Today’s First Five:
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First Five Strategy: Music at the Door
Author: John Whalen
Date: March 18th, 2025
An inspirational song can help us get motivated and start on the right foot. Here are five inspirational songs that can pump your class up for the excitement you are about to deliver. Let's go!
You can find each of these tracks on YouTube! Make sure you double-check the track to make sure it's just right!
"Eye of the Tiger" by Survivor
"Rocky Theme/Gonna Fly Now" by Bill Conti
"Roar" by Katy Perry
"Star Wars (Main Theme)" by John Williams & London Symphony Orchestra
"On Top of the World" by Imagine Dragons
In a Pinch Activity: Quick Toss
Author: John Whalen
Date: March 17th, 2025
In a Pinch Activity: Quick Toss
Time: 2-5 minutes.
Preparation: Choose 1-3 balls that your students are able to toss and catch.
This is another activity built around teamwork, focus, and patience! You’ll need 1-3 balls for this activity. Make sure they are something the students you work with can catch! Here’s how this activity works:
Explain to participants that it must be silent once the toss begins. As the facilitator, toss the ball underhand to a student not next to you. Once the other person has caught the ball, you can sit down. That student tosses the ball to another person and sits down after the toss. This continues until there is one person left standing. That person tosses the ball back to you.
Keep track of how many drops there were in the first attempt at this but do not share the number or that you are doing this until the round concludes.
Have everyone stand up again. Tell participants we will follow the same order as the first round. Challenge the group to see if they can have fewer drops than the first round.
If the group is successful, continue with a new toss challenge. Tell students that they will, again, repeat the same toss order. Let them know that this time, you are going to introduce something new without explaining it during the round.
While the students are going through the order again, toss a second ball to the student you have been tossing to all along. Watch to see if students pick up on this. If they are successful without dropping, they can try one more round with three balls going at once!
Happy Pi Day, Educators!
Author: John Whalen
Date: March 14th, 2025
Happy Pi Day, educators! While we celebrate the constant that keeps the world spinning, let’s talk about another kind of circle—Classroom Circles! These transformative tools build connection, inclusivity, and positivity, becoming the heartbeat of a thriving classroom.
Spice Up Your Circles with the First Five:
Add a twist to your Classroom Circles by including the First Five! Our daily resources make circles even more fun and engaging, deepening student connections.
Curious about Classroom Circles? Join us this summer for professional development at edtomorrow.com/events. Keep your connections constant—and enjoy some pie too!
It's Almost Friday: Moving from Soft Skills to Human Skills
Author: John Whalen
Date: March 13th, 2025
The future of work isn’t just about tech skills. Are we preparing our students for the skills that truly matter? Employers are looking for strong communication, empathy, adaptability, and teamwork—the “soft skills” that help people thrive in any workplace.
I’ve always disliked the term “soft skills.” Over the past ten years, I’ve developed a fondness for the ideas, research, and wisdom that Simon Sinek shares. He’s a thought-provoking author, a great social media follow, and the host of my favorite podcast, “A Bit of Optimism.”
A few years back, my YouTube algorithm fed me one of his videos, "There’s NO Such Thing as Soft Skills.” Although it contains some adult language, it's a valuable listen—just be mindful of when and where you play it. In the video, he eloquently explained why he disliked the term “soft skills,” reasoning so clearly that I could understand. He believes using the term “soft skills” undermines the significance of all of the skills associated with such, suggesting they are optional or less necessary.
Instead, Sinek suggests we use the term “human skills.” He argues that human skills, such as effective communication, empathy, patience, and the ability to confront challenges directly, are fundamental to personal and professional success. He asserts that these human skills are not innate talents but can and should be learned and developed.
Building opportunities to seamlessly embed these essential skills is exactly why we built The First Five and share it freely each day. Beyond just activities to begin a class or time with groups of students, The First Five encourages communication, empathy, and critical thinking through daily interactions, making these human skills a natural part of classroom routines.
Our quick activities allow students to practice key skills like listening, sharing ideas, and reflecting with each use. Whether discussing a thought-provoking quote, connecting through a fun question, or building mindfulness, these moments help students grow into well-rounded individuals.
The structure and format of The First Five supports this seamlessly, giving us opportunities to practice these types of skills in quick increments and daily.
