Back to School Essentials Packet

Most Popular Resources (K-12)

Back-to-School Essentials

© 2000-2015 Sandbox Networks, Inc. All Rights Reserved https://www.teachervision.com


From the Editors of TeacherVision

Table of Contents


Weekly Lesson Plan Form .................................................................. 3 Class List/Grades ................................................................................ 4 & 5Incident Report Form ......................................................................... 6Bathroom Pass & Hall Pass ................................................................. 7Library Pass & Nurse Pass ................................................................... 8Getting to Know You Icebreaker ......................................................... 9Getting to Know Your Student (Parent Form) ..................................... 10Ten Guiding Principles for the Beginning of the Year ......................... 11-14Hosting a Successful Open House ....................................................... 15-17Preparing for the First Day of School .................................................. 18-20

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Student's Name

Teacher

Refusing to work

Throwing items

Disrupting with noises

Teasing classmates

Moving out of assigned area

Sleeping

Employing excessive and inappropriate

attention-seeking behaviors

Date

Room

Destroying property

Talking without permission

Using inappropriate language

Refusing to follow directions

Making inappropriate gestures

Using physical aggression

Supporting Details ______________________________

Actions Taken

Outcomes


Incident Report Form

Source: Back Off, Cool Down, Try Again, Sylvia Rockwell, 1995, Reston, VA: The Council for Exceptional Children.

Room Number

Teacher

Room Number

Teacher


Pass

Room Number

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Room Number

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Libraryaryibrary

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page 27


Finish writing each of these sentences. Read your answers to a classmate.

1. My best quality is _________________________________________________

2. In my spare time I like to ___________________________________________

3. My happiest memory is _____________________________________________

4. I get scared when _________________________________________________

5. My favorite food is ________________________________________________

6. My least favorite food is ____________________________________________

7. My favorite sport is _______ because __________________________________

8. I would like to be better at ___________________________________________

9. I usually pick friends who are ________________________________________

10. When I’m worried, I usually _________________________________________


Getting to Know You

Dear Parents / Guardians,

In order for me to get to know your child better, please fill out the following worksheet. Also, on the back of this page, write a short paragraph about your child. Please return this page by ________________________________.

Sincerely, _____________________________________

Child’s Name: _____________________________________________________________________

Parent or Guardian’s Name(s) _______________________________________________________

My child likes to be called: __________________________________________________________

My child’s favorite activities are: _____________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

My child’s favorite part of school is: __________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

My child participates in the following after school activities: _____________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________


Getting to Know Your Student

Although some of you would like a specific menu of first-day activities, it is more useful to give you the basic ingredients and a dash of confidence to compose your own plan. Here are the Ten Guiding Principles, the corresponding messages they convey to students, and suggestions for implementing each principle.

Ten Guiding Principles

1. Be Prepared Messages to Students: Teacher knows what she/he is doing.

2. Motivate Kids School is exciting.

3. Establish Routines and Schedules School is safe and predictable.

4. Establish Classroom Rules I will learn self-control.

5. Orient Students to School/Room I am comfortable and belong here.

6. Preview the Curriculum I will learn new things.

7. Let Students Decide and Choose We are all in this together.

8. Include a Literacy Experience Reading is wonderful!

9. Acknowledge Every Student I am special!

10. Review and Assign Easy Work I can succeed!

Be Prepared Arrive at school very early. You will feel more confident if you can spend time checking out the room and feeling comfortable in it. Make sure that your name is on the board along with the schedule, there is a welcoming sign on the door, all your name tags are carefully prepared, the desks are arranged to your satisfaction, all your instructional materials are ready, and your plans are summarized on an index card for easy reference. I tend to go to the classroom at least 15 minutes before each of my class sessions. Laying out materials and writing the schedule on the board conveys to students that the teacher is well prepared and well organized and will help them pass from a state of uncertainty to a state of knowing and understanding.

Motivate Kids Capitalize on anticipation this very first day. Provide a variety of highly motivating experiences. Keep the pace moving and overplan so you never drag anything out to fill time. Kids need to go home that


Ten Guiding Principles for the Beginningof the Year

very first day with the message that school/class is exciting. The first day can either reinforce good feelings about school or turn around bad ones. In middle or high school, a short demonstration or experiment serves this purpose. Make this a day that students will remember and talk about at home later that day. Make sure, whatever your activities, that kids will respond to the traditional question "What did you do in school today?" with a glowing smile and excited report, instead of a bored "I don't remember," or worse, "Nothing much."

