Back to School

Back to school!? Wait...where did the summer go? As I sorted through piles of papers and props that I left at the end of last year (note to self: no matter how exhausted you are always finish cleaning your classroom at the end of the year) activities to start the school year started spinning through my head... 

I find the beginning of the year to be a tricky time--I want my students to leave after the first day feeling excited about learning and knowing that they are an important member of our classroom community. This is often a tall order when you only have 30 minutes and a classroom full of squirmy elementary students! My beginning of the year activities are always evolving and they have been largely inspired by Bryce Hedstrom's La persona especial and Ben Slavic's Circling with Balls. I love both of these beginning of the year activities because it gives the students a chance to learn more about one another and it also gives you as the teacher an opportunity to show that you are invested in each individual student. Having said that, I personally have found that at the elementary level students have a hard time staying engaged and focused if I spend 5-10 minutes in a discussion about each individual student. I value the premiss of these activities so I've come up with a few alternatives for the elementary classroom...  

• Vacation Draw
  Give the students 5 minutes to draw something fun that they did over summer vacation. This could be a family trip or a fun day at a friend's house--the only rule is that they have to be drawing for the full 5 minutes (these pictures reveal a lot about each student's personality). When time is up we play Señorita T vs. La clase. I put the picture underneath the document camera and try and guess the place/activity that the student drew (this is great comprehensible input because I am describing what I see in the picture out loud to the students). If I guess correctly then I get a point, and if I guess incorrectly the class gets a point. This is a fun way to let students share what they did over break, and the suspense of the game keeps the students engaged. 
• Summer Survey
  Have students complete a survey where they have to find classmates that went to specific places over the summer. The students get a clipboard and wander around the classroom asking their classmates the questions in the squares. If someone answers "sí" to one of the questions then they write their name in the box. The only rule is that you have to have a different name in each box. This also reveals a lot about the likes/dislikes of your students, and gives the students an opportunity to get to know their classmates better. Open the link below to download the survey.  

summer_vacations.docx
File Size:	149 kb
File Type:	docx

Download File

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• All about Señorita T quiz
  This is a fun activity for my 3rd and 4th graders since they have already had me for several years. I break the students up into teams and ask them questions about me (in the target language of course). Questions include: Where is Señorita T from? What does Señorita T like to do? What does Señorita T like to eat? What Spanish pop star does Señorita T like? It is a mix of simple and silly questions to let the students know more about me (I am always amazed at how much they remember about me from years past). After I reveal my answer I do some circling to ask my students the same questions. I like this activity because I love finding similarities that I have with my students, and the students are always eager to learn more about one another.   

How are you beginning the year? Feel free to post your own ideas below!