What happens during the first week at public elementary schools?

[TaraL]

I'm new to this :)

Students will be coming to school on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. What typically happens for those days at a public elementary school?

[sheila]

I didn't have class last year for the first week.  But it just depends on your school and co-teachers.  This year in middle school, I'll be starting on Wednesday second class. I think it varies by school so it'd be a good idea to ask your co-teacher about the schedule for sure for each day.

[Cy&Leon]

Like the previous said, it depends on your school if you have classes the first week or not. Your coteacher(s) will have to figure out the English schedule for each grades so it doesn't conflict with the homeroom teachers classes and special subject. You should then discuss your responsiblities like which lessons to prepare etc. Depends on the school if you are coteaching or soloing.

Your CoT would gather all paperworks they need for you, then make a bank account if they are quick enough.

[Russbus65]

I'm teaching at an elementary school as well.  When I started in September, I didn't teach at all during the first week (Weds, Thurs, and Fri).  As mentioned by the others, it still depends on your school.  It's in your best interest to just ask your coteacher what (if anything) has been planned in regards to English. 

If anything, just prepare a Powerpoint about yourself and a real simple worksheet (mostly multiple choice with a couple fill-in-the-blanks) about your Powerpoint.  Also, let students ask you questions about yourself.  I did that for my very first lesson with all my students.  Students really like to see pictures of teachers doing things in their native country.

It might not hurt to have a lesson about class rules and having the students make name tags.  I cut out small pieces of paper with the rules on them, put them in hat, and had students take turns pulling a slip out of the hat and then silently act out the rule while everyone else guessed what they were doing.  Example: I had a picture of fighting.  Student acted it out.  Others guessed "fighting".  I asked them if it was good or bad.  They say bad.  I said "Okay, no fighting".

[isanghan]

When I began last year, there were no English classes in the first week.
Once the classes finally began, my co-teacher and I had a fairly simple lesson plan for the first hour.

1) Assign seats. (My co-teacher did this by separating the girls and the boys, then having the taller students in the back and the shorter students in the front. 3 girls and 3 boys to a table, sitting boy-girl-boy-girl.)
2) Greet the class and make introductions. (I had the students guess where I was from. My co-teacher and I decided to have a bit of fun with them by saying I was from Seoul... I did come from there.)
3) Explain the English Notebook. (This is probably only relevant to my classes.)
4) Create class rules. (Have students brainstorm appropriate rules, either in English or in Korean. Your co-teacher can translate, if needed.)

[pickle]

At my school, the schedule wasn't even written in the first week of school, so I had no classes. I sat at my desk, looked through the books and CD-ROMs, and studied a little Korean. In the second week, I went to class but was asked to watch while they kids learned classroom rules and things. In some of the classes the kids were allowed to ask me questions. But I think my school is really bad with planning. None of my teachers even know what they're teaching this year--they're all packed and ready to move, but don't know where to go!

[bwargle]

Since i'm going through this right now, i thought i would put in my two cents. They had me show up at 8:30 like everyone else and about 8:40 or so, i got introduced to the staff along with all the other new teachers. only i was expected to give a short introduction (plan this out ahead of time, i kind of made a fool of myself. I'm hoping they just thought it was cute and not inept).

They introduced all the new teachers to the students after that and had me do a special introduction after the new vice principal did his speech (I got to speak in English of course). After that it was just getting to know my co-teachers and cleaning the classroom and such. They have informed me that i will be working with all 4 grade levels (3rd-6th) starting next week and i'm only supposed to have a powerpoint presentation introducing myself and where i'm from (Texas specifically, not just "miguk-saram"). 

Most everyone i know that went into elementary school has had something similar at their own school. The only people i know who start teaching immediately are in middle school or high school.

Hope this helps future teachers!

[wondershot]

You can deskwarm for a week and feel guilty that you are really getting paid taxpayer money to do this.

More importantly, can also take this time to prepare for the next week. Get on the same page with your co-teachers, in terms of lesson plans, teaching styles, experiences and personalities.

And you can clean out your email inbox and get to know facebook a little too well.