Lesson planning is always a bit tricky, but coming up with lesson plans for the first week of school is extra challenging! How much time should we spend teaching procedures? How can we get to know our new students? What can we do to make the first week fun? When should we start with the curriculum?
Every year, I notice multiple posts in my teacher Facebook groups (for 2nd grade, 3rd grade, 4th grade, and 5th grade) asking others to share their first week of school lesson plans. So, I thought I would show you my ideal first week of school plans.
Keep in mind that every classroom will be different! It might take your kids twice as long to complete an activity as it took mine. It might take my kids twice as long to master a particular procedure as it does for your class. Heck, we all have a different list of procedures that we must teach!
This is just a suggestion. You can start with my ideas and adjust them to work with your time and student needs.
Deal?
Letās jump inā¦
Monday
8:00-8:30: Enter the Classroom and Make Play Doh Creations
Walk students into the classroom and greet each student as they walk into the classroom. Allow students to choose their own desk. Have a small container of Play Doh on each desk. Tell students that they can create anything that they want with the Play Doh. It can represent a favorite hobby, animal, vacation, or something completely different! While students are creating, take attendance and do any administrative tasks that pop up on the first day. Give students 2-3 minutes to share what they created with their neighbors.
8:30-8:45: Put Supplies Away
Put labeled containers around the room and have students put their supplies in the correct bin. If you want them to keep certain supplies in their desk, put a list on the board. This is a great time to give students labels for their folders and/or notebooks, too.
8:45-9:15: Morning Procedure
Pull students to the carpet and discuss the procedures for coming in the classroom and unpacking in the morning. Make sure they know where you want their backpacks, binder, and homework. Give the class a couple opportunities to practice the procedure.
9:15-9:30: Read Aloud
Read Weāre All Wonders aloud to students.
9:30-10:15: Saving Fred Collaborative Activity
Have students work in groups to complete the Saving Fred activity. Start by splitting your class into small groups. I like to have 3-4 students in each group. You will need plastic cups, 4 paper clips per group, gummy worms, and gummy lifesavers.
Fred, the worm, was riding in his boat, the cup, when it tipped over. Fred is on top of the boat and he doesnāt know how to swim. Lucky for him, he brought a life preserver, the lifesaver. The problem? The life preserver is stuck under the boat.
Students will work in groups to plan a way to get Fred inside the life preserver. They cannot touch the worm, the boat, or the life preserver with their fingers. The only tools they can use to help are the four paperclips.
You can grab the FREE printable I use for this activity by clicking HERE.
10:15-10:30: Specials Procedures
Pull students to the carpet and discuss the procedures for lining up for specials.
10:30-11:15: Specials
The teacher lays her head on her table and takes a nap because back to school is hard! Just kidding! Teachers donāt have time for naps.
11:15-11:40: Lunch Procedures
Pull students to the carpet and discuss the procedures for going to lunch, eating, lunch, recess, and returning from lunch.
11:40-12:20: Lunch and Recess
12:20-12:35: Read Aloud
Read The Name Jar with students.
12:35-1:05: Growth Mindset Activities
This is one of my favorite activities to do during the first week of school. It is so important to cultivate a growth mindset in students. Student who believe they can succeed work harder and achieve more.
The Growth Mindset Activities resource include five days of brain-building exercises. On day one, you will introduce students to their amazing “BIG BRAINS.” Use the interactive PowerPoint to guide discussion about how their brains work and complete the hand-on activities and brain teasers.
1:05-1:30: Classroom Library Procedures and Choosing Books
Pull students to the carpet and discuss the procedures for borrowing books from the classroom library. Make sure students know where to keep their books, how many books they can borrow at a time, and when they can get a book from the library. Give students time to choose any book that interests them. They can use these books during the week when they finish something early.
1:30-1:50: Fire Drill & Emergency Procedures
Pull students to the carpet and discuss the procedures for fire drills. Take students outside for a practice fire drill.
1:50-2:05 Recess
2:05-2:30: End of Day Procedures
Pull students to the carpet and discuss the procedures for packing up and going home at the end of the day.
2:30-2:45: Release Students
Have students pack up and release them to carpool, buses, etc.
Celebrate! You survived Day 1!
