My First 10 Days of School Tips and Lesson Plans for Your Preschool Classroom

08/02/21 • 24 min

Every single year, I get questions about the first days of school.

And so, I thought, why not have an episode about it? After all, that first day of school is a pretty big deal, not just for the students, but also for professional educators like you.

That is why I’ve created a free printable lesson plan to go along with the episode! I’ll also explain how to use it, so make sure you listen all the way through!

But, did you know? It's not just the first day of school that's crucial, it's actually the first ten days, and you should be focusing on them as much as you can.

Why is that?

Simply because those first ten days of school will set you and your students up for a successful year. And who doesn't want that?

So, how do you make sure they go as smoothly as possible?

Join me now to discover the answer to that question (and a few tips you can use to help yourself and your students transition smoothly into the school year).

Let's dive in!

Key Takeaways:

Focusing on the first ten days of school is important (00:00)

First, let's start with a quick story (00:56)

Tip #1: Always go for quality over quantity (03:38)

Tip #2: Less is more (04:27)

Tip #3: No product art in the first ten days (06:28)

Tip #4: Ignore the teacher next door (08:02)

Tip #5: Troubleshooting (10:26)

Why the first ten days of school are sacred (12:53)

Check out my free First 10 Days of School Lessons Plans (17:20)

Use engaging, fun books in those first ten days (19:54)

Additional Resources:

Visit our website to find tons of pre-K teaching resources here.

Get my book “Teach Smarter: Literacy Strategies for Early Childhood Teachers”.

Learn more about my membership program “Teaching Trailblazers”.

Get our free First 10 Day of School Lesson Plan here.

Get your 2021 Soar to Success Summit pass here.

Elevating Early Childhood is an early education podcast dedicated to helping Pre-K, Preschool, and Kindergarten teachers teach better, save time, and live more.

If you enjoy the podcast, please follow, rate, and leave a review on your favorite podcast platform.

Onward & Upward!

Teaching Trailblazers

Teach Smarter: Literacy Strategies for Early Childhood Teachers

Every single year, I get questions about the first days of school.

And so, I thought, why not have an episode about it? After all, that first day of school is a pretty big deal, not just for the students, but also for professional educators like you.

That is why I’ve created a free printable lesson plan to go along with the episode! I’ll also explain how to use it, so make sure you listen all the way through!

But, did you know? It's not just the first day of school that's crucial, it's actually the first ten days, and you should be focusing on them as much as you can.

Why is that?

Simply because those first ten days of school will set you and your students up for a successful year. And who doesn't want that?

So, how do you make sure they go as smoothly as possible?

Join me now to discover the answer to that question (and a few tips you can use to help yourself and your students transition smoothly into the school year).

Let's dive in!

Key Takeaways:

Focusing on the first ten days of school is important (00:00)

First, let's start with a quick story (00:56)

Tip #1: Always go for quality over quantity (03:38)

Tip #2: Less is more (04:27)

Tip #3: No product art in the first ten days (06:28)

Tip #4: Ignore the teacher next door (08:02)

Tip #5: Troubleshooting (10:26)

Why the first ten days of school are sacred (12:53)

Check out my free First 10 Days of School Lessons Plans (17:20)

Use engaging, fun books in those first ten days (19:54)

Additional Resources:

Visit our website to find tons of pre-K teaching resources here.

Get my book “Teach Smarter: Literacy Strategies for Early Childhood Teachers”.

Learn more about my membership program “Teaching Trailblazers”.

Get our free First 10 Day of School Lesson Plan here.

Get your 2021 Soar to Success Summit pass here.

Elevating Early Childhood is an early education podcast dedicated to helping Pre-K, Preschool, and Kindergarten teachers teach better, save time, and live more.

If you enjoy the podcast, please follow, rate, and leave a review on your favorite podcast platform.

Onward & Upward!

Teaching Trailblazers

Teach Smarter: Literacy Strategies for Early Childhood Teachers

Previous Episode

My Favorite Emotions and Feelings Activities and Games for Preschool

In today's episode of Elevating Early Childhood, I will be discussing something every professional educator needs to use in their classroom: Emotions and feelings activities for preschoolers.

As we all know, social skills are not innate. They're learned and honed through life, and of course, the earlier you start, the more social intelligence and emotional literacy you acquire.

This is why emotions and feelings activities are crucial.

In order to learn social skills, children have to first learn how to name and express their own feelings and emotions.

There are many ways to help them achieve that, and today, I'll be sharing a few of them with you.

After all, what better way to teach your students about their feelings than through some fun games?

So, without further ado, let's get to it!

Key Takeaways:

It's never too early to introduce Bingo to your students (00:00)

Using real photographs is a must (03:07)

The memory-matching game (04:18)

The feelings and emotions check-in chart (06:12)

You can also use playdough mats (10:35)

Bingo teaches self-regulation skills (12:01)

The importance of emotional literacy (15:30)

Additional Resources:

Visit our website to find tons of pre-K teaching resources here.

Get my book “Teach Smarter: Literacy Strategies for Early Childhood Teachers”.

Learn more about my membership program “Teaching Trailblazers”.

Get our Feelings Chart for Preschool Kids here.

Get your 2021 Soar to Success Summit pass here.

Elevating Early Childhood is an early education podcast dedicated to helping Pre-K, Preschool, and Kindergarten teachers teach better, save time, and live more.

If you enjoy the podcast, please follow, rate, and leave a review on your favorite podcast platform.

Onward & Upward!

Teaching Trailblazers

Teach Smarter: Literacy Strategies for Early Childhood Teachers

Next Episode

How to Set Up Your Preschool Library Center (On a Shoestring Budget!)

Do your kids love visiting your preschool library center?

For many pre-k teachers, getting children interested in books and reading can be very difficult. And there are various reasons why that is so...

The kids aren’t interested...

They’re mistreating the books...

And very often, we’re not given the adequate resources to create a proper classroom library!

So in this week’s episode, I’m going to provide a solution for each of these challenges and share some proven practices for creating an exceptional preschool library center your kids will adore.

By applying these techniques, you’ll teach your kids to love books and handle them properly while designing an inviting and organized classroom library.

And you can do all of it on a shoestring budget!

All that and more on this week’s episode of Elevating Early Childhood!

Key Takeaways:

Do your kids love going to your preschool classroom’s library center? (00:00)

The most common library center challenges for pre-k teachers (00:51)

Why children mistreat books (and how to teach them not to) (02:13)

How to teach preschool children to love books and reading (06:27)

Is having too many books in your preschool library center a bad thing? (11:01)

The secret to making your preschool library center more inviting (11:53)

An excellent system for teaching kids how to put books back where they belong (13:31)

How many books should your preschool library center have? (15:19)

Best methods for creating a fantastic library center on a low budget (17:37)

Resources to help you create a top-notch library center! (blog post + book-handling skills kit + learning centers essential guide) (21:00)

Additional Resources:

Visit our website to find tons of pre-K teaching resources here.

Get my book “Teach Smarter: Literacy Strategies for Early Childhood Teachers”.

Learn more about my membership program, “Teaching Trailblazers”.

Get your 2021 Soar to Success Summit pass here.

Check out our Preschool Classroom Library Center blog.

Get our Book Handling Skills Kit here.

Download our FREE Center Essentials Guide.

Elevating Early Childhood is an early education podcast dedicated to helping Pre-K, Preschool, and Kindergarten teachers teach better, save time, and live more.

If you enjoy the podcast, please follow, rate, and leave a review on your favorite podcast platform.

Onward & Upward!

Teaching Trailblazers

Teach Smarter: Literacy Strategies for Early Childhood Teachers