Building capacity for these “human skills” can help us prepare our students for the life they desire beyond school. Amongst the key skills desired by the ever-evolving workplace, The Department of Labor included these essential competencies: networking, communication skills, teamwork, problem-solving, and critical thinking. These all can be supported through practice and community building.
We strive to offer you the resources daily to help you lead this! If you use The First Five, you’re leading strong and impactful experiences while giving students lifelong tools they’ll need.
Elmira CSD & Circlemamma
Author: John Whalen
Date: March 12th, 2025
What an honor to have the First Five and our very own Denise "Circlemamma" Holliday featured in the Elmira City School District’s parent newsletter! Denise has been working closely with their secondary campuses to bring the power of the First Five and Classroom Circles into classrooms, helping students start their day with connection, care, and character.
A huge thank you to Elmira for the shoutout! We’re honored to be part of this journey and look forward to continuing our work together to strengthen relationships and build thriving learning communities.
First Five Strategy: Four Corner Elimination
Author: John Whalen
Date: March 11th, 2025
Looking for an interactive way to start your class and get students engaged right from the beginning? Try the Four Corner Elimination strategy! This Quick Connect activity combines movement, decision-making, and a little friendly competition to help students connect and start their day on a positive note.
How to Play Four Corner Elimination
Start by showing students the Quick Connect question or prompt for the day.
Identify four spots in the classroom for students to go to based on their choice. The corners of the room are a great choice, but you can adjust based on your classroom layout.
Ask students to think of their answer quietly. Give them a few seconds to decide before they move.
When you say "Go," students move to the spot in the classroom that corresponds to their answer. Put a 20-30 second timer on the board and challenge them to get to their spot safely and quickly.
Once all students have chosen a spot, look for the choice that has the least number of people. This choice is now eliminated. Announce it to the class. The students from the eliminated spot now have 20-30 seconds to choose one of the remaining three options. Repeat the process. Continue eliminating the spot with the least number of people until only two choices remain.
The remaining two options will be the finalists. The choice with the most students becomes the class decision!
What If There’s a Tie?
If there is a tie in any round for the fewest students in a spot, you can cast the deciding vote as the teacher. Alternatively, invite someone the students know well in the building (like a principal, counselor, or coach) to cast the tie-breaking vote.
Tips for Different Grade Levels
Middle and High School
Make it more engaging by showing other classes what the winning choices were. You could even create a leaderboard to compare across different class periods. This adds a fun social element and encourages students to participate.
Elementary School
Consider sharing the results with other grade-level classes. Or, spice it up by organizing a whole-school competition to see which choice was the most popular across the entire school!
Quick Troubleshooting
What if a choice has no students?
Instantly eliminate that choice and move on to the remaining options.
What if students are hesitant to move?
Encourage participation by making it fun and light-hearted. Let students know there are no wrong answers!
What if there are more than four choices with the Quick Connect?
You can use the Four Corner Elimination strategy with three or more choices.
Why Use Four Corner Elimination?
This strategy helps students connect with their peers, practice decision-making, and feel more comfortable sharing their opinions. It’s a simple way to build community, start conversations, and inject energy into the beginning of your class.
Ready to give it a try? Let us know how Four Corner Elimination works in your classroom!
Surviving Daylight Savings: Why Are We So Tired?
Author: John Whalen
Date: March 10th, 2025
Did you hit snooze more than usual this morning? You’re not alone! Thanks to Daylight Savings Time, we just lost an hour of sleep—and our bodies definitely noticed.
Every spring, we “spring forward,” shifting the clocks ahead by an hour. While this means more daylight in the evening, it also means dragging ourselves out of bed when it still feels too early. Scientists say it can take days for our internal clocks to adjust, which explains why students (and teachers) might be a little extra groggy this week. Hang in there!
Thanks for the Love!
Author: John Whalen
Date: March 7th, 2025
We’re always grateful when educators share the First Five—whether it’s in Facebook groups, on TikTok, Instagram stories, YouTube videos, or anywhere else. Your support helps more teachers discover simple ways to build connections with their students, and we truly appreciate it. Recently, we were even featured in another article on Edutopia, and we’ve seen The First Five pop up in several TikTok videos as well. It’s incredible to see how educators are using these resources in their classrooms and sharing them with others.
