Grades 3-5

Welcome! A little about me!

First Day Jitters

Establish Classroom Climate
• Can you tolerate noise? Must the room always be quiet?
• Must your classroom be neat (orderly rows, clean boards, limited clutter) or can you stand it messy?
• How do you want student to turn in work?

Important First Days Advice
• Be Professional (dress, attitude, manner)
• Be Prepared
• Be Organized (whatever this means for you)
• Be Patient
• Be a Real Person, and Honor Each Student as a
Real Person
• Be Sensible with Discipline
• Be Aware of Your Own Needs

Reasons to Contact Parents?
• Thoughts on this?
• Good reports?
• Bad days?
• Test days?

Biggest Reason for Most Parent
Contact is…Discipline!
• Be consistent!
• Rarely sit down!
• Quickly learn and use student names
• Find an effective means of quieting students, avoid “SHHHHH”
• Avoid using threats for control of the class but if you do, be prepared to carry it out
• Don’t make promises you can’t keep
• When possible discipline a child one-on-one instead of across the room

How will you contact parents?
• In my situation, it depends on the reason…
• Agenda?
• Phone call?
• Notes?
• Request a conference?

My thoughts on parent contact
• Establish a positive rapport with parents and administration
(you will have some meeting with both)
• Keep good, strong lines of communication open between you and parents
• Decide how you want to be contacted (email, school phone, personal phone, text messages, face-to-face)…My advice is
NOT to communicate through social medias (our district does not allow it)
• Don’t be afraid to contact parents
• Contact parents about positive changes also
• Encourage parents to be proud of their children
• Provide opportunities to volunteer/participate in the classroom

Keep a Parent Contact Log
• Some school districts will require this
• Make it simple and keep it handy!
• I don’t use a log to keep track of notes in agenda books, but for conferences and phone calls I try to make quick notes!
• Date Type of Contact Reason for Contact Outcome

Attention Grabbers
• Teacher: Ba da ba ba ba (McDonald’s Theme)
Students: I’m Lovin’ It!
• Teacher: Na na na na, na na na na
Students: Hey, hey, hey, goodbye
• Teacher: Hocus Pocus
Students: Everybody focus!
• Teacher: Macaroni and Cheese
Students: Everybody freeze!
• Teacher: Tootsie Roll, Lollipop
Students: We’ve been talking, now let’s stop!

• In memory of some great role models!

Fun Sites to Check Out…if we have time!
• www.teachertube.com
• Brainpop and Brainpop Jr
• Learn360
• www.storylineonline.net/
• Edhelper
• www.superteacherworksheets.com
• Education World