarten
students joined her first grade class this year.
Mrs. Campbells preparation for the first days of school begins at the end of the previous
school year. She begins by measuring and photographing the room she will be teaching in and
making a list of all the available furniture she has access to. Over the summer, she uses a
classroom floor plan designer website and experiments with different possible arrangements. She
takes into consideration what furniture will be available while experimenting with the floor plan.
During this process, she decides what areas will be used for whole group instruction, small group
instruction, independent work, stations, teacher planning, and storage. During this time, she also
begins thinking about what she will display on the walls and where. Mrs. Campbell explained
that this year is the first year shes used a computer program instead of a pencil and paper to
design the layout of her space, which she said was easier and more efficient. She makes sure she
plans the space before the beginning of the year so that she has a definite plan when she arrives
and begins moving furniture.
The principal at Bellwood Elementary allows the teachers to come in during the last
weeks of summer to prepare their rooms, which Mrs. Campbell feels fortunate about. She says
the planning week they are given a week before the school year begins has been increasingly
filled with meetings and trainings, so she doesnt have time to design and setup her room during

that period. Therefore, she comes in a few weeks before the scheduled planning week in order
to unpack, move furniture, and begin hanging displays.
There are a few tasks she waits to complete during planning week; which include hanging
the students names up on the word wall, writing their names on their individual book baskets,
and attaching name tags on their desks. She waits until planning week to do so because she
usually does not receive a complete roll of her students until then. During planning week, she
assembles 3-ring binders for each of the students known as FISH folders. (FISH stands for
First grade Information Stored Here) The left pocket of these folders is labeled to be left at
home and the right pocket is labeled bring right back to school. She places a behavior
reporting calendar in the right pocket of each binder. Every day, each student colors in one side
of the day on the calendar, and the parent signs the other side of the day. Mrs. Campbell adds all
of her first week of school paperwork in these binders; including a class schedule, resource
schedule, first grade expectations, and a monthly newsletter. A few weeks after school starts,
there would be explanations for the students weekly homework assignments included in this
folder as well.
The planning week is also used to examine each of her students files for any pertinent
information. She explained that this process this year went by faster than usual, as she already
knew most of her students from teaching them the previous year in Kindergarten! During the
planning week, she also meets with the other first grade teachers at Bellwood to plan, writes
lesson plans for the first week of school, and prepares any materials she will need for the first
week. One night of the planning week is known as Meet and Greet and Find Your Seat night.
This event is an open house held the week before school starts. Parents are invited to bring their
child, meet the teachers, bring supplies for their desk (so the students wont have too much to

carry on the first day), and find where their seat is. Mrs. Campbell noted that the most important
information she retrieves that night is transportation information for each student so she knows
how to send each child home on the first day.
On the first day, Mrs. Campbell stands at the classroom door and greets the children as
they arrive. She shows them where to hang their coats and backpacks, helps them find their seats,
and briefly introduces them to their tablemates. She says she usually gives them an easy,
independent assignment to work on so she can focus her attention on the students still arriving.
The assignment this year was to draw a picture of something they did over the summer and write
about it. She said that ideally she would want to make a personal connection with each child
right when they arrive, but explains that the first morning is typically chaotic, so this waits until
later in the day. She explains the most important information to make sure to have on the first
morning is their transportation information for the afternoon (if she hasnt already received this
information during the open house). She also warned that parents may show up unannounced, so
it is good to be prepared, just in case!
Mrs. Campbell introduces herself to each of the students as they walk in to the classroom
briefly. When they first gather on the rug later in the morning after everyone has arrived, she
introduces herself again. She said that they do various get to know you games during the first
day, and she participates in those games. Mrs. Campbell was impressed with the powerpoint
presentation I gave to the students introducing myself, and says she might try this approach next
year!
The focus of the first week in Mrs. Campbells class is for the students to get to know one
another, as well as establishing classroom rules and procedures. They start their day with all of
the students seated on the outer edge of the rug in a circle and they practice a greeting. She