A special shoutout to Michelle Emerson, the educator behind Pocketful of Primary, who has mentioned The First Five in multiple recent videos while sharing her daily slides. If you’re looking for creative ways to engage students, her videos are full of practical ideas that you can implement right away. You can also find her daily slides and other great resources on her website and Teachers Pay Teachers store.
We had the chance to sit down and chat with her, and she is just as thoughtful and passionate in person as she is in her videos. Check out her latest video above—she gives us a shoutout at the 11 minute mark!
Thanks again, Michelle, and to everyone who continues to spread the word!
It's Almost Friday: How One Teacher’s Vocabulary Activity Transformed Student Engagement
Author: John Whalen
Date: March 6th, 2025
Have you ever tried something new in your classroom and been amazed by the results? Sometimes, the simplest ideas create the biggest impact—especially when the pressure is on.
Maddy Conner, a 7th-grade Science teacher at Seymour Middle School in Indiana, tried a new approach for a lesson earlier this year. That lesson just happened to be the lesson that was part of her evaluation! To introduce her electricity and magnetism unit, Maddy gave each student a single vocabulary word and a “brainstorming page” to guide their exploration. The organizer asked them to dive into their word through four lenses: examples, surprising facts, “WOW” moments, and any extra knowledge they discovered.
Students had 15 minutes to research and then partnered with classmates with the same word to create a poster summarizing their findings. They posted their pages around the classroom, allowing for a gallery walk where everyone could see their peers’ work. To deepen the learning, Maddy also had her students complete a Google Form afterward with three reflective questions:
What are some questions you still have about what you read?
What is something you are still curious about or want to learn more about?
What is one fact that stood out to you?
As Maddy shared, “The kids were SO ENGAGED since they got to find their own information to introduce the unit! I just wanted to share because this would be an awesome way to introduce ANY unit and I plan on using this more often as I introduce new topics! (And PS, my eval results turned out INCREDIBLE!).”
Inspired by Maddy’s success, we’ve created the Word Exploration Organizer that can be used across subjects and grade levels. Whether you’re introducing scientific terms, historical events, literary devices, mathematical concepts, or even themes or ideas from The First Five, this tool helps students take ownership of their learning.
Imagine your students exploring a new word from a First Five meme, diving into the meaning behind a thought-provoking quote, or investigating a mindfulness concept shared in the daily email. How about examining the meanings of different Check-In emotions?
Using this organizer encourages deeper learning and engagement while making vocabulary exploration more interactive. Here’s how to use this organizer with your students:
Assign each student (or group) a word or concept to explore.
Explain the four categories they’ll fill in: examples of the word, surprising facts, “WOW” moments, and extra knowledge they can find.
Give time for research and discovery.
Encourage students to share their work through gallery walks, presentations, or peer feedback sessions.
This strategy encourages research, critical thinking, and collaboration—skills every student needs. And, just like Maddy’s experience, it can transform even the most basic vocabulary lesson into an engaging, student-led journey.
A huge shoutout to Maddy for sharing her classroom win and inspiring us all to keep innovating! Download the Word Exploration Organizer [here] and bring this idea to your students tomorrow!
We love sharing great ideas created by other teachers! Please contact me at jwhalen@edtomorrow.com if you have a great tool, activity, or idea from which our community of educators would benefit!
In a Pinch Activity - 1,2,1 Circle Game
Author: John Whalen
Date: March 5th, 2025
This engaging game is designed for the entire class and can be played with small and large groups. The goal is to follow a sequence and gradually replace numbers with movements, challenging the group's memory and coordination.
Time Needed: 3+ minutes
Directions
Starting Sequence: Begin with the following sequence: [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5...]
Players stand in a circle and recite the sequence in order, passing from one player to the next. If a mistake is made, the next person in the circle starts the sequence from the beginning (from "1").
The sequence completes one full rotation around the circle without mistakes OR
The group maintains the sequence correctly for one continuous minute.
Adding Movements
After completing a successful round, replace one of the numbers in the sequence with a movement. For instance: [1, 2, clap, 4, 5, 4, clap, 2, 1, 2, clap, 4, 5...]
For the next successful round, replace another number with a different movement. For example: [Stomp, 2, clap, 4, 5, 4, clap, 2, stomp, 2, clap, 4, 5...]
Extensions
Continue the game by replacing numbers with movements and see how far the group can progress without making mistakes.
Use the group's progress as a benchmark. When playing the game again, aim to surpass the previous achievement!