1. Starting the School Year Race Right Presented by Heather Sparks, NBCT 2008 OKCPS Teacher of the Year

2. Get Ready… Make contact with each of your students before August 21 st, if possible. > post cards or letters > phone calls > syllabi with “returnable” portion

3. Get Set… Plan and prepare “sponge” activities. >You have three minutes to record as many words as you can that fit under the following topic: “Things that fly.”

4. Math Mental math >Add the number of months in a year plus the number of wheels on a tricycle. Play Target >The target is 24. Write an expression: e.g., 30 – 6 or 3 x 8 or 36/3 x 2

5. Science Play Classify  Give the students a group of objects. Challenge them to find as many subgroups as possible. Flashlight, a penny, and a stapler

6. Social Studies Guess the country or state >I’m thinking of a country that is south of the equator, is in the western hemisphere, and contains the Yucatan peninsula.

7. Other Sponge Ideas… ‘I Spy’ Riddles Mind benders Word games Oral alphabetizing Synonyms, homonyms, vocabulary words Skip-counting

8. Go! On the first day, be ready to help your students learn the Rules and Routines for… > passing papers>safety routines > sharpening pencils>heading papers > getting supplies and books>arriving tardy > working in small groups>make-up work > putting away materials>lining up > taking attendance>lunch count

9. Take a Deep Breath & Enjoy!

10. Contact Heather at Taft MS hesparks@okcps.orgesparks@okcps.org hisparks@aol.com www.hisparks.com