explains that every day throughout the year they do a greeting during morning meeting, so it is
important to establish this routine on the first day. They will learn four different greetings
throughout the year, but on the first day they start with something very simple. This year, they
did a simple handshake and verbal greeting. Then they played a get to know you game called
Just Like Me. One student tells something about himself or herself, and if that statement is true
for anyone else in the class, they point to themselves with their thumbs and say Just like me!
She continues this game in a circle until every student has a chance to share. Pointing to
themselves with their thumbs becomes a nonverbal cue routine that the students use the rest of
the year during group discussion time when another student answers a question with the same
answer they were planning to share.
Later in the day, the children play another get to know you activity. Mrs. Campbell
hands out a BINGO board to each student that has various statements written on each box, such
as my favorite color is blue and I have a pet. The students must then move around the room,
find a student that matches each of the boxes, and have each student sign the corresponding box.
After 10 minutes or so of the activity, Mrs. Campbell gathers the students to the rug and they
have a discussion about what they learned about each other.
During the first week, the students do a variety of All About Me activities. One of the
activities is called Guess Who? Each child gets a piece of paper and folds it in half. On the
front side, the student writes clues about himself or herself. On the bottom, he or she writes
Guess who? On the inside, the student draws a picture of himself or herself and writes his or
her name. Mrs. Campbell hangs the finished products on the hallway right outside their
classroom. She likes to read the book I Like Me during this first week, and have the students
write a statement about themselves starting with I like me because They also draw a self-

portrait to go along with this statement. She explains that the class also completes a variety of
graphs that include information such as favorite color, pets, favorite food, how they arrive at
school, etc.
On the first day of school, after morning meeting and their first activity, they create the
classroom rules. Mrs. Campbell has the students gather on the rug, brainstorm, decide, and list
the classroom rules as a group. They start out with three or four rules, and add one or two each
morning during the first week. She makes sure the students have included her essentials, which
are: be kind, listen to the teacher and each other, raise your hand to speak, keep hands/feet to self,
and walk at level 0 in the hall. She explains that different rules are required during the day that
are in different parts of the school. Mrs. Campbell discusses the rules with the students while
they are in line five minutes before going to lunch, recess, resource, and the bus ramp. During
the first week, they only discuss rules and procedures for those different areas. However, in the
first couple of weeks, they will read a book about each area, discuss appropriate behavior, and
write down the rules for each area.
On the first day, Mrs. Campbell takes the students for a tour of the school. Before starting
the tour, she reads the book The Gingerbread Man, Loose in the School. The students then
follow clues throughout the school to find the gingerbread man. These clues require the
students to meet key people and key places in the building, such as the librarian in the library and
the school nurse. When they return to the classroom, they each have a gingerbread man waiting
for them at their desks to enjoy.
Mrs. Campbell explains that there are so many different procedures, and each one
requires explicit instruction and practice throughout the school year. The most important routine
she describes in her classroom is the Daily Five, which is independent station activities during

Language Arts while she is instructing a small group separately. She explains that this routine is
the most important because students need to be productive and not disruptive while she is busy
working with small groups. She steadily increases the amount of time they are working
independently day-by-day, from the first week of school on.
Mrs. Campbell creates a warm, inviting environment for her students, before the students
even arrive on the first day! She makes sure each student feels welcome from the moment he or
she walks in on the first day. The class participates in several activities in the first week of school
to get to know one another. From the first week on, routines and procedures are established with
explicit instruction and careful practice to ensure a smooth, running classroom for the year to
come.

Sources
1. Campbell, Lauren. (2014, February 21). Bellwood Elementary School.
2. Hyer, pam. (2012, August 3). All about me poster. Retrieved from
http://pamhyer.blogspot.com/2012/08/all-about-me-poster.html
3. Kahelski, Allison. (2013, August). Getting to know you bingo. Virginia Commonwealth
University, Tedu-411.
4. Casteel, Julia. (2011, August). Guess who?. Savvy Second Graders. Retrieved from
http://savvysecondgraders.blogspot.com/2011/08/guess-who.html

Artifact 1 All About Me poster

Artifact 2 Get to Know You Bingo

Artifact 3 Guess who?