I love the first week of school! I perform some of my favorite demonstrations and we jump right into activities that help to jumpstart the year and excite students about where we are headed. I am in the process of uploading many of those activities. I will list them here and you can check them out. Also, check out my September editorial in the Journal that talks about my first week in more depth.
I invite you to share your own first day/week tips and/or activities here also.
I like to use the Dehydration of Sucrose (if this link doesn't work...find the Chemistry Comes Alive software under the LEARN tab and search dehydration) demonstration to remind students what a carbohydrate is and what elements sucrose is made of. The reaction is not instantaneous and we discuss this in terms of safety and expectation. You can find a video and notes on the link.
The Ira Remsen story is always a winner for students. See the video, look at step by step slides and read background discussion including a quote from Ira Remsen. You can also read an article about this demo and others by Richard W. Ramette: Exocharmic Reactions J. Chem. Educ. 1980 57 68-69. You can see another version of this demo at Chemmybear.com.