Reddit reviews First Six Weeks of School,The (Strategies for Teachers)

1. Definitely set your behavior plans. What rules are nonnegotiable and what rules might you want students to have a hand in? What are the consequences for rule infractions? The more you have set and ready for yourself prior to the school year, the better.
   
   
2. I also script the first three weeks of the school year for that grade level so that I know what I am going to introduce and how to teach students to be responsible and use the classroom. Responsive classroom has a great book - The First Six Weeks - http://www.amazon.com/First-Weeks-School-Strategies-Teachers/dp/1892989042/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1375056913&sr=8-1&keywords=the+first+six+weeks which helped me really plan out how to use the first six weeks so that I make the best of them for my students.

Daily 5 is interesting, but it's a lot to take on as a 1st year elementary school teacher. My suggestion would be to start with two of those (Read to Self and Word work) and then add the others in if they're being successful. Read to self is easy to get going and word work is going to just happen.

As a male teacher, you're possibly the first male teacher some of these kids have had. There will be a "cool" factor. Be sure to be yourself but also be firm. That said, at 3rd grade, there's a lot of "babyish emotions" that he may see and he may have to get in touch with his emotional side.

I think that male teachers have it a bit easier to make connections with kids in elementary school because there just aren't very many of them. I play out at recess and at times sit with them at lunch and it's "cool". When the female teachers do it, it doesn't seem to have the same effect. Though, I'm a tad younger than most of them.

I wouldn't worry too much about handwriting. Just slow down (he'll ahve to do that anyway since he's teaching 3rd grade).

My best advice, Go Slow to Go Fast. I used this book religiously my first few years (http://www.amazon.com/First-Weeks-School-Strategies-Teachers/dp/1892989042). Other books to check out would be http://www.amazon.com/First-Days-School-Effective-Teacher/dp/0976423316/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1377217374&sr=1-1&keywords=first+weeks+of+school+harry+wong and http://www.amazon.com/First-Day-Jitters-Julie-Danneberg/dp/158089061X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1377217409&sr=1-1&keywords=first+day+jitters

If you're looking for resources, I highly advise The First Six Weeks of School -- sorry, not free. So much of your (and your students') happiness and success is set up in the beginning of the year. It's way easier to just avoid the hole rather than spend energy all year climbing out of it.

As others have said, the first day of school--heck, the first couple of weeks--are really about establishing culture and expectations. I really, really recommend picking up a copy of The First Six Weeks of School. It's got the first few weeks all mapped out for you, and you can just tweak as needed.

This is a FANTASTIC book, along with:
The First Six Weeks of School (Strategies for Teachers) by Paula Denton et al. http://www.amazon.com/dp/1892989042/ref=cm_sw_r_udp_awd_W.r4tb0GZ5PEK
(I'm on mobile, I hope this link works...)

This book is helpful! I go over it at the beginning of each year to get ideas and start formulating a plan.

https://www.amazon.com/First-Weeks-School-Strategies-Teachers/dp/1892989042