Tuesday
8:00-8:20: Enter the Classroom and Morning Procedures
Before entering the classroom, remind students how to complete your morning procedures. Have reminders written on the board for morning procedures as well. Walk students into the classroom and greet each student as they walk into the classroom.
Students will be practicing the procedures you taught yesterday; such as turning in forms/homework, hanging up backpacks, where to place water bottles, and take out their self-selected reading book to their seat for silent reading warm-up. While students are reading, take attendance and do any administrative tasks that pop up on the second day.
8:20-8:50: Pipe Cleaner Challenge
Hand each student a closed paper bag with 2 pipe cleaners, a piece of foil, and a popsicle stick inside. Instruct students to create anything that they want with only the items inside the bag. It can represent a favorite hobby, animal, vacation, or something completely different! Give students 2-3 minutes to share their creations. They may then place the creation inside the paper bag to take home.
8:50-9:15: Classroom Supply and Bathroom Procedures
Pull students to the carpet and discuss procedures for classroom supplies. Discuss procedures for pencils and sharpening and where to find extra supplies. Also discuss bathroom procedures at this time.
9:15-9:30: Teacherās Quiz
Send students back to their desk and announce, āItās time for our first quiz!ā You are learning a lot about your students, but it is important for them to know a lot about you as well.
Pass out the Teacherās Quiz and allow students to guess the answers for each question. After students have had some time to guess, go over the correct answers. You can find this free activity HERE.
9:30-10:15: Read Aloud and Activity
One of my favorite books is called Words and Your Heart by Kate Jane Neal.
After reading the story, place students into groups at their desks. Give each group a small tube of toothpaste (grab these at the Dollar Store), one toothpick per student, and a paper plate. Tell your students to squeeze out all of the toothpaste onto the plate.
Then, have your students try using toothpicks to put the toothpaste back into the tube. Pull your students back together and have a conversation about how the toothpaste is like our words. Discuss your policy in the classroom with unkind words, behaviors, and bullying. You can find a free recording page for this activity HERE.
10:15-10:30: Beach Ball Introductions
Write several sentence stems on a beach ball that will help students tell more about themselves. Suggestions include, āThis summer Iā¦,ā āMy favorite pizza topping isā¦,ā āIām really good atā¦,ā etc. Make enough to have one ball per group of students. As students throw the ball to each other, they can either answer the question that their right hand touches, or their left hand touches.
10:30-11:15: Specials
11:15-11:40: Binder Organization
Take this time to discuss how you would like students to organize their binder. You can also hand out any reference papers that youād like students to keep inside. Pass out a binder cover, have students color it, and place on the front.
11:40-12:20: Lunch and Recess
12:20-12:40: Read Aloud
Read Wordy Birdy with students.
12:40-1:20: Growth Mindset Activities
Pull students to the carpet and show them day 2 of the Growth Mindset interactive slides: Parts of the brain. Discuss how the parts of the brain work together and allow them time to complete the daily activities. Give them a few minutes at the end to pair-share something amazing they learned today.
1:20-1:50: Classroom Behavior Policy
Pull students to the floor and explain your class rules and rewards.
1:50-2:05: Recess
2:05-2:20: Find Someone Who
Every student will need a Find Someone Who board. Students will walk around the room and find someone who can accurately explain the procedure. That student will write their name in the box. The catch is that students must find a different person for each box.
You can find this free activity HERE.
2:20-2:30: Review End of Day Procedures
Pull students to the carpet and remind them of the procedures for packing up and going home at the end of the day.
2:30-2:45: Release Students
Have students pack up and release them to carpool, buses, etc.
Wednesday
8:00-8:20: Enter the Classroom and Morning Procedures
Before entering the classroom, remind students how to complete your morning procedures. Walk students into the classroom and greet each student as they walk into the classroom. Students will be practicing the procedures you taught Monday; such as, turning in forms/homework, hanging up backpacks, where to place water bottles, and take out their self-selected reading book to their seat for silent reading warm-up.
8:20-9:15: Beginning of the Year Assessments
Take this time to administer any beginning of the year assessments that your school may require. You may consider having students color notebook covers when they complete their assessment. You may also consider pulling individual students for assessments as they complete other assessments given.
9:15-9:30: Read Aloud
Read Spaghetti in a Hot Dog Bun with students.