Establish Routines and Schedules Begin to establish a set of daily routines that first day. Chapter 4 has dealt with routines at length, and you may have had an opportunity during a practicum to observe a variety of routine procedures and the effects of routines. Routines are a management tool for saving time and ensuring smooth functioning of the classroom. But they also provide the structure and security that help kids meet a basic need. We all make certain predictions about our environment, and when our predictions are verified in reality, we feel good. But when even one of our expectations goes awry (the car won't start, or the alarm doesn't go off, or the shower water is cold instead of hot), we can become disoriented. We need to do certain things by rote so our energies can be spent in more creative endeavors. Introduce some routines on that first day as they are needed; others can be introduced as the week progresses.

In addition to established routines, kids (and adults) appreciate a fixed schedule. We are creatures of habit, and when our schedules are disrupted by travel, or by house guests, or by any one of a number of outside factors, we become cranky. My students appreciate knowing how the two- or four-hour time block will be divided, and I always have an activities schedule, including times, on the chalkboard prior to class. They like to see if an exciting activity is coming up, or a videotape, or a simulation game, or maybe they want to mentally check off how much time there is until break. While I don't always stick to the schedule, it's always there as a guide, and students can predict the order of the session. Your students at all grade levels will also want the security of a schedule, and since it is in your head and or paper already, why not let them in on it by writing it along with the allotted times on a special part of the chalkboard?

Your first day/class should be planned within the context of your eventual daily schedule. While the first day will not be typical, neither should it be so different from a usual day that kids later are surprised and resistant to a new schedule that seems to come out of left field. Surprises are best introduced and most welcome within predictable routines and an established schedule.

Establish Classroom Rules Begin to implement your discipline strategies and create a positive class climate that first day of class. This is the time to talk about and model a discipline system based on mutual respect, responsibility, and dignity. At no time will the students be better behaved than on the first day of class. Capitalize on their first-day formality. Collaboratively establish rules and then show the students you are consistent and fair in enforcing rules. This might be a time to explain the classroom meeting and have your first go at it. Middle school students can brainstorm the rules in small groups.


Ten Guiding Principles for the Beginning of the Year (cont.)

Hopefully they will include some of these, but they may need your subtle (or not so subtle) suggestions:

• Be in your seat when the bell rings.• Bring required materials, texts, and homework to class on time.• Raise your hand to speak and listen to others.• Respect each other's space, person, and property.• Be responsible.

Don't let infractions slide that first day. The kids will be checking you out carefully. You can always lighten up as the year progresses, so start out a bit more firm than you plan to be by midyear. Pass all of their tests with flying colors by using your own good sense. This is also the day to send home the note to parents (in translation, if needed) that describes the class rules and procedures for enforcing them.

Orient Students We all need to get our bearings in a new situation. And even though a change of scenery can be broadening, it is also very scary. On most vacation tours, no matter how tightly or loosely scheduled, a quick orientation tour of every new city encountered is the first order of business. Students are no different in that they need to quickly get their bearings in a new school or classroom. The easiest way to orient new students, second language learners, and returning students to their school is to take a walking tour that first morning, pointing out such places of interest as the restrooms, water fountains, principal's office, and nurse's office. You may need to point out school bus stops, places to line up after lunch, the cafeteria, assigned fire drill locations, and appropriate exits. Let the students know what the bells or other signaling devices mean. With older children you can construct a school map together or organize a treasure hunt to help old-timers orient new children to the school plant. In middle and high school, review a map of the school site.

In the classroom, schedule a walk around the room using just eyes that first day. Students can make a mental note of where storage containers are located, where games for free time are stored, and so forth.

