First Week of School Lesson plans
Back to School prep can feel like an awful lot and that’s without thinking about the first week of school lesson plans you have to create. It’s easy to get overwhelmed if you’re not careful. If you’re a first year teacher, it can be especially difficult because you really don’t have much to go off of. In this post, I want to share a set of first week of school lesson plans that I hope will help you as you begin planning for back to school.
I once had a principal who said we had three main jobs during the first week of school. Those jobs were to make sure the students were loved, make sure they ate, and make sure they got home okay. You can bet that principal made a first year teacher like me feel a little better about that first week. Even with his comforting words, there were still lesson plans that had to be made and I remember it taking me forever.
That’s why I wanted to share these first week of school lesson plans with you! Feel free to use all or some of them to create a set of lesson plans for the first week of school that works for you!
As you look over the plans, keep in mind you can add or take away whatever you need to. I’ve included times and time frames on the plans, but nothing has to be set in stone and it’s all a suggestion! Already have back to school lesson plans? Use these when you find you have more time left than you do lesson and you need some more back to school activities to pull from.
Teaching Routines and Procedures
So much time should be spent during the first few weeks (not days) of school establishing routines and procedures. At the beginning of the year, I always imagine students are starting from scratch and we review everything when it comes to classroom routines and procedures. I used the Morning Meeting time block on the back to school lesson plans to do this, but any time you’re able to dedicate specific time to do this works. You just absolutely want to dedicate plenty of time to review routines and procedures!
Monday: Practice coming to the carpet, going back to their desk, and lining up.
Tuesday: Practice walking in the hall, going out the doors to recess and quickly lining back up.
Wednesday: Practice using hand signals. I LOVE using hand signals with my students! For example, if I’m with a small group and I see a student raise one finger in the air, I know they need a pencil and I can nod my head yes and we can all move on.
Thursday: Practice working with partners and practice responding to a few attention getters you want to use in your classroom. There’s nothing worse than trying over and over to get the attention of a rowdy classroom. You can grab a fun set of Classroom Callbacks by clicking here.
Friday: I like to go back over any procedures I feel like we need more practice with or use this time to talk about the expectations I have for how students keep the insides of their desks and such.
Back to School Activities for Reading
There are so many great books for back to school! I’ve shared three back to school read alouds along with three activities to go along with them. Want to use a different book? The activities I’ve shared can easily go with so many other back to school books!
Monday: Read “First Day Jitters” and then spend time sharing out as a group what feelings everyone had about today. Complete the First Day of School Feelings Writing Activity.
Tuesday: Read “The Day You Begin” then complete the “All About Me Scoot” around the room. If time allows, have students share out some of their answers.
Wednesday: Read “All Are Welcome”. Discuss the story. Then complete the “Find Someone Who Scavenger Hunt”.
Thursday: Begin by spending some time modeling classroom library procedures, how to use student book boxes, how to care for books, and any other procedure or expectation that relates to your reading block.
Today is also when I will introduce what reading stamina is and why it’s important. Together as a whole group lead a discussion and then record on a T Chart what good reading stamina looks like and what it doesn’t look like. Give students a small amount of time (7-10 minutes) and have them practice reading independently. Come back together to discuss as a class how it went. Finally, students will complete the reading response sheet “My Book Review” about the book they read.
You can find the My Book Review Activity inside of Reading Graphic Organizers for Any Book resource.
Friday: Begin by reviewing what having reading stamina means and a goal for today. Revisit what went well yesterday. Use this time to also review any classroom expectations directly relating to reading time. Then, have students practice their reading stamina again for the length of time you decided. When the time is up, students will complete the reading response sheet.
You can see more of my favorite back to school read alouds by clicking here.
First Week of School Writing Activities
Monday: Begin by modeling any writing procedures you want to establish for your writing time. I like to discuss things like:
- What do we do if we need a new pencil?
- Where are the extra writing supplies?
- How do we come to and sit on the carpet for writing lessons?
- What does it look like to share writing with each other?
