Clever help for relaxed beginner lessons

From learning atmosphere and homework to noise and tidying up: Here you will find clever and tried and tested tips on the most important topics of the initial lesson. Nerve protectors and teaching aids that will prove themselves - because it is really exciting for you as a teacher too. Clever help for relaxed beginner lessons.

The beginning lessons: exciting, beautiful - and exhausting

Back to school is a very special time for children: they are finally among the "big ones" and can learn to read, write and do arithmetic. Most children look forward to it and are downright jittery; they are nervous and excited because a completely new phase of life has started for them.

For you as a teacher, it is of course great to be able to accompany the children during this exciting phase - but it is also extremely demanding. They should make it easier for school beginners to get used to their new surroundings, but at the same time ensure that the school is a place of learning in which new rules and requirements apply.

The following tips will give you specific suggestions on how you can make the first lesson meaningful and effective for everyone involved - and how you can keep your nerve. Because with all the beautiful things that the beginning lesson entails

Plan homework sensibly

The first thing the children need to realize is that the homework you do is a duty that you control. In the beginning the children don't just hand in their homework at the table, they show them. So it's the ideal opportunity to give the students immediate feedback and praise them. It is important that every homework completed is immediately appreciated. Problems or ambiguities can be discussed directly or discussed again for everyone in class.

Make sure that you do your homework in such a way that the children can do the assignments without the help of their parents. In this way you avoid social injustices at the same time - after all, not every child has their own workplace at home and the help of their parents they can count on.

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Don't vary work techniques too often, and make sure students have materials at home that they can use in class. Deriving rules or formulating their own findings quickly overwhelms the children. It is better to have recurring task types with which you are already familiar. Additionally, if you're the class teacher for the kids, you should make sure that the little ones don't get too much homework overall. Coordinate with your colleagues - children in the first grade shouldn't have to spend more than 30 minutes doing homework.

One becomes wise out of mistakes: Establish a culture of mistakes

Today we know: mistakes do not generally hinder the learning process - they are rather a necessity in learning. Think of mistakes as a kind of window that can give you a good look at the learning process and the child's level of learning. Do not try to avoid sources of error at all costs. Let the children explore, make mistakes and learn from them. Don't just make corrections, think about it together with the students. Where exactly was the mistake? Why did it happen? And how can it be avoided? Analyzing and reflecting on the problem is extremely effective in learning - and therefore more sustainable than a simple correction.

As a general rule, ask yourself challenging tasks and encourage the children to think. If possible, give them the chance to find their mistakes themselves and, for example, to correct them together with the person sitting next to them.

You are a very important factor

Realize that what really helps children learn and develop is you as their teacher. So try to create a good learning atmosphere in which no child has to be afraid and to have a good relationship with your students. Make goals and requirements transparent and work on them in a structured manner with the children. Provide feedback to students and encourage and challenge them with appropriate assignments. Cooperative learning and peer tutoring (working with sponsors) are definitely worthwhile. And finally: work with sensible and appropriate individual support plans.

Save your nerves: Dealing with interruptions

Getting and holding the attention of a whole group of young children is really not easy. Constant interruptions make things all the more difficult for you. Of course, you want to consider the needs of the children - at the same time, you need to make it clear to them that constant interruptions are not acceptable. Encourage the children to look for solutions to their problems themselves and, if necessary, to get help elsewhere, for example from a classmate.

As a rule, you can establish that the child must first ask three classmates for help before they can come to you with their problem. You can also provide the students with a steady learning friend as a contact person. If a problem is still brought to you that you cannot deal with at the moment, "pause" it: Tell the child to put his concern aside until you have time.

It is also helpful to have an "open" and "closed" sign, a free-standing sign with "open" on one side and "closed" on the other. When you are open, signal the children that you are they can turn to you. If you are closed, that means: no interruptions. But make sure that you are approachable most of the time - after all, the children should generally have the feeling that they can come to you with anything.

A recurring problem: noise

It's really not a new finding: children are just loud. This insight can still help you - if you keep reminding yourself of the fact, you will react more calmly to the disturbing noise level.

A clapping exercise, for example, can help to restore calm. Clap out loud a specific pattern that your students know about. Gradually clap more softly until all the children join in. Then move on to noiseless clapping and wait again for all the children to do the same. Now it is calm again and you can ask the children to get back to their tasks.

Cleaning up: the right strategies

Of course, you can't avoid tidying up in everyday primary school either. Invite the children to clean up. Make it clear to them that everyone in the classroom must be comfortable and able to find their way around. Therefore, a certain order and structure in this room is important and everyone is responsible for tidying up.

It's easier if you make tidying up a game for the kids. Can they tidy up on their tiptoes so quietly that you won't even hear them when you turn your back on them?

If you want to move quickly, you can also organize a "clean up race": Which of the two teams will finish first? You can certainly not count on quiet cleaning up. But the class will be tidied up in record time - and that