Over the summer I had a lot of free time. I found I had time to finally read a book I had received as a graduation gift called “The First Days of School” by Wong and Wong. This book taught me all about the things to do to get ready for the first days of school. It is now October and the things I found most rewarding and the things that really helped the most were:

1. Developing routines as a class and practicing them over and over again so that they were reinforced to all my students. The one routine I found we really needed to go over was stacking chairs and cleaning desks off before they went home.

2. Getting the classes attention was a very necessary act to demonstrate and develop. We came up with the clapping method which gets the students attention no matter what they are doing. I even asked that any student do it anytime they want the whole classes attention whether they are presenting from the front of the room or they want the classes attention from their desk.

3. It was also helpful to leave a lot of walls blank to add student work in the first weeks of school rather than cover it with inspirational posters or unnecessary paperwork.

4. Another thing I found really helpful was making red/green signs that students flip around when they need help at their desk. Red means they need your help and green means they are working independently and they are ok. This helps students stay focused because they do not need to raise their hand or wander around the class to get you.

All these things are more I all found in the amazing book I read and I continue to use tips from that book daily. It also offers great advice about lessons and how to focus them for maximum student success. I look forward to the next month of school!

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