We can anticipate what the best useful educational resources to start the school year well by looking at the past year are.  What are the best teaching resources for the new course? It will probably take a whole school year to answer this question, but what we can do is talk about what will be the best educational resources to have a great school year.

The beginning of the school year is a critical time for teachers and students. Probably, if we do not start well, we will be late for months.

How to have a great school year?

A poorly managed and unfriendly classroom is a classroom in which no one wants to be a teacher or student, regardless of their other virtues. So, we have gathered several resources that can be useful to start the school year well. From team building to include critical thinking, class rules, and classroom design.

Start the school year well: team games for the first day of class

Teamwork activities are always very useful. They help establish routines, tone and expectations, and they are also fun. Also, they can help students feel comfortable in the group.

Keep in mind that the game we choose, the rules for the game and any revision of the rules depend on the nature of the class we are going to work with. Some examples of good group games for the first day of class are:

‘I also’

We sit in a circle. Students talk one by one in turns. A student gives information about himself: “I love tennis,” “I have two sisters,” “I like to play in the yard,” etc. If other students agree with this fact, they will stand up and say “Me too!” Children are raising their hands to participate and start the school year well.

‘Bench in the park’

We put two chairs together to look like a park bench. Two student volunteers (or selected) will be the ones to start. A fictional story is invented. For a few minutes, they talk about ‘what happened’ without each one saying what happened explicitly.

Once time passes, the partners have to know what happened. They must know how to answer four important details: Who, what, where and when, for example:

What: School football game.
Who: Your school team name.
When: Early January.
Where: Madrid.

Building critical thinking: play ‘the worst scenario.’

It is about creating a scenario in which students would have to work together and solve problems to succeed. Such as being together on a desert island or getting lost in the forest. They must work together to live there in the safest way they can.

We can ask you, for example, to create a list of 10 essential items to live on that desert island. We can indicate that it is important that everyone agrees with the final solution.

Well-written class rules to start the school year well

Why is this important? A relationship between rules leads to chaos. These classroom rules are fundamental and can help us make the whole course run better. When we have selected them, it is essential to put them in writing and place them in a visible place in the classroom.

We are going to create the rules among all starting from the logic. As teachers, we can guide this list of standards. Some of these rules may be:

• Take a risk and make mistakes.
• Do your best.
• Say please and thank you.
• Work hard. Teacher organizing teams to play and start the school year well.
• Classroom settings that promote thinking to have a great school year.

The design of the classroom impacts its management, the curriculum, content and teaching strategies. So, you have to choose the configuration of a classroom carefully from the first day of the course. Here are some examples:

Thematic areas in the classroom

It’s about creating thematic corners in the classroom. The way these areas are structured will depend on the space we have. We can have a content area, of ‘doing’ or even ‘technological’ zone.

The geometric mix

This approach is very creative and comprises adopting a mixture of forms in the configuration of a classroom. Not only will we put up lines with the typical square tables, but we will also make group areas with semicircle tables, all at once in the same classroom.

If this furniture is out of our reach, we can produce a similar effect with a combination of tables and desks in a semicircle combined with the rows in a straight line.

Finally,

It is important to remember this maxim: if you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go accompanied. Collaboration between students and teachers is important. Supporting each other throughout the school year is everything. It is important to start a new course well and have strategies for the first day.