First Day of School Schedule for Grades K-2 that is Actually Doable

Last updated on August 27th, 2023 at 05:47 pm

Well, your classroom is ready! Materials are labeled, the room is arranged, wall décor is up and you’re ready to plan for your first day. But you may be asking yourself how to write a flexible lesson plan that will fit the first day where you never know quite what you’re going to get.

I’m hear to tell you, no lesson plan you create for this day, or even this week, will really actually get followed to a tee. You will make adjustments to them as you go. You will nix some lessons, add in what admin says you must cover, and fill in gaps where needed. So, I’m giving you my first day of first grade lesson plan, which could be used for grades K-2, with the hope that you can use them as a basis for yours, so you don’t have to start from scratch and have time for more important things, like waiting for your turn at the copy machine or being able to enjoy using the bathroom on your time schedule.  

My first week’s lesson plans look different than regular lesson plans. They look more like a detailed daily schedule. This keeps me on track and remembering the important times like lunch, recess, and special area. And any times, but those, are very flexible, since I don’t know my students and we don’t have a routine yet. Since I don’t know your starting and end time, I’m going to put my schedule in increments of time, not exact times. Feel free to adjust it to match your schedule and needs. Here it is:

25 minutes-eat breakfast, hang up backpack (there is no assigned spot yet), help students find their seat and have them begin their work packet

35 minutes-students complete work packets while you call students one at a time to collect their school supplies

30 minutes-Morning Meeting-morning message and introductions, my 3 jobs, their job, introduce and practice call backs, procedure for lining up and practice, procedure for GoNoodle, then do a Go Noodle or 2

15 minutes-Classroom Tour-during the tour we discuss bathroom procedures and cool down spot procedures

15 minutes-gather on the carpet and read First Day Jitters by Julie Danneburg (Note: you could sub any first day of school book you prefer)

20 minutes-First Day Jitters writing (this can look different based on your grade level)

5 minutes-Brain Break

25 minutes-introduce the first two ways to read a book (From The Daily 5: Fostering Literacy in the Elementary Grades) using Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus by Mo Willems

25 minutes-introduce school expectations and whatever behavior incentive your school uses

25 minutes-lunch procedures and get ready for lunch

20 minutes-lunch

25 minutes-recess expectations and recess

10 minutes-quiet brain break (get water, use the bathroom, online story)

10 minutes-introduce Number Corner (from Bridges Math), or whatever calendar routine you will be using  

20 minutes-First Day Jitters graph completed together

25 minutes-find a friend sheet

15 minutes-review our day and get ready for home

30 minutes-school tour (end at special area)

45 minutes-special area

25 minutes-explain dismissal procedures and get ready for dismissal

Now, I will elaborate on these activities.

I have name plates filled out with each student’s name and number on it ahead of time and on the first day, I do not attach it to their desk/table spot. I have it out, so each student has a place to sit, but then I can move it around easily within the first couple of days to find each student’s best learning spot. Here is a fun nameplate from Carson Dellosa for you to check out!

Also, I label everything else with the student’s number, so s/he knows where to put their belongings and materials. I focus more on identifying and finding their number the rest of the week. The labels are created by numbering mini cut-outs that go with my classroom theme. Carson Dellosa has many mini cut-outs to choose from like birds or owls.

The work packet I mention is a stapled together packet of simple worksheets that each student can complete independently. Click on the links below for some of the worksheets I use. I don’t use worksheets for morning work, except during the first week of school. The work packets make it so each student can be doing something while I take care of other tasks, such as collecting school supplies. When collecting school supplies, I have a checklist created from the supply list with each student’s name across the top with a few blanks for last minute additions.  I call each student one at a time to place their school supplies in the correct bin as I check it off and refer to the list when sending home parent reminders. If students are getting restless or this task is taking too long, I will finish it later in the day by pulling the items out of their backpacks during special area.

Next, I play a song to signal it is time for morning meeting. Right before I start the song, I tell the students what I expect them to do while the song is playing and where they should be when it is over.  We, then, have our first morning meeting.  We listen to the announcements and put up our morning message. It is on a slide that I put up on the Promethean Board. I make a new slide for each day that gives a brief overview of our activities for the day. Next, I read the day’s morning message. Then, we play a game to get to know each other’s names, such as sitting in a circle and passing, rolling, or tossing an item around to each student and each student will say who they are in a complete sentence, we all say, “Hello __________!” and the item is passed to another student. Then, we briefly discuss my jobs and their job at school. This comes from a training I attended given by Dr. Adam Holland. If you ever get an opportunity to hear him speak, I highly recommend attending. I tell them my job is to keep them safe, teach them what they need to know, and help them have a happy heart. Next, I tell them they have one job and it is to help me do my job. I ask them if they can help me and they reply, “Yes!” After that, it is time for some movement. I show them a callback, such as Dr. Jean’s: Hands on top….everybody stop! Then, we get up and practice by moving to music, and when I say hands on top, they say everybody stop and freeze with their hands on their head. We practice two different callbacks and over the next few days, I will add one or two more. The rest of the morning meeting section is self-explanatory.

During our classroom tour, I take them to the different important places in our classroom and briefly describe them. I make sure to spend time discussing bathroom procedures and procedures for the cool down spot (You may call it something else like calm down corner, safe place, etc.)

Next, I gather students on the carpet, and we have our first read aloud. I love First Day Jitters, but any first day read aloud favorite of yours will work just fine. Then, each student will write how they feel on the first day of school and draw a picture to go with it. I write the prompt I feel _________. on the board for students to copy and fill in with their feeling word. We, also, discuss what feeling words could go in the blank before they begin. I collect this work to get an idea of each students’ writing ability.

After a brain break, we begin learning about the first two ways to read a book. This comes from The Daily Five, however you don’t have to use The Daily 5 in your classroom. It’s basically a time where I begin getting students ready to read independently during class. We discuss how not all of us know how to read many words yet, but that we can still read books on our own by reading the pictures. Then, I show them how to do that using the book Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus. Next, I discuss another way to read a book is by reading the words. We talk about how it’s ok if we can’t read all the words yet and that we can look for word patterns and sight words we know, or even letters we can identify. Then, the students help me read the book. Last, we create an anchor chart with the first two ways that we will add to the next day.

Be sure not to skip the next section of the day, where you discuss school-wide expectations and the behavior incentive your school has in place. I like to do this by briefly going over all the expectations and then focusing more in detail on one expectation each day. I love using short videos from YouTube to introduce the expectation in a way students will understand.

I’m going to skip on to describing quiet brain break. I really like having a quiet brain break after recess for students to relax and refocus after using their energy outside. Students take a quiet brain break by sitting quietly at their seats while the lights are off. Usually I will play a story on the Promethean Board.   This time also gives students a chance to get a drink of water and use the bathroom, if needed. Furthermore, it gives me a moment to take care of any quick things that have come up through the day.

I think the rest of the day’s activities are self-explanatory, but feel free to comment below on any clarifications needed. I will put links below to any worksheets that I use throughout the day, as well as a link to an editable template of my lesson plan.  

Now, remember that this is a guide for your day where you can take out whatever you need to based on how your day is going. I tend to reflect on my plan at the end of the day and move whatever is important that I didn’t get done to the next day, note what activities went well and which may need to be practiced again.

Overall, the goals for my first day are simple:

1. Get the students fed.
2. Get them home safely.
3. Smile. (This one may be the most difficult, since you will have a million and one things going on. But it is important because it paves the way towards building a positive relationship with each student.)

You can do it! Let me know how your first day went below.