Thinking about the First Day of School….

I can't believe that tomorrow is August!  I've already been in my classroom for about 9 hours, prepping for the year.  However, I'm pretty excited because I've got a great team of math teachers who are all on board for new and exciting changes.

Recently, I've seen a neat activity floating around Pinterest for a first day of school math activity.  I actually got onto my Pinterest account this morning to locate it and create my own copy, but was lucky enough to stumble across a link to Donna at Math Coach's Corner who had already created a blank template!  Thanks, Donna :).  I actually love the idea that's in the picture of having the students use the activity as their insert of the front cover of their math binders.

I've been trying to think about other activities to do that day as well.  We get to see each class for about 55 minutes that day.  I don't want to bore them the very first day and I'll probably spend a bit each subsequent day going over different policies, so I'd like to have something where they can move around a bit and get to know each other.  What I've decided on (I think…), is this:

When students come in the door, they will be handed a piece of 8 ½ x 11" paper that has a single number written on it.  The number might be an integer, a square or cube root, a whole number with integer exponent, or some irrational number like pi or sqrt 2.  After some introductions and necessary paperwork, I'll have the students get up and try and put themselves in number line order from least to greatest.  It will be a little tough, because there may be some numbers they haven't been introduced to yet, but I think it will get them talking.  I did this last year (not for the first day) and they seemed to enjoy it.  There can be some good discussions about why a person/number might be in the wrong spot as they look around the room.

So basically, my day might look like this:

• Students enter classroom with number and pick up a copy of the By the Numbers activity above.
• Teacher/Student Introductions
• Pass out any paperwork.
• Introduce Number Line game and have students attempt to put themselves into the correct order.
• Class discussion about Number Line and if they are correct.
• Students return to seat and By the Number activity is introduces (I'll project my own copy).
• Students work on By the Number activity and complete as homework if not finished.