9:30-10:00: Spaghetti Tower Collaboration Activity
Place students in groups of 3-4. Give each group 1 box of spaghetti noodles and 1 bag of marshmallows. Students will work together to build the tallest tower out of these materials. You can grab a recording for this activity HERE.
10:00-10:30: Class Discussion on Collaboration
Pull your students to the carpet and discuss what it looks like to work together. Discuss your expectations for collaboration. What will group work sound like? How will students participate? What should you do if students disagree? Have students model correct and incorrect behaviors for the class. Make an anchor chart about what group collaboration will look like and sound like.
10:30-11:15: Specials
11:15-11:40: Independent Reading Stamina
Bring your students to the floor and discuss how marathon runners must train in order to run long distances. They do not just go out one day and run 26 miles! Instead, they have to train to build up their stamina. Discuss that readers are the same way. They need to practice building their stamina for reading independently for long periods of time without getting distracted.
Start a graph to show how long your class can read without getting distracted.
Students should grab their independent reading books, find a comfortable spot to read, and begin reading as you time them. You should do the same, model how to read independently without getting distracted as well! For the first day, I suggest giving your students about 5-10 minutes to practice independent reading. Stop timing students and discuss what you noticed students doing when they were focused on reading, and what they were doing when they started getting distracted. Challenge your class to beat that time by 3-5 minutes the next day.
11:40-12:20: Lunch and Recess
12:20-1:20: Back to School Escape Room
Engage you students with a fun, collaborative back to school activity. This escape room requires kids to work together to solve puzzles and unlock clues to complete the challenge before time runs out.
The great thing about this escape room is that it’s easy to prep and use. No complicated supplies needed. All you need to do is print and teach. Begin by presenting the story: it’s the first day of school, but the school is locked. The principal lost the keys. Luckily, there is a back up lock that can be opened with a code. If only you could figure out what the code is . . .
This activity comes with four different versions, making it super easy to differentiate. There are two options for 2nd and 3rd grade, and 4th and 5th grade, one with hints and one without.
You can also get this activity together with the Growth Mindset Activities, Back to School Classroom Procedures Game, and Meet the teacher slides as part of my money and time-saving back to school bundle.
1:20-1:50: Writerās Workshop Day One
Bring your students to the floor and explain the three parts of each of your writing workshops: mini lesson, student work time/conferences, and share time. Discuss what students will be doing during each of these times and what the teacher will be doing. Together, make an anchor chart about what it will look and sound like during writing time. To keep kids engaged during this lesson, I suggest doing lots of āturn and tell your partnerā¦.ā and have them create their own anchor chart in their writing notebook.
Click HERE to learn more about how I introduce writing workshop.
1:50-2:05: Recess
2:05-2:35: Growth Mindset
Use this time to continue working on the Growth Mindset Activities. Day 3 is a fun lesson about growth versus fixed mindset. After showing the PowerPoint mini lesson, give students a few minutes to reflect on the questions. Then have a class discussion about positive self-talk. Brainstorm positive and encouraging thoughts. This would make a great anchor chart to keep up all year.
2:35-2:45: Release Students
Have students pack up and release them to carpool, buses, etc.
Thursday
8:00-8:20: Enter the Classroom and Morning Procedures
Walk students into the classroom and greet each student as they walk into the classroom. Students will be practicing the procedures you taught Monday; such as, turning in forms/homework, hanging up backpacks, where to place water bottles, and take out their self-selected reading book to their seat for silent reading warm-up.
8:20-9:15: Beginning of the Year Assessments
Take this time to administer any beginning of the year assessments that your school may require. You may consider having students color notebook covers when they complete their assessment. You may also consider pulling individual students for assessments at this time.
9:15-9:30: Read Aloud
Gooney Bird Greene (This is our first chapter book read aloud!)
9:30-10:00: Responding to Reading- Day One (I Do- Whole Group)
Pull your students to the carpet and model the process of responding to reading using the class read aloud that you just read (Gooney Bird Greene). Model the entire process while thinking out loud. Students will listen as you talk about finding text evidence. Model how you start writing your answer by using part of the question. Talk about how you extend your response with some of your own thinking/examples. Finally, model how to edit and make corrections to improve your work. When you are done, ask students to share what they noticed. Create a class list of things that you did to make your writing the best possible response.
You can find my Reading Menus and more information about this process by clicking HERE.