Preview the Curriculum On that very first day, let students in on some of the exciting things they will be learning this year. Preview some of the topics they will cover and introduce them to at least one of their textbooks that first day. Begin work early in the first week on a science or social studies unit and provide opportunity for student input by asking them what they already know about the topic and what they would like to find out. Motivation will be very high. Let kids know it's going to be an exciting year and that they will be learning many new things. Telling kindergarten or first grade children that they will learn to read this year, or third grade children that they will learn cursive writing, or sixth graders that they will have pen pals from a foreign country can send them home that first day brimming with high expectations and great anticipation for the coming year. Tell middle or high schoolers about a highlight of their year.





Let Students Decide and Choose Share responsibility for decision making with your class from the outset. Let them know they will be encouraged to make choices and participate in classroom processes. For younger students, participatory experiences that first day might include choosing seats, deciding what game to play, deciding what song they prefer to sing, choosing a library book, writing classroom rules, and so forth.

Include a Literacy Experience Let the kids know that very first day that you value reading by incorporating some simple reading or reading-related activity into your plans. You might visit the school library, introduce the librarian, and let each child choose a book. Or you might read a favorite picture storybook to younger children or read to older students the first chapter of a book that is related to your subject matter. Additionally, you might engage kindergarten children in their first language-experience activity and have them read back a story they have dictated and committed to memory. Or you might have a sustained, silent reading period of classroom library books after lunch on that first day. Whatever you choose to do about reading that first day, make it fun! Perhaps you can turn the tide toward reading by showing great wonder and enthusiasm for the world of books yourself.

Acknowledge Every Student On that first day (and all others) enable each student to feel unique. Let each one know with a verbal or nonverbal response from you that she or he is welcome, valued, and special. It can start with an individual greeting to each one on the way into the room. A greeting in the primary language of second language learners will make them feel welcome. It continues when you listen to their introductions and learn their names. It is reinforced by your positive remarks and smiling demeanor. It is expanded when you ask them to help you write the rules. It ends with a special good-bye to each student at the end of the period or class day and begins again the very next day.

Review, Assign, and Post Easy Work Prepare work for the first day that is slightly below the anticipated level of the class. Why? Students should go home that very first day feeling successful, feeling that they have accomplished something. For younger students, a few papers can be sent home that very first day with an appropriate happy face or comment by you so parents can see the results of their child's initial efforts. Step in when you see that a given task is too difficult or frustrating. You have the whole year to challenge students and encourage them to work beyond their capacities. But during the first week, make success your sole criterion for work given. Encourage students for all of their small steps as well as for their giant leaps.

Excerpted from Your First Year of Teaching and Beyond, by Ellen Kronowitz. Provided by Pearson Education.

http://www.amazon.com/Your-First-Year-Teaching-Beyond/dp/0205381561

The Universal After-School Question

By this point you may be thinking, “Hey, there seems to be a lot of stuff to juggle and manage as a teacher.” Well, that's true. But here's a tip on how you can make that juggling a little easier and double your influence as a teacher: enlist parents as partners in your classroom instructional program.

But first, a story: in 1944, the nuclear physicist Isidor Isaac Rabi won the Nobel Prize for his work on atomic nuclei. After his acceptance speech, he was asked about some of the major influences in his life. He told the story about how he grew up in Brooklyn. When his friends all came home from school, their parents always asked them, “What did you learn in school today?” However, when Isidor came home from school each day, his mother always asked him, “Izzy, did you ask a good question today?” He told how that single question from his mother every day helped him develop the inquisitive mind necessary for academic success and his eventual scientific discoveries.

Most teachers have discovered that parents can be very powerful allies in any child's education—from preschool up through twelfth grade. Keeping parents informed and inviting them to become part of the educational process can significantly influence any youngster's scholastic success. Teachers who take advantage of “parent power” are those who significantly multiply their teaching effectiveness.

Putting Out the Welcome Mat

Open houses—and their close cousins, the back-to-school night and the meet-the-teacher night—are one of the annual rites of passage for every classroom teacher. Whether you are teaching elementary school or high school, you will undoubtedly be part of this event every year. Open houses occur sometime during the first few weeks of the school year and are an opportunity for parents to get to know you and their child's academic program.

