It’s almost time for the new school year to start and it’s time to unlock the classrooms and start preparing lesson plans. Whether it is your first year of teaching or your tenth year, it is incredibly important for a preschool instructor to be prepared for the new year! Here are some tips that will help you start off right from the very first day.

1. Greet your new students at the classroom door

These are young children who are not very used to change – therefore, it is your role to make sure they are comfortable from the get go. You should start off with greeting them at the door. Greeting them with a smile, introducing yourself, and learning their names goes a long way in making these youngsters comfortable and ready for their first day.

2. Start the day off with introductions

So you’ve made the students comfortable with you – now it’s time to make them comfortable amongst themselves! The best way to do that is to start off with some introductions. Have each student talk about themselves, such as their name and some personal information such as their favourite colour and their favourite TV show. Let them talk in a way that they are comfortable with – sitting down, standing up, or standing in front of the entire class – but make sure each student talks about themselves.

3. Get them started on work right away

These are young children who probably don’t have any routine beyond a bedtime. Therefore, it is very important to start them on a routine as soon as possible. Make the timetable visible in the room, either on the board or on a chart paper, and keep referring to it throughout the day. Getting them to work right away means that you will be setting a tone for the entire year and make it clear that work is a priority in your classroom.

Also, make sure that you have enough tasks to fill the entire day and then some. Some classes move faster than others and you don’t want to have a few hours left in the day and have no more tasks left for them.

4. Build teams amongst the students

It’s very likely that you will have a large classroom with more than 25 kids. It isn’t possible to give each and every one of them individual attention on the first day and if it is an unruly crowd, they have the ability to overpower you and undermine your rules. So it’s time to go for the divide and conquer rule. For each task, split your students into teams. This allows them to get to know each other, build relationships, and it’s easier to give time to a team rather than each individual child. Keep changing the teams so students have the opportunity to interact with as many fellow students as possible.