10:00-10:30: Writing Workshop Day Two
Send students back to their desks and discuss the different types of materials that they will be allowed to use during writerās workshop. Show students where they can find these materials. Place several different types of writing utensils at each group, along with scratch paper, and allow students to write their name with different writing utensils to discover what they enjoy using. Students will find writing time more enjoyable if they are allowed to use pens! Next, teach and practice your procedures for putting writing materials away.
Click HERE to learn more about how I introduce writing workshop.
10:30-11:15: Specials
11:15-11:40: Independent Reading Stamina
Remind students how long they were able to complete independent reading yesterday and pick a goal for today to increase that stamina. Remind your class what it should look and sound like. Have your students grab their independent reading book, find a comfortable spot in the room, and begin reading while you time them.Stop the clock a few minutes after yesterdayās time and graph it on your chart.
11:40-12:20: Lunch and Recess
12:20-12:35 Read Aloud
Read Mae Among the Stars with students.
12:35-1:10: Read Aloud Connection
After reading Mae Among the Stars, discuss a growth mindset, believing in yourself, and working hard for your goals. Hand out blank pendants to every student. Have students draw a picture of what theyād like to be when they grow up and write their name across the top. These can be displayed in your classroom.
1:10-1:30: Math Center Instruction
You will want to take your time teaching and practicing math centers. Plan to spend about 8-10 days practicing and explaining math centers. You may begin day one today.
Pull your students to the rug and explain what math centers are. Donāt worry about teaching them how to complete each center today. Instead, help them to understand that they will be divided into small groups and how many centers they will be completing each day.
Explain that the reason you are doing these centers is so that you can meet with small groups of students and help them practice new math skills. Make an anchor chart with students that shows how center time will look and sound.
You can find more information about starting math centers HERE.
1:30-1:50: Math Game Review
Teach students how to play Addition War with a deck of cards. I suggest having several deck of cards to use throughout the year. You can find two-packs for $1 at the Dollar Tree. Divide students up into pairs and students will play Addition War.
Students will shuffle the cards and divide the cards in half. They will then turn over the top cards at the same time from their deck and add the numbers shown. the first person to say the correct sum will take the both cards. The person with the most cards at the end of playing-time is the winner. You will want to inform your students that an Ace card is 1 and all face-cards are worth 10.
1:50-2:05: Recess
2:05-2:35: Growth Mindset Activities
It’s time for Day 4 of the Growth Mindset activities. Today’s lesson is all about Famous Failures (and it’s a student failure). Today you will be teaching kids that it’s okay to make mistakes. And to prove it, you will introduce them to some famous people who failed a lot before they succeeded. Take a few minutes to share their ideas about how to reframe mistakes into learning opportunities. You can add these ideas to your positve self-talk chart if you want to.
2:30-2:45: Release Students
Have students pack up and release them to carpool, buses, etc.
Friday
8:00-8:20: Enter the Classroom and Morning Procedures
Walk students into the classroom and greet each student as they walk into the classroom. Students will be practicing the procedures you taught Monday; such as turning in forms/homework, hanging up backpacks, where to place water bottles, and take out their self-selected reading book to their seat for silent reading warm-up.
8:20-8:45: Class Meeting
Pull your students to the carpet and discuss what Friday class meetings will look like in your classroom.
I used Friday meetings to distribute reward tags to my students. It was a great way to reward students for meeting academic and behavior goals. They LOVED them! To keep it simple for me, and increase the excitement, I only awarded the tags on Fridays. I usually gave about a dozen tags each week.
If you choose to use reward tags, you will want to use this first week to discuss how students can earn reward tags in your classroom and the procedure for distributing them. Model how to cheer and clap for each student as they receive a reward tag during these meetings. If youād rather not use reward tags, you can use this meeting time to share other important classroom community information.
8:45-9:15: Writing Workshop Day Three
Pull students to the floor and discuss places where they will be allowed to write during independent writing time. Discuss how they will move to these locations and what it should look and sound like. Give students a few minutes to walk around the room and sit at the different places that they will be allowed to write at.
Bring students back to the floor and record on an anchor chart your transition rules. Ask a student to show the class how NOT to go to their writing spot. As a class, discuss what that child did wrong. Then, ask the same student to go to their writing spot the correct way. Do this a couple of times with different students, many students love modeling the what not to do and what to do!
