What to Teach After Your First Day of Class
If you’re here with me, then you probably already have a pretty good handle on what you want your very first day of Middle School English Language Arts class to look like. You’ve probably already read the article where I describe the only four activities I recommend for the first day of school—Activities that work really, really well whether you teach 6th, 7th, 8th grade (or all three).
One thing to note is that even if you are in a high-tech 1:1 tech school where both you and the students have the best of the best in terms of Internet, laptop devices, etc., I STILL strongly encourage you to avoid their use for the first few days (unless your school demands it). If you have a choice, save the heavy device usage for later in the week simply because you want to be able to teach and get to know your students without the possibility of a WiFi lapse, or a classroom outlet situation (been there!). In other words, you don’t want to risk scrambling for non-digital lesson resources in the middle of the second day of school if something happens to the power (been there, too).
I’m NOT saying don’t use them at all, ever. Part of your classroom setup, like going over your routines and procedures and managing student logins and passwords, is part of the typical housekeeping items we have to do as teachers.
I totally get it.
I’m just saying that for the bulk of each day’s lesson for those first few days, I really try to avoid too much reliability on tech in favor of simple, engaging, face-to-face and hands-on activities that will continue seamlessly even if there’s a power outage.
For the record, I definitely recommend keeping your lessons the same for ALL your classes throughout that first week of school if you teach more than one grade level. The first week is already full of adjustments in both teaching and personal home life, so keep what you do in the classroom simple by using the same lessons and materials for all your grade levels of ELA.
Let’s get to it, then!
Here are the three activities I highly recommend for the second day of Middle School ELA class:
The Second Day of Middle School English Language Arts
Activity 1: The “First Day of School” Mentor Text Read-Aloud
If you’re unfamiliar with the term “mentor text” – It’s simply a book, article, poem, story, etc. that teachers like to share with their students as a “model” of good writing. A “mentor text” is a solid example of content or writing style that we want to use to inspire students as they write or read. It’s like having something to look up to, to learn from, and to emulate.
In this case, we’re talking about using a 1 – 3 page portion of a book in which a character experiences their own first day of school. We’ll read it aloud to our students and we’ll do this every day throughout the first week of school. Today, if time remains at the end of class, I’ll even share another one with my students (by now, you’ll have a few students who want to hear more!).
Rationale: In doing this every day, we’re establishing a routine our students can count on. We’re setting the standard that there is always something planned for the first few minutes of class, and that we like to get going right away. Obviously, we won’t read “first day of school” mentor texts each day of the entire school year. But by next week (week two of the school year), we’ll transition to “bell work” or a “bell ringer” (some people call them “warm ups” or “do-now’s”) so that we’re moving into the routine of our classrooms for the rest of the year.
I have an entire collection of book titles and excerpts for the first day of school mentor texts you can use with your students.
Those who grab their spot in my next FREE Middle School ELA 1st Week Lesson Plan Workshop will get ALL the resources and materials I’m talking about here!
In just 15 minutes a day, for 5 days, you’ll have your ENTIRE 1st week of plans DONE along with all the lessons you’ll be using.
Activity 2: Classroom Scavenger Hunt
One of our Day 1 activities was to have students work through a syllabus scavenger hunt as explained here.
For Day 2, we’re going to have them get up, move around the room, and search for specific items that they’ll need to know about for a successful time in your classroom.
Rationale: Instead of telling students what they can and can not touch, or where they can put things, or how to access extra materials in the classroom, we’ll let them experience it for themselves in a memorable way they likely aren’t getting in their other classes. We’ll do this through a classroom scavenger hunt.
To set this up, just make a list of all the things you can think of that need to be addressed in order to maintain a well-run classroom.
A few examples might be:
- What are your “rules” about leaving class to go to the restroom?
- If a student needs another pen, where or how do they get that?
- Is there a supply closet with extra paper or tape that they can access?
- Where are the trash cans in your room and when or how will students throw things away? (Yes! This has to be explained, even in upper grades. Otherwise, you’ll have students throwing trash from across the room and claiming they didn’t know they couldn’t do that).
- If they finish a book from your classroom library, what happens next? Where does it go, exactly? When or how do they get to choose another?
- Where or how do they turn in their work (whether it’s digital or paper)?
- Are there any posters with instructions for certain types of activities in your room that you want students to remember to follow? (i.e. List of school-approved websites for research, or a list of things they can do if they finish their work early).
Those who grab their spot in my next FREE Middle School ELA 1st Week Lesson Plan Workshop will get ALL the resources and materials I’m talking about here, like my own editable classroom scavenger hunt activity (complete with my ‘answers’ to everything in case you need examples)!
