The first five minutes of class are arguably some of the most important, but the often overlooked time of your class period. And the last five minutes of class can literally pass without notice until you hear the jarring sound of the bell.
Let’s make sure not a minute of this time is wasted! Make sure to come back this summer as we waste no time during:
- planning periods
- teacher in-service
- the first 5 minutes of class (you are reading this now)
- instruction
First 5 Minutes of Class – What’s the big deal?
I have lived through at least 7,500 class periods. The class periods that had the highest mastery, where my students were the happiest, and when I felt the most calm and effective as a teacher all had one thing in common: a peaceful start to the class. (Note: this may completely be something that I value as a teacher. I needed a calm start to be the best teacher I could be.)
In my experience, it is hard to reset a class period after a rough start. The first few minutes of class is going to set the tone for the rest of the class period. It also communicates to students that every second of class time will be used to learn. How do you want to start?
Develop a Routine for You
The first few minutes of class is going to be a bit of a dance with what you need to accomplish and what students need to be doing, so that you can accomplish it.
Let’s talk about teachers’ greatest nemesis: attendance. If you teach middle school, you have to deal with one of the hardest tasks you have to accomplish like 96 times a day. It never gets easier!
It is a necessary evil! So, I have created 3 systems for checking attendance that you can try to implement:
- Idea 1: The empty desk check. You are going to scan for empty desks. This can be tricky if your seating chart changes frequently, but you can verify your absent students with a trusted student.
- Idea 2: Make attendance a student job. Student helper would use a class list and scan the room. Then they would write absent students’ names on a sticky note and basically follow me to my computer to double check that I actually completed the task. I would double check their work and then enter attendance.
- Idea 3: Make attendance a student’s job version 2. In this version, I still took attendance, but it was a student’s job to raise their hand at x o’clock and ask, “Did you take attendance?” Then I would reply with “Oh, shoot,” and run to my computer.
Other tasks that teachers usually save for the first few minutes of class:
- Homework check/collection
- Passing out papers/supplies/technology
- Circulating
- Checking in with students/building relationships
Student Non-Negotiables
Since I am a person who needs a very calm start to class, I had 2 non-negotiables with students regarding the first 5 minutes of class.
- If you need me or want to talk to me, you have to go straight to your seat, and get started on your warm-up and raise your hand. I will only come to you if you are actively working. I would get overwhelmed if 3 kids are trying to talk to me and then I can’t really monitor what is going on in my classroom. I wanted everyone seated and working before any check-ins.
- You have to be seated and voices turn off when the bell rings. I would provide a 3 second countdown if students were still talking after the bell. After that I wanted it silent, that way I could circulate, check in with certain students, and then (forget to) take attendance.
This may not be your routine! And that is ok! You just need to figure out what you want to do at that time. My biggest tip is that less is more! You don’t want to be giving directions multiple times as students walk in at varied times. Which leads me to…
Develop a Routine for the Student
My routine for the first 5 minutes of class for my students was especially rigid. Students were expected to do the same thing every single day. I didn’t want there ever to be confusion about what a student should be doing.
A student walking into a classroom would exchange a greeting with me at the door, grab the warm-up handout as they walked directly to their seat, sit down, get out a pencil, and start on their warm-up. Do you need a pencil? We have a routine for that.
Directions were always posted on the board. The warm-up needs to be consistent and accessible. A warm-up shouldn’t require instruction or directions from me.
You may need students to get out their homework or grab a Chromebook on their way in. Make sure directions are always posted somewhere and if it doesn’t happen on a daily basis, remind them at the door.
You may be thinking that this is a pretty tall order for students, but I would argue students can meet this high expectation. It will require practice, a lot of sending rowdy students back in the hallway to try again, and positive narration – “Marie, great job getting started right away!”
The Last 5 Minutes of Class
The last 5 minutes of class is still class time. If your class periods are short, this time will sneak up on you so quickly. I highly recommend you setting an alarm for 5 minutes before the end of each of your classes OR writing these times on poster board by your wall clock. You don’t want to be doing mental math all class period long.
Here is why the last 5 minutes of class are so important. The last 5 minutes of class sets the tone for your mental and physical space for your next class.
Here is a great example: students are working on an activity with multiple parts like a card sort. You have tiny pieces of paper that need to be used for the next class period scattered about. The bell rings and students start packing up and there is no regard to your card sort that needs to be put back in their baggie! Now you are giving instructions in a rush and no one is really listening or paying attention. During the passing period, you are now scrambling to get everything back to organized. You are frustrated. This will inevitably affect your mood with your next class period.
The start of the last 5 minutes of class (or 3 if there is less going on) is when instruction and learning time can be paused. This is the time for directions on cleaning up, returning to your seat, putting desks back where they go, plugging in Chromebooks, or turning things in. These things cannot start when the bell rings if you want them to be done well. If clean-up goes super smooth, and you have a few minutes until the bell, start peppering your students with math fact practice!
I am going to also recommend that you adopt the age-old reminder – the bell doesn’t dismiss class, the teacher dismisses class. After the bell rang is when I would dismiss tables/rows/individuals that had their space cleaned up the fastest. This incentivized students to be quick and to do a good job.
What does your class look like in the first 5 minutes of class? The last 5 minutes of class?
Good article.