Learning the Ropes of First Grade~

School is officially back in session and day one is in the books! It was truly a great day! Smiling and excited kids showed up ready to learn! I love it!

It is so much fun seeing the kiddos interact with each other and starting to learn the new routines of a new school year.

We have a great class this year and there is going to be so many great things happening.

I thought I would share with all of you just one of the important things we did on the first day of class! As I am sure you all remember from your first days of school, it isn’t complete without talking about rules and routines. While it can be a boring and mundane thing to talk about, it truly is important. Rules and routines set the tone for the whole school year. I like to take the time to be sure that my firsties truly understand the importance and reasoning behind what we do and why we do it. (and I try to make it a somewhat fun experience for them in the process! )

We only have 4 rules in our classroom.

This poster is proudly displayed in the front of the classroom. It is important that the kids can always see the rules, so there is never a question as to what is expected of them.

We then spent time talking about what these rules look like. The kiddos gave me examples of how they can show these. We wrote them down so the kids will always be able to refer back to them as to what they mean. Here are just a few of the ideas that popped up in our conversation:

We also have a classroom pledge! This pledge is said each day after the Pledge of Allegiance. I believe this is truly important for the kids to say so they are remembering what their job is here at Arlington Elementary! As we are just learning our new pledge, I say a line and then the firsties repeat it, but as the year goes on we learn to say it together. J (They become quite good at it in fact!)

We then signed our names on either a flag or a star (they had the choice!) to make our promise to follow these rules each day! The flags and stars are now proudly displayed on our bulletin board.

Over the next week, we will be reviewing and creating social classroom books that the students will be able to read all year long to remind them what it looks like to be a respectful, responsible, safe, learner in first grade!

Stay tuned for more of our first (full) weeks happenings in upcoming days!

Take care!

~ Mrs. Christensen  
Empathy – Adaptability – Communication – Arranger – Developer