Open houses, back-to-school night, and meet-the-teacher night provide parents with an “inside look” into the daily activities and occurrences of your classroom. It's also a wonderful opportunity for you to actively recruit parents as partners in the education of their children. Here are some tips and ideas that can help you make this annual event successful and purposeful:

Expert Opinion

Here's a nifty idea I always share with parents: invite parents to change the typical question they ask their children every day. Instead of asking their children, “What did you learn in school today?” they should inquire, “What questions did you ask in school today?” By making this slight change, parents will be able to have more stimulating conversations with their youngsters instead of a series of painfully brief responses (“Nothing!”; “I dunno!”).

Secondary Thoughts

Parent involvement is not just for elementary students. The success of students at the middle school or high school level is highly dependent upon the engagement parents as educational partners. Former high school teacher Phil Monteith says, “You better be in touch with parents, or you are missing a tremendous public relations opportunity. When middle school and high school teachers start a conversation with parents, then positive opinions about teachers in the community escalate.”


Hosting a Successful Open House

https://www.teachervision.com/education-and-parents/resource/3730.html

https://www.teachervision.com/open-house/resource/6522.html

https://www.teachervision.com/education-and-parents/resource/3730.html

• Send out personal invitations beforehand. You may want to invite your students to construct theinvitations using art materials. Instead of asking students to take them home (where they maywind up in the washing machine), consider mailing the invitations. On the invitation, include thefollowing information: name and address of the school, date and time of the event, your roomnumber (and how to find the room), your name, and a brief outline of the evening's schedule.

• Plan your presentation and what you will be saying to parents beforehand. Be sure you sharesomething about yourself (where you grew up, your education, your family, your educationalphilosophy) as well as some of your goals for the year. Your presentation should be no longerthan 10 to 11 minutes tops! If your presentation is longer than 11 minutes, it will definitely fall ondeaf ears (take it from me—this is an inviolable rule!). Here are some topics you might want tocover:

Elementary School Middle School/High School

Daily schedule Discipline policy

Homework Homework

Grading Grading

Classroom rules Field trips

Remedial help Report cards

Special programs Fund-raisers

Reading curriculum Extracurricular activities

• Dress professionally—remember, first impressions are oftenlasting impressions. Men should wear a coat and tie or atleast a dress shirt and tie along with pressed slacks. Womenshould wear a pantsuit, blouse and skirt, or dress.Incidentally, go “light” on the perfume and aftershave.

• Prepare your room appropriately. Hang a “Welcome” signoutside the door, and be sure your name and the roomnumber are prominently displayed. Have a sign-in sheet forparents as well as a handout listing the activities andpresentations for the evening. Freshen up your bulletinboards, and print a daily schedule on the chalkboard. Set outsample textbooks, and be sure all desks and tables are clean.Be sure each child's desk has a folder with samples of thestudent's work. Post additional student work (be sure to haveat least three samples for each student) on bulletin boards.Post photographs of students and activities throughout the room. Keep in mind that some parents may not have fond memories about their school experiences, so here's a great opportunity for you to win them over!

It’s Elementary

A friend of mine shares this very important piece of advice:

When setting up your room for back-to-school night or open house, be sure to have plenty of adult chairs available. My first year of teaching first grade, I forgot this rule. As a result, I had many very large adults trying to sit in many very small chairs. It was quite embarrassing to watch people trying to stand up at the end of my presentation.


Hosting a Successful Open House (cont.)

• Greet each and every parent at the door with a handshakeand a smile. This is a wonderful opportunity for you to putyour best foot forward. Be sure every parent has a name tag(remember that the last name of a student and the last nameof her or his parents may be different—always, always checkbeforehand). Provide a tray of refreshments (ask forcontributions, particularly if different cultures are representedin your classroom) and appropriate drinks.

• As parents arrive, direct them to a table on which you have astack of index cards, pencils/pens, and an empty shoebox.Invite parents to write a question or two on a card and place itin the box. At the end of your presentation, quickly shuffle through the cards and respond to general questions or those most frequently asked (“How much homework do you give?” “How is reading taught?”). Inform parents that you will contact them personally to respond to more specific questions or ones that focus exclusively on their child's work or progress (“Why did Angela miss recess the other day?” “When will Peter be able to see the reading specialist?”).