In just 15 minutes a day, for 5 days, you’ll have your ENTIRE 1st week of plans DONE along with all the lessons you’ll be using.
Activity 3: Continue Work on the “I Am” Poem from Day 1
On the first day of school, students work on their autobiographical “I Am” Poem. As explained here, it’s a print version placed on their desks for them to work on immediately when they first enter the classroom the first day. Now, with the rest of Day 2, students will continue to work on their poems—hands on, creative, and for display (if they’re ok with that) in your classroom. For 17 years, whether I was teaching high school English or middle school English Language Arts, I’ve used this activity without fail. My students love it, and they really enjoy seeing their decorated, personalized, finished creations displayed as a mural on one of my walls. They take them home the last week of the school year. It’s basically a tradition now! It’s a unique expression of themselves that I leave up all year long.
Tips: Anytime we have for the rest of the week outside of the 2 – 3 activities I have planned for each day is when students get to work on their “I Am” poems. Some students choose to take them home and finish them there. Others only have access to supplies for the final product in my classroom. I provide construction paper, scissors, markers, etc. so they can get really creative and show themselves in a new way. For many students, the act of getting their hands dirty (so to speak) is something they haven’t done in years. As they work, I use the time to check in with them a few at a time over the course of the rest of the days during that first week in order to incorporate quick bites of lessons around grammar, mechanics, or spelling.
Join the Middle School ELA 1st Week Lesson Plan Workshop to get ALL the resources and materials I’m talking about here!
It’s Free!
In just 15 minutes a day, for 5 days, you’ll have your ENTIRE 1st week of plans DONE along with all the lessons you’ll be using.
Activity 4: Syllabus Scavenger Hunt
How boring for you as a teacher AND for your students to have to read through the syllabus in every class, all throughout the day. They won’t remember the details, and you’ll be hoarse from all the talking and reading you’ll have to do all day long.
Instead, meet the school’s requirement that you “do the syllabus” by having students work together (small groups or pairs) to locate specific items you really want them to search for. In searching, they’ll interact with the syllabus much longer, and with significantly more intention, than if you read it to them or left them to read it themselves (which they won’t).
Rationale: The scavenger hunt process is interactive for your students, and actually gets them reading an informational nonfiction text right away! When it’s time to go over the “answers” or to check for understanding, you can use those moments to follow up, clarify, or further explain any nuances in your syllabus.
Wondering what to put in your syllabus?
How long should it be?
What details to include or not include?
I’m sharing several syllabus templates I have used for Middle School ELA that you’re welcome to use, too! You’ll get to see what’s in them, what’s not in them (and why), along with the design and style or layout of the options. Get them as part of the 1st Week Lesson Plan Workshop I’m running soon!
Join the Middle School ELA 1st Week Lesson Plan Workshop to get ALL the resources and materials I’m talking about here!
It’s Free!
In just 15 minutes a day, for 5 days, you’ll have your ENTIRE 1st week of plans DONE along with all the lessons you’ll be using.
Activity 5: First Day of School Mentor Text
We all have those first day of school memories—even our students! Share in the experience while also fostering a love for reading when you share an excerpt from a novel about a fictional character’s first day of school. I’ve done this with both high school and middle school students—and it’s always a hit! They want me to keep reading (that’s a win, for sure!).
With this activity, I don’t ask my students to do anything but listen. I take an excerpt from a novel like Just Like That by Gary D. Schmidt or El Deafo by Cece Bell and I read a few pages aloud to the class.
This works well as a “beginning of class” read-aloud for the rest of the week, pulling a different excerpt from a different “first day of school” novel each day of the week. I don’t recommend this as the very first activity on the very first day itself just because of all the unintended interruptions that occur (the ones I mentioned earlier in this article, which are so typical and often can’t be helped on the first day of school).
Rationale: Students are never too old to be read to. They need fluency more than ever! That means they need to experience what good reading sounds like. Plus, it provides a common experience for everyone in your class. It becomes something “we all did together” that first week which we can refer back to collectively. Finally, when it comes to students needing to choose a novel for their personal reading later on, many of them will recall (and ask for!) one of the books from the first day of school read-alouds.
I’m sharing my whole first day of school read-aloud book list (with page numbers and specific excerpts I personally love and recommend) inside the 1st Week Lesson Plan Workshop I’m running soon!
Join the Middle School ELA 1st Week Lesson Plan Workshop to get ALL the resources and materials I’m talking about here!
It’s Free!
In just 15 minutes a day, for 5 days, you’ll have your ENTIRE 1st week of plans DONE along with all the lessons you’ll be using.