9:15-9:30: Read Aloud
Read Be Kind with students.
9:30-10:30: Procedure Board Game
Place students in groups of 3-4 to review the classroom procedures you have been practicing all week. My back to school procedures board game makes this activity super simple.
The Back to School Procedures game comes with a game board and four different color cards: “Great Job,” “Uh-Oh”, “Application,” and “Act it Out.” cards. Each card asks students to recall or apply a classroom procedure in a different way. It’s a fun and silly to test there knowledge of the classroom procedures.
You can also get this activity together with the Growth Mindset Activities, Back to School Escape Room, and Meet the teacher Slide as part of my money and time-saving back to school bundle.
10:30-11:15: Specials
11:15-11:40: Independent Reading Stamina
Remind students how long they were able to complete independent reading yesterday and pick a goal for today to increase that stamina. Remind your class what it should look and sound like. Have your students grab their independent reading book, find a comfortable spot in the room, and begin reading while you time them. Stop the clock a few minutes after yesterdayās time and graph it on your chart.
11:40-12:20: Lunch and Recess
12:20-12:35 Read Aloud
Read the next chapter of Gooney Bird Greene with students.
12:35-1:00: Responding to Reading Day Two
Model the procedures again that you taught yesterday for responding to reading. You can find out more information about teaching these procedures by clicking HERE.
1:00-1:50: Math Center Instruction
Today is the day that you will be teaching students how to complete the independent center activities. I always start with the back to school set of centers because they are a review of the skills from the previous grade level. This takes the pressure off of learning a new math skill and allows students to focus on learning the routines and procedures. It is also a great way to get a feel of your studentsā math level.
Gather your students in a circle on the floor where everyone will be able to see you. Start by modeling the first center. Read the directions and talk through how you would complete the work. You donāt have to tell them every answer, but give them enough of a model to know what you expect of them.
Do this for each of the ten centers. I would do lots of āturn and tell your neighborā¦ā during this time to keep students engaged and to demonstrate that they understood your directions.
You can find the rest of my first 8 days of starting math centers by clicking HERE.
Back to School Math Centers
I’ve also created done-for-you back to school math centers for grades 2-5. Each grade includes 10 hands-on math centers and a student recording book. Fun activities like sorts, matching, writing about math, and task cards keep kids engaged in learning.
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1:50-2:05: Recess
2:05-2:25: Growth Mindset Activities
You can end the week by finishing up your Growth Mindset Activities. Today’s lesson is on developing grit. When students have grit, they are more likely to persevere on hard tasks. Complete the mini lesson and have students do the activities. Then spend some time talking as a class about how they can develop grit during the school year.
You can also get this activity together with the Back to School Escape Room, Back to School Classroom Procedures Game, and Meet the Teacher Slide as part of my money and time-saving back to school bundle.
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2:30-2:45: Release Students
Have students pack up and release them to carpool, buses, etc.
Now, sit back, relax, and enjoy the weekend. Week one is done!
I hope this post is helpful and sparks some ideas for you as you begin planning for you first week of school. Remember to be flexible! Your students may take longer to complete an activity, or they may be quicker! I always found my first week lesson plans scribbled on with time changes as we went along.
You can click HERE to grab a cheat sheet of my first week lesson plans.
Most importantly, DONāT RUSH teaching procedures and building a community. You can read more about practicing procedure by clicking HERE.
These first few weeks will set the tone for the rest of your year. Do you need a pep talk about this first week? Check out this POST for some words of encouragement.
Have a Not So Wimpy Day,
What do you do during the “specials” time block?
Hi Sandra,
Specials time is planning time. Well, let’s be real after a bathroom break THEN it’s planning time! The time students are out of the classroom for art, music, PE, whatever it may be is the perfect time to prepare future lessons and materials.
How much does it cost to buy all the materials for this one week? Great ideas, but need the books and activities.
Hi Stephanie! I’m glad you enjoyed the ideas. We included popular books that are in many classrooms. If you don’t have the books listed, you can easily substitute other fun read alouds. You can use the links in the post to grab some FREEBIES and view the items for purchase to determine which ones you would like. I hope that whatever activites you choose your year is off to a great start!
