Rules, Post-its and First Week of School

The first week of school is one of my favorites. It goes by fast, everyone is hopeful and there is so much excitement. It is a perfect time to talk to students about what they expect for the year and what they need. 

You've probably seen this activity on Pinterest. It isn't new and I've been doing it for at least three school years. I love getting the students opinions on how the year should go.

The students answer questions on post-it notes and then place their answer on the butcher paper I've put up. 

Here are some of the questions I have asked:

What kind of teacher do you need?

What do you need from your classmates this year?

What do you need to be successful in math this year?

Our classroom should be _____________ every day. 

The after is the interesting part. I take their answers and make a world cloud out of them and then present it to the class on other day. We can make classroom rules from the patterns we see. It is also something I get out after long holidays and as needed to remind ourselves what we expect from each other throughout the year. 

What do you need from your classmates this year?

Our classroom should be _________ everyday. 

What do you need to do to succeed this year?

To make the clouds, I have used Wordle and Tagxedo. These were made with Tagxedo.