The First Six Weeks of School

The beginning of the school year is always a hectic time for me. First of all I spent the whole summer waking up naturally to the sunlight, reading a few good books and going for a run whenever I please. This schedule comes to an abrupt stop as soon as September 1st rolls around. All of a sudden the beginning of the school year slaps you in the face in full force. 

Late last week, I couldn't help but feeling frustrated. The students went to recess and I slumped down in my chair by the computer. I had just retaught how to get started during daily five for what seemed like the millionth time. 

"How many more times am I going to have to teach this" I thought to myself. "I have all of these assessments to give, and students keep moving around the classroom and talking to each other"

It was at that moment when I glanced over to my morning message for the day. 

"You have finished your second week of school." I wrote earlier that day. The frustration seemed to die down a little. My school uses a responsive classroom approach where teachers are expected to reteach expectations during the first full week of school. The theory is that if you spend time teaching expectations early on in the year, you will not have to spend time later on in the year when you are trying to learn content. If this was the case, this means that I still have four more weeks of teaching expectations before my students are expected to learn them.

I think many teachers are like me and easily get frustrated because students "should know what the rules are by now." I need to remind myself that these are twenty-five eight year olds who just had three months to do what they choose. Of course it is going to take some time to establish the rules. 

Tomorrow, not only am I going to reteach the rules of Daily 5, I am also going to reteach coming in from recess, voice level in the bathroom and how to pass out folders. What are some expectations that you need to reteach in your classroom?