10 Classroom Procedures to Teach During the First Week of School

Have you ever felt overwhelmed by all the rules and procedures that you have to teach students at the beginning of the year?

Teaching a new set of students how your classroom works and flows can feel overwhelming. Especially because there are some procedures that are more important to teach during that first week than others that can be taught over time.

Here are the first 10 procedures I teach during the first week of school:

1. Morning Routines - Morning routines are the most important to teach on the first day of school. This is because morning routines are the first things students will use when they come in on the first day. A few of the routines to include for this time are: where to put belongings, what activities are allowed for getting the day started, and attendance procedures.

2. Attendance & lunch count - These are another set of procedures that are great to teach early on in the first days of school. Have you decided you want to take attendance each day? Teach students how this works and model what it looks like when done correctly.

3. Classroom signals - Teaching students how to know when you need their attention is super important on the first week of school. I like to use a doorbell in my classroom to get students' attention. We practice doing different activities and seeing how quickly they can stop and get quiet once they hear the bell. Another set of signals to teach are any "quiet" signals such as hand signs for using the bathroom, grabbing your attention, and other types you might use in your classroom.

4. Transitions between activities - I personally like to have my classes come to the carpet at the end of an activity. Not only does it allow us to debrief about their activity, it also provides some calm time before the next activity. Decide how you want to do quick and quiet transitions and teach students during the first week of school.

5. Assignment submissions - Even though you may not give out graded assignments during the first week of school, it is a great idea to teach students where they put work at the end of an activity or even where they turn in papers from home. Teaching this early will help later on in the school year when its needed.

6. Behavior expectations - Taking the time to make a list of classroom norms or acceptable and unacceptable behaviors is pertinent during the first week of school. Allowing students to help you come up with norms will ensure that all students have buy in.

7. Classroom jobs - If you have classroom jobs in your classroom, the first week is a great idea to teach about the different jobs you will have. I really like to take my time on explaining the expectations for each job so that students can begin working in their jobs independently by the second or third weeks of school.

8. End of day procedures - Have you decided how you want students to get ready to go home at the end of the day? I like to have students do their classroom jobs and clean up their work spaces at the end of the day and teach this on the first day of school so they can begin practicing.

9. Quiet time/Independent work expectations - Teaching students how to work independently and when you expect them to work quietly and independently will be extremely helpful during the first week of school when you may have students working by themselves.

10. Group work expectations - Teaching students how to work with each other in both academic and non-academic settings will set the tone for the rest of the year. Modeling what good group work looks like and what it shouldn't look like will help students when you begin working in groups.