• Keep your presentation brief (remember K.I.S.S.—Keep It Short and Sweet!). Afterward, inviteparents to stay and look at their child's work. Circulate around the room, try to meet all theparents again with another handshake and smile, and offer at least one positive remark abouttheir child. This is not the time for personal conferences (“I'd really like to talk with you, Mrs.Smith. May I call you to set up a personal meeting at another time?”).

Excerpted from The Complete Idiot's Guide to Success as a Teacher © 2005 by Anthony D. Fredericks. All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. Used by arrangement with Alpha Books, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

Secondary Thoughts

For open houses at the middle school and high school levels, parents typically follow a much-abbreviated schedule of classes that their child participates in each day. It’s important that you keep your presentation short and snappy because parents will need to move to several additional rooms throughout the evening.


Hosting a Successful Open House (cont.)

Your first contact with parents and guardians sets the stage for communication the rest of the year. We know that kids do better in school when parents are involved in their children's school. We also know that parents' influence on their teens is far greater than they think.

What do you want parents to know about you, the course you're teaching, your expectations for yourself and your students? It's likely that you won't see parents at a school open house until several weeks into the school year. Take advantage of "back-to-school" anticipation and anxiety by communicating to parents during the first week of school.

Write a letter to parents or guardians

• This letter can go home at the beginning of each new quarter, providing a snapshot ofeach quarter's highlights and a preview of what's coming up. These quarterlycommunications can also provide the opportunity for students to share their ownreflections, self-assessment, and goal-setting as part of letters that are sent home.

• Send the letter home on the first day of school. It's one way to let parents know thattheir support and encouragement is important to you.

• Give two copies to each student so parents and guardians can keep one copy and sign theother letter for students to return to you.

• Make your letter one page. This is an introduction and you can always communicatemore details later.

• Choose two to three things that you want to emphasize.• If some of your students live in families whose parents' or guardians primary language

is not English see if someone from your Bilingual or English as a Second LanguageDepartment can help you translate your letter.

• If you have students whose families speak a variety of languages, you might invite yourstudents and an English as a Second Language teacher to come in at lunch to workon writing translations of important points in your letter to be sent home with the letteryou wrote in English.

Parent Letter Ideas

• Describe what your course is about including requirements, goals, and key learningexperiences.

• Describe your hopes and expectations for students.• Share what might be challenging for students in this class. Have a sense of humor – tell

parents if they hear their kids sighing and moaning, it's probably because...• Let parents know what steps students can take if they're having difficulty meeting

class requirements.• Let parents know how they can communicate with you if they have questions or

concerns. Give them the school number.• Let parents know what kinds of homework assignments students can expect. Suggest

specific ways that they can support and encourage their child's success in the classroom.• Emphasize how much effort, attitude, and participation count in your classroom.

Identify some of the social skills that you hope will help create a respectful, responsible,and caring classroom.


Preparing for the First Day of School

Other Ways to Introduce Yourself

• If you feel comfortable doing so, introduce yourself by video. Create a 5 to 10 minuterecording where you introduce yourself and highlight a few important things that youwant parents to know. If you'd rather not be on camera, you can share the sameinformation in a Slideshare.

Adapted from Partners in Learning: From Conflict to Collaboration by Carol Miller Lieber. Provided by Engaging Schools


Preparing for the First Day of School (cont.)

http://www.slideshare.net/

• Teacher Team Planning Form

Excerpted from The Complete Idiot's Guide to Success as a Teacher © 2005 by Anthony D. Fredericks. Used by arrangement with Alpha Books, a member of Penguin Group(USA) Inc.

• Hosting a Successful Open House

• Preparing for the First Day of School

Adapted from Partners in Learning: From Conflict to Collaboration by Carol Miller Lieber. Provided by Engaging Schools.

From the Editors of TeacherVision

Source Information

Except where noted below, the resources in this packet were created by Sandbox Networks, Inc.

From Prentice Hall, Inc.

• Incident Report Form

Excerpted from Back Off, Cool Down, Try Again, Sylvia Rockwell, 1995, Reston, VA. Provided by The Council for Exceptional Children.

• Ten Guiding Principles for the Beginning of the Year

Excerpted from Your First Year of Teaching and Beyond by Ellen Kronowitz. Provided by Pearson Education.


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Back to School Essentials Packet

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