Then, students will complete the Summer Vacation Poster. Have students choose one (or more) of the pieces about their summer memories to write about separately when they are done with the poster.
Tuesday: Review writing the procedures you taught yesterday. Then, students will complete the journal prompt: “My First Day in Second Grade“. Have students share out afterwards.
Wednesday: Students will complete the prompt “Second Grade is going to be great because…” Have students share out after.
Thursday: Introduce the Heart Map to students. Model creating one of your own first. Explain that when creating a Heart Map you think about things that are special and important to you and list them inside a big heart on paper. You begin from the center and place the most important person, place, or thing to you inside. Have students create their Heart Maps and then give time at the end for them to share out.
Friday: Using the Heart Map you made with students yesterday, model choosing one thing listed to write about. Students will choose one thing from their Heart Maps and write about them.
Back to School Math Activities
During the first week of school math activities, I like to keep it pretty basic with back to school themed activities and math review that students learned the previous year.
Monday: Have students compete the “All About Me in Numbers” activity. Have time for sharing afterwards.
Tuesday: Model and procedures specific to math time. As a whole group, discuss the difference between Tools & Toys. Create an anchor chart to go along with what you’ve discussed.
- What are math tools and what are they used for?
- How are math tools different from toys?
- What are a few ways you’ve used math tool to solve problems?
Have students complete the Toys vs. Math Tools sort. You can grab this inside of the FREE RESOURCE LIBRARY by clicking here!
Wednesday: We are mathematicians activity. Discuss with students about what it means to be a mathematician. Mathematicians do things like solve problems, look for patterns, and use numbers in their everyday lives. Brainstorm times when they have been mathematicians even outside of doing math at school. Students will complete the “I am a Mathematician Activity” where they will draw themselves and then list out ways that make them mathematicians. Have students share when finished. Students can then work together to complete the Back to School Addition Puzzle.
Back to School Addition Puzzle.
Thursday: Review the procedures for coming to the carpet for a whole group math lesson. Review 2 digit addition without regrouping as a group. Have students complete the 2 digit addition scoot around the room. This is a great time to walk around and get a sense for how students are doing with this math skill.
Friday: Review a couple of 2 digit subtraction without regrouping equations with students. Students will complete the 2 digit subtraction task cards either in partners or independently as a scoot.
TEaching classroom rules and expectations
Monday: Introduce what it means to be a good citizen. Read the story “What if Everybody Did That? Brainstorm ways as a whole group to be a good citizen. Students can complete their Good Citizen Graphic Organizer. Then, have students complete the Good Citizen picture sort.
How to Be a Good Classroom Citizen Freebie
Tuesday: Review Citizenship and being a good classroom citizen. Discuss as a whole group: Why do we need rules? Introduce the first 2 classroom rules of your classroom. Students will complete the first two pages inside of their Classroom Rules Book.
This Classroom Rules and Expectation Resource is editable, so you are able to input your own classroom rules if you want!
Wednesday : Review rules from yesterday. Introduce rules 3 and 4 for your classroom. Students will complete the next two pages in their Classroom Rules Book.
Thursday: Introduce the final rule you’ll have for your classroom. Students will complete their Classroom Rules Books.
Friday: Read What Does it Mean to Be a Friend?” Complete How to be A Good Friend Writing Activity
Back to School Grammar
I know not everyone has a block of time devoted to grammar like the one I’ve shared on the lesson plans. If you don’t have this allotted time, these activities will still work for morning work, additional reading or writing time, or any extra time you need an activity for!
Monday: Back to School ABC order
Tuesday: Mini Lesson on Nouns. Students will complete the Noun Sort & Back to School finding the Noun
Wednesday: Mini Lesson on Verbs. Students will complete the Verb Sort & Back to School finding the Verb
Thursday: Back to School Word Scramble. You can find this activity for free inside of this Back to School Activities Pack!
Friday: Back to School Alphabet Challenge
Download your set of Lesson Plans HERE!
You can download the complete set of these First Week of School Lesson Plans by clicking here or the image below!
