If you are a teacher you can picture those first days of school. The glazed over look, the tired eyes and the day dreamy stares in your students’ eyes. They (and you) are coming away from that time of sleeping in, no schedules, freedom from focus and days of fun and relaxation. Now you are asking them to sit and listen…and listen a lot. Those first days are full of learning routines and setting expectations. You are talking a lot, and they are struggling to hear. What they need, and what you need is time to move.

The beauty is you can set the routines, assess their abilities and build your class family with movement in mind. There are no rules to say this has to be a time to sit, be still, and listen. In fact, years of experience tell us, that is NOT the way to do it and that if we do, we risk losing our students and losing those precious days of setting the mode of learning and the culture we want for our classroom.

Perhaps the most important focus of our first days is creating the feel of a class family. This is the time to focus on creating relationships and helping students feel that they belong and matter. We share our expectations and rules to keep our environment positive and student-centered. GoNoodle videos are the perfect tools for allowing students to socialize and build that culture in your classroom. Teacher hack! Check out this resource for the beginning of the year to help easily find activities that are perfect for starting the year off right.

Movement should include partnering, groups and sharing of information to help students break the ice and meet new friends or reconnect with old friends. This is a great time to share your favorite videos, hobbies, and any other fun facts to help students get to know you. Dance, music and laughter will help create the best of environments and remove any nerves around making new friends and being in a brand new classroom. One of my favorite teacher hacks is to use these moments at the beginning of the year to informally learn about my class. I like to take note of personalities, what students love and dislike, and get a feel for who holds back and who is a natural leader.We can only be our best as a teacher if we know our students.

Another one of the key objectives of our first days is to set up class routines. Students need to know what to do when they enter the room, how you will start the day, how to line up and transition, and expectations you have throughout the day. There is no need to just tell them those routines. Get up and do them! Model your expectations, then get them up and have them practice; make it fun and practice the wrong way, this can help make a lasting impression with your class and help them remember their routine. Another teacher hack of mine is to utilize GoNoodle’s category for class routines. Here, you can find videos for lining up, preparing for lunch, cleaning up, quiet time and classroom celebrations. But don’t forget, in order to  create a culture that is truly student-centered, you need to allow your class to choose their own favorites and make those a part of your daily routine.

A final topic to address in those first days is social and emotional routines and expectations. Research shows us students need tools to address emotions and help them in social settings. Movement goes hand in hand with how our brains work and handle our emotions. GoNoodle has so many videos to help with calming anxious brains, breathing through anger, and practicing self control. Take the time to introduce your class to these tools, and recognize that a variety of  emotions will be a part of many of your days as a teacher. Try to find time to practice these strategies as a class to help students know that they can use these tools and tips at all times.

As teachers we need to make movement a priority in those first days and continue it as the school year moves on. We need to practice routines, establish our classroom family, and fill our student’s toolbox of  social and emotional needs. We need to wake up our day dreamers, engage our learners, and pull them back into school mode!

Author Bio:

Terry Stoufer is an elementary school teacher in Florida. She has been teaching for 24 years. Terry loves to connect, collaborate and moderate a student centered classroom. Blazer Fresh is her favorite channel to use in her classroom.

This blog is sponsored by GoNoodle’s partner, Nicklaus Children’s Hospital.

About Nicklaus Children’s Hospital

Founded in 1950 by Variety Clubs International, Nicklaus Children’s Hospital is South Florida’s only licensed specialty hospital exclusively for children, with approximately 800 attending physicians, including more than 500 pediatric subspecialists. The 309-bed hospital, known as Miami Children’s Hospital from 1983 through 2014, is renowned for excellence in all aspects of pediatric medicine with many specialty programs routinely ranked among the best in the nation by U.S. News & World Report since 2008. The hospital is also home to the largest pediatric teaching program in the southeastern United States and since 2003 has been designated an American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) Magnet facility, the nursing profession’s most prestigious institutional honor. For more information, please visit www.nicklauschildrens.org