Ditch the Syllabus: What to Do on the First Day Instead
Originally published June 23, 2025. Updated August 17, 2026.
It’s that time of year again.
Seemingly overnight, the aisles of Target fill with binders, backpacks, and bouquets of sharpened pencils. (Any You’ve Got Mail fans out there?)
And every year, it gets me thinking about the first day of school.
This year, I want to encourage you to try something a little different. Instead of starting with the syllabus, start with something that sets the tone for the kind of year you want to have.
My First Day of Teaching
The night before my very first day of teaching, I didn’t sleep a wink.
I was a nervous wreck.
I was a young high school teacher, only a few years older than some of my students. I had no idea what I was getting myself into.
But I had adopted a bit of a fake-it-till-you-make-it mentality. I decided confidence was everything, so I walked into school that first day like I knew exactly what I was doing.
I greeted each student at the door with a handshake and a smile.
And then I did something that felt bold for a first-year teacher: I ignored the advice I’d been given and skipped the syllabus.
No rules rundown. No first-day lecture.
Instead, we did an experiment.
At the time, I was teaching math and science, so I chose a chemistry experiment called an iodine clock reaction. Rather than demonstrate it myself, I put the equipment on the tables, paired up my students, gave them instructions, and let them dive in.
If you’ve never seen an iodine clock reaction, it’s pretty dramatic.
You mix the solutions together and...nothing happens.
You wait.
Still nothing.
And then, in an instant, the clear liquid turns a deep purple, almost black.
I didn't tell my students what was going to happen, and that was the fun of it. They followed the directions, experimented, and then got the surprise of that sudden color change.
As students left my classroom at the end of each period, there was this happy hum in the air. They were talking about what they'd just done. They were excited. They were engaged.
It felt like they might actually be looking forward to coming back tomorrow. 🤞
And that energy carried forward.
By building on that same kind of hands-on, high-engagement instruction, I found that I could get ahead of a lot of classroom management issues. When my students were interested, busy, and bought in, we had fewer behavior problems.
Since then, I've taught all kinds of things: math, science, study skills, transition, and life skills. But one tradition has stuck:
Whatever we do on the first day, I want students doing something.
Why Skip the Syllabus on Day One?
You'll still need to teach your expectations, routines, and procedures. I do too.
I just don't think it necessarily needs to happen on the first day.
Here are three reasons I like to start with something else:
1. It Sets the Tone for an Engaging Year
A hands-on activity on the first day sends a message:
This class is going to be different. You're going to do things here. You're going to learn things that matter.
Students aren't just passive participants listening to me talk. From the beginning, I want them thinking, talking, problem-solving, experimenting, or creating.
The first activity doesn't need to be elaborate. It just needs to feel like the kind of class you want to have for the rest of the year.
2. It Helps Your Class Stand Out
Think about a typical high school student's first day.
At my school, students move through six periods. That means by the end of the day, many of them have heard syllabus after syllabus after syllabus.
Rules. Procedures. Grading policies. Bathroom policies.
By sixth period, they're tired. They're stiff. They're zoning out.
Doing something active, unexpected, or open-ended immediately changes the energy.
I've found this especially valuable for students who haven't historically felt successful in school. I work with many students with different learning needs, and for some of them, school hasn't always been a place where they’ve experienced success.
Give them a hands-on or open-ended task, though, and you might see a completely different side of them.
They might be the first one to figure something out. They might approach the problem from a completely different angle. They might come up with the creative solution no one else considered.
And you can see the pride on their faces when it happens.
That's a pretty great way to start the year!
3. It's an Investment in Classroom Management
In my experience, students who are engaged and bought in tend to have fewer behavior issues.
A high-interest, structured activity eliminates downtime, gives students somewhere to channel all that nervous first-day energy, and lets you start building trust right away.
And the syllabus can wait.
I actually prefer to let the dust settle for a few days. At the beginning of the year, schedules change. Students move in and out. Rosters shift.
Once my class is actually my class, then we can dig into expectations, procedures, routines, and all of the other things we need to cover.
What Can You Do Instead?
You do not need to put on a Broadway production.
The goal isn't to create the most spectacular first day in school history. Just choose something that gets students thinking, talking, or doing.
Here are a few ideas by subject area:
Science
Try elephant toothpaste or an iodine clock reaction
Send students on a lab safety or equipment scavenger hunt
Build toothpick bridges or try the marshmallow tower challenge
Math
Solve logic puzzles or number riddles
Have students survey one another and graph the results
Try a math escape room using review problems to unlock clues
Language Arts
Create memes using figurative language
Write six-word memoirs on index cards
Create your own Mad Libs
Social Studies
Try "What Would You Do?" historical dilemma cards
Do a map scavenger hunt or "Where in the World?" challenge
Play fact vs. opinion bingo using news headlines
Art, Music, or Drama
Create a collaborative mural
Play quick-fire improv games
Try a self-portrait challenge with unusual constraints
CTE, Health, or Family & Consumer Sciences
Design a home or car survival kit
Budget a meal using grocery ads
Play a health trivia game
Teaching AVID, Study Skills, Transition, or a Support Class? Try Life Skills.
These classes are a natural place to start with real-world skills.
Really, I think life skills can work just about anywhere. Every student eventually needs to know how to budget, find housing, plan transportation, manage a home, and navigate adult life.
Depending on what I'm teaching, I sometimes pull out one or two of my How to Adult mini-lessons on the first day.
And I mean actually do them.
If we're learning to tie knots, there are lengths of rope on the desks and we're tying knots. We might pull out an iron and learn how to iron something. I've even brought in a few fitted sheets from Goodwill and had students figure out how to fold them.
It's fun, but there's something else happening too.
I've watched students who don't normally get very excited about school light up. They get to experience success. They get to learn something that feels immediately relevant. And sometimes the student who struggles with a traditional academic task is suddenly the expert at the table.
If you're not sure where to start, I put together three real-world activities that work especially well at the beginning of the year:
👉 Start with Life Skills: 3 Real-World Activities for the First Day of School
Want an Easy, Free First-Day Activity?
My Adulting 101 Knowledge & Skills Inventory (see below) is another easy way to start the year.
Instead of telling students what they're going to learn about adult life, ask them what they already know and what they want to learn.
The inventory can help you uncover gaps, identify interests, and start conversations about independence and life after high school.
It's completely free and includes:
A printable version
An editable version
A Google Forms version
A student reflection sheet
Implementation ideas
Start the Year the Way You Want It to Feel
I'm not saying every teacher needs to ditch the syllabus.
But if you want students to explore, discuss, experiment, problem-solve, create, or get their hands on something this year, why not let them experience that on the very first day?
It doesn't have to be flashy.
It might be a color-changing chemistry experiment. It might be a logic puzzle. It might be learning how to read a lease or tie a knot.
The activity itself isn't really the point.
Start the school year the way you want the school year to feel.
Give students a glimpse, right from Day One, of what it's going to be like to learn in your classroom.
And hopefully, when they walk out the door, you'll hear a little bit of that happy hum too.
5 ways to have a great first day of school!
