Routines and Activities for First Week

Brynn Hewitt

First Week Routine Plans

First Week of School Overview

This should not include the content lesson

Day One	Main Goals	Build classroom community through working together and competing against other classes. Give students an opportunity to share with me information about themselves as people and as mathematicians. Students will learn how class will begin and end.
	Routines to Teach	How to begin class: Be seated and ready to work (paper and pencil out) by the time the bell rings. I also want students to learn how to read the agenda on the board in order to know what is expected for the day. First day will say: 1) Choose a seat 2) Take out scratch paper and a pencil 3) Wait for instructions from teacher. How to end class: Begin packing up only when instructed by teacher, be seated until dismissed by teacher (not by bell).
	Activities	Hundreds Table Activity: students will work together or independently to start filling out the hundreds table on poster paper. I will also explain that each class period will have one and the class to finish filling out the whole table first wins. This will create community within the classroom and allow me to observe how my students work together. Student Survey: Students will fill out a survey rating their comfortableness with different types of math. They will also be able to share important/interesting information about themselves that they want me to know.
Day Two	Main Goals	Students will learn about each other, especially students they do not yet know, building community in the classroom through sharing. We will go over the syllabus to learn basic rules.
	Routines to Teach	I will assign seats, teaching them that it is where they will be expected to be sitting until further notice. Syllabus will cover expectations about talking in class, respecting each other, use of electronics in class and turning in homework.
	Activities	Two Truths and a Lie: they will play this game first at tables, then pick one or two to share with class) Teacher Questionnaire: Each student will write one question for the teacher on an index card. Appropriate questions will be answered throughout the semester. Reading over syllabus as a class.
Day Three	Main Goals	Give students a chance to work together and build trust amongst each other. Teach routine for leaving class quietly and respectfully.
	Routines to Teach	Leaving class: I want students to be absolutely silent and to stay with the group when leaving class (and coming back) for library or other activity. Will teach this before leaving for Traffic Jam activity and will practice this routine.
	Activities	Traffic Jam: I will bring students to the basketball court to play this game. They will have to work together to win the game, and I will be able to see how the students work in groups and in problem solving.
Day Four	Main Goals	Accustom students to a normal day in class, starting with a warm up, turning in/reviewing homework, going into the discussion/lecture, and using response cards, ending with an exit slip, and being dismissed by teacher. Build classroom community by ending day with a logic game.
	Routines to Teach	Students will learn to have their homework from the previous day out on their desks, and be working on the warm up. Students will learn how to appropriately use the response cards in class.
	Activities	How Many Polar Bears? Game: Last three minutes of class will be spent playing this game. Students will be able to discuss with classmates how to find the right answer, building teamwork and trust in the class.
Day Five	Main Goals	Students will learn how to work with their tables for activities. Students will build community in the class through working with their table-mates.
	Routines to Teach	Which times are appropriate to work and talk with table-mates (when instructed to), and which times are not (when teacher or other student is talking to the class). This will be explicitly taught, as well as practiced throughout the course of the discussion. Review routines taught over the course of the week.
	Activities	Rules Posters: Tables will work in teams to design posters that explain one classroom rule that is assigned to them. Teacher Questionnaire: Teacher will answer one or two questions from the student-written index cards at the end of class.