After a long and restful time away, students are both eager and hesitant about returning to school. They are excited to reconnect with their buddies, share their vacation adventures, get back into a project they love, learn new activities, and play some old favorites. They are looking forward to hearing about what their friends did while they were away and sharing the many stories they have. At the same time they have questions circling in their heads…

Will my teacher remember my name? Will my friends still want to hang out at recess? Where did my teacher say we put our homework folder? And for the youngest…Is the bathroom still down the hall?

At this time of year we (and our students) would benefit from remembering the phrase: Assume nothing and teach everything. All our classroom routines must be modeled and practiced, Hopes and Dreams revisited, rules re-examined and reinforced, and behaviors encouraged and reinforced if students are going to quickly get back into the learning groove.

January is "re" month, a month of re-viewing and re-modeling, re-investing and starting again. To preserve the work we did during the first six weeks of school, children need to be pro-actively reminded. Slow yourself down and ease your students back into the routines they knew so well in December before they left for the break. It’s better to spend some time insuring a good re-start to school than find yourself constantly correcting mistakes and rule-breaking.

For the first day back think about what students might remember and what they might have forgotten about the routines. Think about what their fears might be—are they concerned about friendships? They have not seen their school friends for about two weeks, so we know they will need a little time to get reacquainted. We can spend time revisiting names so everyone will remember everyone’s name, and provide opportunities for them to reconnect socially.

The biggest question is: How do we remodel and practice the rules, review Hopes and Dreams, and rebuild community while staying on the pacing schedule of school? We have to be efficient. For example we can choose read-alouds and reading extension activities that focus on Hopes and Dreams. We can play games that review math concepts and even introduce new ones, and create writing projects on themes like friendship or self-control. And we can do activities that directly help us review classroom rules and our C.A.R.E.S social skills.

Here is an example of a week after the winter break. For the reader’s convenience, all games, greetings and activities included in the week, but not fully described here, are listed alphabetically in Teaching Ideas.

Monday

8:00 Students arrive
Greet students at the door
Posted Reminders: where to put outdoor clothes, backpacks and notes from home
Soft Landings: Fill in the morning message chart
Journal or
Math/language arts skills practice
Quiet reading
Remodel:The signal

8:15 Morning Meeting



Greeting: Namaste
Sharing: What was a highlight from winter vacation? List responses on a chart.



Activity: "Kings and Queens" (happy birthday song)
News and Announcements: What is a goal you reached in 2005?

8:45 Remodel classroom routines:
Lining up
Bathroom
Water fountain

9:00 Language Arts
Academic Choice
Goal: Students will understand the meaning of "New Year’s resolution" and resolutions in general
Objective: To make and represent to the class a personal resolution regarding school.
Spark/Mini lesson: Read aloud about a character who makes/keeps a resolution, e.g., More Than Anything Else, by Marie Bradby
Ask students: Was it important for the character to make a resolution? Why do people make New Year’s resolutions? (List responses on the chart.)
[Note: Be sure to include that resolutions are about self-improvement, are attainable within a year, and require action. Do not include obtaining material things.]



Remodel work routines:
Working with partners (model how it will look, sound)
Getting and putting away materials (model how it will look and sound)
Making a choice (model how it will look and sound)
Voice level (model the variations)

Planning:
1) Create partners and have them discuss and make an attainable resolution for the rest of the school year. Discuss what they will need to do to realize their resolution.

2) Students write resolution and check in with teacher. [Note: Here is where you can help students convert resolutions stated in the negative into a positive goal.]

3) Students choose the way they want to represent their resolution.

Choices for representation:
1) Illustrate yourself achieving that goal (can require labels and a caption)
2) Write a poem describing the resolution and your hopes (can require at least one concrete example of what it will look and feel like if you keep your resolution)
3) Write a letter to someone telling them about your resolution and why it’s important to you. (can require at least one concrete example of what it will look and feel like if you keep your resolution)

Work-time: Alone 25min In the room

Representing: Everyone shares his/her New Year’s resolution with the whole group

10:00 Think aloud:
Think about the New Years Resolution you just made. It may have been to work hard to become a more fluent reader; it may have been to be a better friend with classmates or to be more organized. When you are working on that resolution or working toward your Hopes and Dreams, how are you feeling? Close your eyes and imagine a day when everyone in the class is working hard on his/her resolution. What does it look, sound and feel like in the class? Open your eyes and talk with your neighbor about how our class would look, sound, and feel if everyone was working hard on keeping a resolution.

Using a popcorn share, now have the class share the feelings they discussed with their partners. Chart students’ ideas in a "Y-chart" labeled: looks like, sounds like, feels like.



Have each student create a plan of action: Students chose and write on a post-it one thing they will do today to help our class look, sound, and feel like the Y-chart. Post the plans of action around the Y-chart.



10:20 Activity break: “Four Corners”

10:30 Academic Choice: Spelling review
Goal: Students review past spelling words and learn the correct spelling and meaning of challenging words
Spark (5 min): Play “Silent Spelling” with past spelling words
Criteria for good work: Must be – Visual Neat; Partners share the work load; Inside voices used
Planning (10 min):
What-–Students chose 10 past spelling words which are still challenging for them.
How– 1) Flash cards 2) Word find 3) Use in a story 4) Flip book

Work-time (20 min):
Alone or with a partner 20 min Anywhere in the room

Clean up (5 min)
Remodel:
Putting materials away
Waiting at the circle

Representing (5 min)
Peer sharing (link up with someone new)



11:15 Recess and Lunch Planning
Recess: Discuss with students possibilities for play outside. Brainstorm a list together that outlines the rules they think are important to remember at recess. Then students plan what they will do outside and on what rule they will work especially hard.



Lunch: Remind students of the lunchroom expectations and routines.
Remodel (choose from the following list):
waiting in line
polite words
cleaning up
having conversations during lunch
voice levels
getting condiments
where to put lunch money

Brainstorm possible topics for discussion at lunch



11:55 Recess
Structured play (whole group plays a game together) followed by free play

12:15 Lunch

12:45 Quiet time
Choices: 1) Journal 2) Quiet reading 3) Work on unfinished work from the morning 4) Rest
Remodel:
Where to find a good place to work

1:00 Re-discovery of Math Manipulatives
Remodel: (10 mins)
sharing materials
asking and answering questions
listening to each other

1) Students get into groups of 4, each with a different manipulative: Explore the use of your manipulative and answer these questions by discussing with your group (questions provided to them on note cards) (10 min exploration; 10 min answer questions and prepare demos)

• How will we use _____ to help us with our learning?
  
• What new and different ideas can you think of for using ___ to help us practice new learning? Be able to demonstrate this
  
• How can we carefully take out ___ and use it?
  
• What can we do to take care of ____ during use?
  
• What do we need to remember when putting ___ away?