It happened. I turned the corner of our grocery store and saw the freshly stocked Back to School section. But school was still five weeks away, so in the span of 3 seconds, this is what whooshed through my brain —
Back to school? How can it be back to school already? Nooooooo! Summer is only half over! I’ve only finished two of the five books I wanted to read for fun. Oooo, Ticonderoga pencils, I love those. I will be happy to see my teaching friends again, and all my former students and new students, but do I really have to watch Bloodborne pathogens training again? I’ve passed that test 27 times already. Composition notebooks are on sale? Yes, please. I’ll take one for each student. I can’t wait to see what we write together this year.
Can you relate? If you are like me, as soon as that switch gets flipped, I lie in bed and mentally set up the classroom and plan first days together.
I am also digging into Prepared Classroom; Ready to Teach, Ready to Learn. If you haven’t gotten your copy yet, I highly recommend it. Page 10 and 11 share things we can do in the beginning of the year to establish belonging, strong class cohesion, and build strong student-student relationships as well as student-teacher relationships.
One of the most important ideas is to learn names. Our district is highly diverse (over 130 different languages spoken in student homes) and sometimes the names can be tricky. Name games can really help cement them and correct pronunciation in the first week. Especially for my old brain that needs more repetitions than it used to.
Here are three we can play with our students.
- Adjective Alliteration—students say their name with a description that starts with the same letter. Then we all repeat with a welcoming phrase;
“Hi. I’m helpful Heather. “Hello, helpful Heather.”
“Hi. I’m singing Simranpreet.” “Hello, singing Simranpreet.”
“Hi. I’m joyful Jahkari.” “Hello, joyful Jahkari.”
Tagging on another word really helps the names stick. - Circle introductions—Students find out who is to their left and right and introduce each as well as themselves. “This (points left) is Henry. This (points right) is Hendrix, and I am Eliana.” Next person, “This (points left) is Eliana. This (points right) is Maris. And I am Hendrix.” There is enough repetition to help names stick. Students need to pay attention, because we can “shuffle” at any time and they will have new neighbors to introduce.
- Name toss—Stand in a circle and toss a soft ball to anyone. That person says their name loudly and clearly. They throw the ball to someone else. The catcher says, “Thank you, _______, I’m _________.” And the game continues. Option: Sit down after you have caught the ball so it is easy to see who still needs a turn.
I hope you are still soaking up sun, reading for fun, and enjoying family and friends. And when your switch gets flipped and you’ve got school on the brain, I hope you’ll tuck some of these ideas in for a lovely launch to a new school year.
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