New Students

It's the dreaded phone call.. or knock on the door.. or looking back and seeing a small crowd of people in your classroom.. New students in the middle of the year! Ahh!! New students completely throw a wrench in the school day, and sometimes even the rest of the year. You never know what you're going to get! Getting a new student is pretty common at my school and the question isn't "When am I getting a new student?" but rather "How many new students will I get this year?". A few years ago I got 10 new students by DECEMBER. I had 31 students for most of that year. 

31. 

31 second graders. 

YIKES!! 

I wish I had this system figured out that year because it would have saved me a TON of time and frustration! All you do is prep a few extra bags of supplies at the beginning of the year and when you get a new student you already have the supplies all ready to go! It isn't a brand new idea, but it is one worth blogging about just the same.

Here are some of the things I put in my new student bags:

Welcome Packet from Meet the Teacher Night 

Student Gift from Meet the Teacher Night (So long as it's still good, of course)

Journals and Folders

How do you handle the arrival of a new student?




P.S. - I've been in school for 3 weeks and I already have 2 new students. Well, 3 if you count the one that I unexpectedly got at Meet the Teacher Night. This has already saved me each time and is a HUGE time saver in the long run!