Alternatives to 'what I did in the hols'

[AnotherTeacherMum]

I teach in a 3 form entry school so plan alongside my colleagues. I am new to the school and they mentioned that they do not get stuck in with planning for the first week, and just do lots of 'what I did in the hols' type stuff. Problem is my school is in a really deprived area, from the info I already have I know that I have a child who has been having chemo for cancer and hopefully will be back for Sep, kids who have been/are on the 'at risk' register, and kids who just generally may not have had a good summer.

What other ideas do people do to 'ease them in'? I teach y5.

I was actually thinking of doing some get to know each other activities, introduce the first topic in a very broad way and maybe do some maths games based on what they did last year. What do you think??? I have done supply for quite a while but never had my own class before (NQT) so new to all this really...

Reinforce the school's golden rules and remind the children about the behaviour policy (both rewards and sanctions,) plus any class rewards you wish to introduce. Also talk briefly about routines and assign any monitors etc.

I always think it's best to just get stuck into the topic and lessons from day one, as much as possible. It's also good to do some display work early on, so that you can get cracking with them.

Good luck!

When I started as an NQT in year 5 I got them to describe themselves in exactly 40 words. Description was then put with a self portrait to make an instant display.

Do your own mini-topic for a week? Maybe using a book as a starting point/stimulus? Google The Literacy Tree for some fab ideas (its not me, but a friend/excolleague)

We start the first term with a book study. Loads of good stuff online.

How about a "how-to" guide to the best summer ever? Emphasise the fantasy element of it - so it could have "scoring the winning goal in the World Cup" or "hiring out all of Disneyland just for you". That way there's no competition, just imagination, as long as it all stays fun and far fetched. Use it as a springboard for descriptive writing conventions.

Brilliant ideas from everyone.

You could play the game "Two truths and a lie" - the kids think up their own then say them out loud and you (all) have to guess which is untrue - you can do some too which helps them get to know you.

Also play the category game - make a list of categories (kids can suggest them) e.g. football team, country, animal, fruit, colour, etc. then pick a letter of the alphabet at random and think of one thing for each category beginning with that letter. You can re-use it at a later date with different letters.

do more of an 'all about our class' topic to be represented on a display e.g. hobbies, faveourite foods siblings, football team, heights/hand spans etc.... these can all form some good introductory maths investigations with measures and charts etc aswell?