As a new teacher, this was SO HELPFUL, and gave me a lot of new ideas! Thank you for sharing! š
Jamie,
Thank you so much! Iām moving to third after 20 years in first and this was so helpful to see what third graders will enjoy!
So many amazing ideas for the first week. I love small group collaboration and you gave me so any ideas. Thank you for posting this!
All great ideas as usual. I think I am an obsessed “Not So Wimpy Teacher!” I wanted to know what is your Binder Organization? It that for like the take-home stuff like the BEAR (Bring Everything Always Readt) or OWL (Organized While Learning) notebooks.?
Hi Cassandra,
That time was set aside to organize the student take-home binder. I had students add a cover that they designed, added in reference pages, such as a multiplication chart and fraction bar page, agenda, etc. and a pocket folder for homework and take-home papers, etc.
Thank you so much for this! I tried clicking the link to read more about your reward tags, but nothing came up. Would love to read more about them! I’m constantly looking to improve my behavior management system.
Hi Hillary,
I’m sorry, that post is not currently available. We are updating many of our posts. My students always looked forward to the reward tag celebration. I made sure I was the biggest cheerleader for the ceremony. Throughout the week, when I noticed student behavior or improvement I would make a note of the tag to give them on Friday. I didn’t keep track of who received what tag, nor did I worry about if a student received the same tag more than once. I usually had about 10-12 tags I would give out in a month. Students could NOT ask to receive a tag that’s a big NO-NO! I laminated and hole punched the rewards and had students keep them on a chain necklace. Hope that helps! You can find my reward tag bundle through this link: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Reward-Tag-BUNDLE-2615821
Do you have lesson plans for 4th grade? Like recommended books to read and fourth day in fourth grade?
Hi Neoshea,
This blog post has my favorite resources for fourth grade. https://notsowimpyteacher.com/2019/07/my-favorite-resources-for-fourth-grade.html
Do you have resources and book suggestions for second graders?
Hi Colette,
The blog post has my favorite second grade resources. https://notsowimpyteacher.com/2019/08/my-favorite-resources-for-second-grade.html
Love the Saving Fred activity. Do you just give each group one cup?
Hi Katie,
Yes, each group gets one cup which is the boat poor Fred was in when it tipped over.
This is amazing
Do you have a pdf version of this first week lesson plan available for easy printing?
Would these lessons and read alouds be too young for fifth graders?
Hi Kelly,
I found that fifth graders enjoyed a good picture book read aloud just as much as younger students. They also loved the activities!
Hi Christina,
Right above the last picture on the post, you’ll see a link to grab the cheat sheet for the week’s lesson.
Would you be able to send a PDF or form like the picture at the top of the lesson plans?
Never mind I found the cheat sheet link. Thank you!
Hello Jaime,
I have appreciated all of the resources, tips, and tricks you have been sharing over the last few years! I first found your resources on Teachers Pay Teachers and I still enjoy exploring your store to see what new materials you have created. My newest addiction is the writing workshop video series that you have posted. I felt that I was not effectively organizing my Writing Block as my district switched us from Grammar to more authentic writing pieces, which I have not taught in more than 5 years. I started to implement your suggestions and saw an immediate improvement in both the behavior and productivity of my students. So many more are getting into the writing process as they practice the mini-lesson skills. Thanks for all you do!
-Beth
I love hearing this, Beth! I’m so glad the posts and courses have been helpful for you and made an impact on your students. Thank you for sharing.
first time stopping by…
wow i wish you had something for first grade! you are amazing š so helpful š
Thanks for stopping by, Angela! I am so sorry, but Not So Wimpy Teacher only creates resources for grades 2-5 because those are grade levels we have the most experience teaching. We want our resources to be the perfect fit. I am confident that there are other teacher authors on TpT that create quality resources for first grade.
HI!
Will these lessons be put in a format to add to Lesson Genie 2.0? I have been using these lessons for years. My students always love the Saving Fred activity. Thank you!
Hi Lori! Thank you for your question. We do have some of these activities inside Lesson Genie now. You will find the escape room, growth mindset, procedure gamr board, starting writing workshop activities and starting math workshop activities inside Lesson Genie. You can also add custom categories now to Lesson Genie to match this schedule and include notes and hyperlinks to some of the other activities that are not inside Lesson Genie quite yet. We will be sure to consider adding activities like Saving Fred with our next round of additions. I hope this helps! Enjoy!