First Day of Math Class: Building a Collaborative Classroom from Day One

First Day of Math Class: How I Set the Tone with Math, Group Work, and 3 Act Tasks

The first day of math class sets the tone for the entire year. Instead of spending the whole period reviewing rules or handing out surveys, I want students to experience what learning will actually look like in our classroom.

My main goal on day one is simple:

Start doing meaningful math immediately.

Throughout the first day, I model the expectations that will shape our classroom culture all year long—especially productive group work, mathematical discussion, and student engagement.

Here’s what the first day of class looks like in my room.

As Students Walk In

To set the tone for the year, students begin doing math the moment they enter the classroom.

A warm-up paper with problems from the previous year’s curriculum is waiting on their desks. This serves two purposes:

• It gets students doing math immediately

• It keeps them busy while I greet students at the door

As each student approaches the room, I shake their hand, look them in the eye, and say:

“I’m Mr. Ehlert. What’s your name?”

From there, I ask:

• What name they prefer to go by

• How to pronounce it correctly

Then I tell them their assigned seat (I’ll write more about my seating chart strategy in a future post). I also write a note on my seating chart to help remember the pronunciation as I begin learning names.

This quick interaction sets a tone of respect, personal connection, and structure.

A 2–3 Minute Introduction

After everyone finds their seats, I step into the room and give a very brief introduction.

Here’s what I said this year:

“Good morning! How are we doing today? Well, my name is Mr. Ehlert, you can call me Mr. E for short, and I just want you to know that I’m very excited to be your teacher this year. I really consider it an honor and a privilege to have you in my class, and I want to do everything I can to help you reach your goals and dreams this year.

My oldest daughter is actually starting Kindergarten in a few days, and here’s what I’d like her teacher to do. I want her teacher to see the value and potential in my daughter, and I want her to help my daughter grow and develop to maximize her potential. I also want to do the same with you. I want to see the incredible value that each of you possesses, and I want to do everything I can to help you reach your potential. Overall, my goal is to make this the best math class you’ve ever had, and I believe we can get there together.

I’ll tell you two quick things about me, and then we’ll jump right in. Number one, and I’m not saying this to make anyone feel excluded or pressured, but I’m a Christian. I tell you this because I want you to know where I’m coming from and what my perspective on life is. Also, I want you to call me out if you ever see something in me that isn’t consistent with being a Christian.

Number two, I have an incredible wife and two amazing daughters. I want to be present in their lives, so I don’t stay after school often. However, if you ever need tutoring, you’re welcome to come before school or during lunch any time. We’ll talk more about the class structure later, but for now, let’s get started with learning Math!”

Why I Don’t Start with Rules

You might notice that we don’t explicitly go over rules or procedures on the first day.

There are a few reasons for this.

First, on the first day students are usually in “business mode.” They’re focused, attentive, and ready to work. I want to capitalize on that energy by starting math immediately.

As soon as we shift to surveys or long policy discussions, students mentally shift out of that mode.

Second, I’ve learned that modeling expectations is more powerful than explaining them.

The rules I say don’t matter nearly as much as the rules I model through my actions.

For example:

• Is 100% engagement really expected?

• Do students truly work collaboratively?

• Do we value thinking time?

Students learn the answers to these questions by watching what I model, not by reading a list of classroom rules.

So on the first day—and every day—we begin learning math immediately while I model expectations through classroom routines.

The 100 Numbers Task

The first major expectation I want to model is productive group work.

To begin building a collaborative classroom culture, we start with the 100 Number Task created by Sarah Van Der Werf.

This activity is one of the best tasks I’ve found for introducing group norms and collaboration.

Before the activity begins, I explain why group work is important for our class.

I tell students:

• Research shows learning improves when students work productively in groups

• Language development is stronger in collaborative environments

• Even though group work isn’t always easy, it’s worth doing

I’m also honest with them. Sometimes I prefer working alone too. Because of that, we will occasionally work individually and quietly.

But overall, group work will be the primary structure of our class.

What Students Learn from the Task

After completing the three rounds of the task, we review the photos of student groups.

One of the biggest “light bulb moments” happens when students notice how body language changes throughout the activity.

The strongest groups tend to:

• Sit close together

• Place the paper in the middle of the table

• Make sure everyone can see and contribute

Students can literally see collaboration improving from round to round.

Introducing Think-Pair-Share

During the debrief, I also begin modeling the most common learning routine used in my classroom:

Think-Pair-Share.

This strategy structures classroom discussion into three phases:

1. Think silently

2. Pair with a partner or group

3. Share ideas with the class

I spend time reinforcing the silent thinking phase, since that is usually the most challenging for students at first.

Over the first few days of school, I repeat this routine often so that eventually students immediately know what to do when they hear:

“Think-Pair-Share.”

For the first several days, I also display a Think-Pair-Share icon on slides whenever that routine is used. This visual cue helps reinforce the structure of the strategy.

Using a 3 Act Math Task

After the 100 Number Task and debrief, we jump into a 3 Act Math lesson.

These tasks are powerful because they combine:

• Curiosity

• Problem solving

• Mathematical discussion

The originator of these lessons is Dan Meyer.

For Geometry, I typically use his Taco Cart lesson.

This activity works especially well because it leads naturally into calculating distance, which becomes the focus of the second day of class.

Sometimes we don’t finish the entire task before the bell rings—and that’s okay.

My goal on day one is not to complete the lesson. Instead, I focus on:

• Watching how groups interact

• Noticing students who may be opting out

• Modeling the expectations I want to see throughout the year

These early moments give me opportunities to reinforce collaboration and engagement through my actions.

Working Until the Bell

Finally, I make sure the class does not finish early.

Students work right up until the bell (or about one minute before).

This sets the expectation that we value every minute of class time.

Influences

Several educators and ideas have influenced this approach to the first day of class:

• First Day of School by Henri Picciotto

• Designing Groupwork: Strategies for the Heterogeneous Classroom (Elizabeth Cohen)

• A keynote by Todd Whitaker