The First Day of School Activity I Will ALWAYS Do in Algebra 1 (Or Any Class, Really!)

On day one of the school year in my Algebra 1 class I get my students moving instantly with a stations activity. This activity sets the tone for what to expect in my class - movement, collaboration and active engagement!

Instead of spending the first class period reviewing the syllabus in a whole-class manner I split up the components of my syllabus throughout the stations. In doing it this way I provide opportunities for my students to actively engage with the content of the syllabus and - best of all - it frees me up to have individual conversations with small groups of students to get to know them and answer their questions in a smaller group setting. By the end of the period I have had a conversation with every single student. I can learn names (especially the difficult ones!) and I can start to learn students strengths, interests and personalities.

On the first day I do not assign seats, mostly because they won't be seated for very long. I also like to see who sits with whom so I can start to observe productive and unproductive pairings. To start the stations activity I will quickly count students off to assign them to a starting station and we rotate from there. The stations are designed so that you can start at any station. All students are given a paper syllabus at the start of the stations.

Here's an outline of the six stations I implement (and don't worry, you can snag the your own editable copy of these station directions here!)

STATION 1

Students read the "Materials" and "Classroom Guidelines" sections of the syllabus. My guidelines are short and sweet - to "be respectful, positive, prepared and resilient" To make this station an active experience I have students highlight key parts of the sections (see directions to the right). Furthermore, I ask them to contribute their voice by providing examples of demonstrating the classroom guidelines by presenting their examples on post it notes. Total participation is a fundamental expectation in my classroom, so I like to model that from day one in these stations.

STATION 2

At the bottom of my syllabus I have quotes that further illustrate classroom expectations:

• "In this class, teamwork makes the dream work."

• "In this class, mistakes are expected, respected, inspected and corrected - Jo Boaler"

• and our school's core values: "Be resilient. Be risk-takers. Be problem solvers. Be compassionate."

At station 2 I ask students to reflect on these quotes and respond to them on chart paper. After responding they are directed to read their classmates contributions and provide positive feedback by putting check marks next to the ones they agree with. This is a common activity (we call it "Gallery Walks") that we will do during the year with various skill tasks and application problems, so I like to teach them the protocol for this type of activity through this station.

STATION 3

At station 3 students are introduced to our class' grading policy. I ask students to review the section of the syllabus pertaining to the policy, then pick up a sheet of scrap paper from the pile I provide and actively demonstrate their understanding of the policy by listing three things they learned about the grading policy and at least one question that they have. I ask students to turn these in when done so that I can review them and address the questions efficiently the next day in class.

STATION 4

At station 4 I have students log in to our Google Classroom, as we actively use it throughout the year (especially when hybrid learning!) If Google Classroom is not used in your classroom you could also use this station to get students to set up or log in to other website resources that you use. If you're looking for a tech-free, but tech-based station you can also do a technology inventory to see which resources your students have used before. For example, you can have your students rate their understanding and use of different resources. "From 1 - 5, where 1 is never used and 5 is experienced, rate each of the following" and you can list things like Desmos, IXL.com, Khan Academy, GeoGebra, Graphing Calculator, etc. None of these work for you? Replace them with something that does! :) Every classroom is different. Tailor these stations to meet Y O U R classroom's needs!

STATION 5

At station 5 I have students set goals while simultaneously creating a system that I used daily to switch up seating arrangements.

First the goal setting: At this station students fill out an index card with their name one one sides, and goals on the other. On the goal side students split their index card into two sides. On the left they write down an academic goal that they have (I also encourage students to share a non-academic goal!) On the right I have students brainstorm three specific actions that will help them achieve that goal. It helps to provide a physical example so students can see an exemplar - although I would avoid filling in the actual goals and actions so students don't just copy what you write.

Now it gets better: every day I use these cards to show students where they are sitting. I can organize the cards in groups before class if I want to plan for collaborative activities. Or I can simply shuffle the deck and shake up the seating for the day. Quickly my students learn that seating is temporary and the cards create a routine where students know to look for their new seat each day.

These cards help me to learn names at the beginning of the year and I like to refer to the goals on the back of the card to support my behavior system. If a students is not behaving their best I will flip their card over and point to their goals. I can also use these goals to strike up conversations with students as I get to know them so I can foster strong relationships.

STATION 6

Last, but far from least, at station 6 is ME (and any co-teacher or teaching assistant that supports in that class period). At this station the main goal is to introduce the teachers/TAs in the class and to get to know each student. I like to prepare a short set of pictures to share as I introduce myself and I like to keep these questions handy incase students are shy:

• What's something everyone should know about you?

• What do you like to do outside of school?

• Who's your role model?

• What's your favorite class?

• If I gave you $1,000 what would you do with it?

• How has math been for you in the past?

• What can I do to best support you this year?

These stations help me start the year off strong. If you'd like to try them out remember that you can snag the your own editable copy of these station directions here! Make the stations your own. Edit them to meet your teaching style and classroom needs. In my own copy I added our school's logo in the background and put my bitmoji on each one (mostly so my students can know from day one what cringy things they will be subjected to throughout the rest of the year!) Be creative, have fun and get your year off to an active, engaging start!

---

Share your questions, comments and experiences in the comments below!

• Share your favorite first day procedures and activities!

• What is your favorite station and why?

• How would you make these stations even better?

• What questions do you have about these stations?