First Day of School Activities

I can’t believe that today was the first day of school!  This summer FLEW by for me.  

I’ve never done anything fantastic on the first day of school.  I usually have the students go around the room and introduce themselves, go over the syllabus, etc.  Ugh, I hate it.  This year I decided to do something totally different.  My goal was for the kids to start working and thinking, without actually starting my curriculum.  We only have 30-minute classes on the first day of school, so I don’t have a lot of time.

First, my students came in and found their desks.  I printed their names on strips of paper so that I could easily assign seats.

Their bellwork was posted on the board.  My kids even have bellwork on the first day.  I used this sheet for their bellwork, whatever they didn’t finish was homework.

Free First Day of School Activity

Mrs. E Teaches Math:  First Day of School Questionnaire - free download

This year I’m teaching Geometry Honors and Algebra 2 Honors.  My honors kids (and their parents!) would have a heart attack if I didn’t give the syllabus on the first day and talk about expectations.  So, I handed it out and talked about it for maybe 5 minutes.  I also handed out the calendar for the first unit.

Then, the fun began!  I decided to use two brain teasers that I found on Stella's Stunners.  You can find them here and here.  They looked like this:
Mrs. E Teaches Math:  First Day of School Questionnaire - free download
Mrs. E Teaches Math:  First Day of School Questionnaire - free download

I liked using these brain teasers because I could make them take as much (or as little) time as I needed!

When there were a little more than 5 minutes left in class, I quickly wrapped up and introduced the idea of an exit ticket.  I don’t know if any of my students have done them before.  I had them write a Tweet using #Mathis as their inspiration.  I totally ripped this idea off of Sarah Hagan at Math = Love.  I made my own paper for the kids to write their Tweets on.  I wanted something to help them count the characters, but some of my freshman can’t write in little boxes to save their life, so I just gave them blanks to write on.   I had three kids ask me what Twitter was.  #Facepalm  #TeacherFail  I told them to just to fill in the blank:  Math is _______.  I totally love how cute it turned out!  I hung some on the wall.  I would have used too much tape hanging 70+ Tweets.

Mrs. E Teaches Math:  First Day of School Questionnaire - free download

Here are some of the funniest/best Tweets.  Anytime a student used their name I changed it to their initials :)
Mrs. E Teaches Math:  First Day of School Questionnaire - free download
I think it's gonna be a good year!