What To Do On The First Day Of School – A Practical Schedule – Teaching Made Practical

Of all the things to do the first day of school, this is definitely the least important.  But it is also one of the first things you will have to deal with, as students will come in to the classroom eager to try out their new supplies.

Some schools have systems in place for parents to bring school supplies in ahead of time, but that is not always the case.  But even if parents brought in supplies ahead of time, there is a good chance that students come with more on the first day of school.

If you don’t have a plan for these school supplies, then students will come up with their own plan.  And that plan will usually involve half opened bottles of glue and broken crayons stuffed inside their desk, and that copy paper that you so desperately need disappearing.

There are a lot of ways to handle student school supplies – communal supplies, every student keeping their own supplies, a mix of both, sharing with tables, etc.).  However you decide to handle supplies in your own classroom, you need a plan in place ahead of time.

When students entered my 3rd grade classroom wondering what to do on the first day of school, I would ask them to find their seat, hang their backpack on the back of their chair, and begin one of these no prep activities (usually the word search, since they could do that independently) with the pencil I had already sharpened for them.

I provided everything they needed so that students didn’t need to mess with any of their supplies.  If they had any supplies, they were asked to keep the supplies in their backpack or on the floor next to them.

Once we had time later in the day, I would go over the expectations for school supplies – what supplies they could keep in their desk, what to do with other supplies, how to treat school supplies, what to do if they didn’t have any, etc.

Make sure you have a plan in place for school supplies when they first enter the classroom.  A free for all is not idea.