   Who Are These Kids?
Your first week of school, done with purpose.
 You’ve got a brand-new class.
You don’t know who will jump right in, who will hang back, who will quietly take care of everyone around them.
You don't know who will need you beside them before they’re willing to try, who can follow three directions at once…and who definitely cannot (yet).
The first week tells you SO much. You just need to know what to notice.
Who Are These Kids? gives you simple, ready-to-use first-week documentation templates designed to help you get a clearer picture of who your learners are, how they learn, and what they might need from you next.
YES, I WANT TO GET TO KNOW MY CLASSThe first week isn't just about routines...
Of course you’re learning names, teaching where the pencils go and explaining the bathroom situation approximately 47 times.
But underneath all of that?
Your students are already showing
you who they are as learners.
Who confidently jumps into something new?
Who watches before joining?
Who naturally helps someone else?
Who persists when something gets tricky?
...and so much more.
These little moments matter all year long.
What if you knew exactly what to look for?
Who Are These Kids? turns those first-week activities you’re already doing into opportunities to genuinely get to know your learners, while tracking you observations to use for future planning.
There is no giant tracking binder and no spending your evenings writing anecdotal notes about 25+ children.
Instead, you’ll have simple documentation tools that help you notice patterns as they emerge.
You won't reach September 30th thinking…
“I still don't really know this kid.”
…you'll start the year with a much clearer picture.
What's inside Who Are These Kids?
A simple observation page for every "first week" activity.
Every activity you do in your first week of school (and second, let's be honest) will align with this straightforward documentation tool that helps you quickly capture the learner qualities showing up in front of you.
A class-at-a-glance learner snapshot
Use the class snapshot to quickly see:
Who have I learned a lot about already?
Who needs more opportunities to show me what they can do?
Where am I noticing patterns across my class?
Who haven't I really seen yet?
And perhaps most importantly:Â What do I need to find out next?
Less guessing. More noticing.
You do not need to know everything about your students by the end of the first week. You couldn't. But you can begin noticing the things that will help you make better decisions later.
This is the information that makes teaching easier later.
Make the first week work for you.
You already have enough to do at the beginning of the school year; this isn't another thing to add. It's a way to make the things you're already doing tell you something useful.
You walk into your first week with activities ready to go. This adaptable tool will help you know what to watch for, keep documentation ridiculously simple and start building a picture of the learners standing in front of you.
Because before you can decide what they need next…you've got to figure out:
Who are these kids?
A little note from me...
I created Who Are These Kids? because I genuinely wish I'd had something like this when I started teaching. I spent so many first weeks trying to learn names, teach routines, build community AND somehow figure out who my students were as learners. Looking back, they were showing me so much, I just didn't always know what to notice.
This resource is what I wish I'd had on my clipboard: a simple documentation method that was adaptable to all the things I was doing in the first few weeks of school (and a way to notice the things that actually matter without adding more to my plate!)
You don't need to figure every kid out by the end of week one (or two). You just need to start getting curious about who they are, how they learn, and what they might need from you next.
I hope this makes that part a whole lot easier!
Karley
