"A little stone called Bellwork and the giant task of starting a class"

There is something kingly about going to a motel and having someone carry all your bags to your room.  My single greatest help in establishing classroom order is a small exercise waiting for the students called the Bellwork and I compare it to a Bellboy or Bellhop who ushers in a sense of order and begins your stay with a high expectation of what is to come.  While the Bellwork is actually a procedure or routine, I consider it separate from the other routines because it accomplishes so much in a single stroke.  It gives the classroom order, sets a tone to follow throughout the period, allows attendance to be taken simultaneously if combined with a seating assignment, and allows students the opportunity to get situated for class.  Bellwork is like sliced and buttered bread; it does everything in setting the class up for a period of teaching that would normally take two or three different procedures.  If someone took your bags at a motel, you would expect the rest of the stay to be magnanimous as the service first offered.
In my own experience, the students came to expect a bellwork waiting for them at the beginning of the period.  I used a projector and transparencies to make it easier to display the same bellwork from class to class.  Combined with the lights out, the projector helps prepare the students for less of a socializing.  This was the one routine I can honestly say helped me through my first year as a solid procedure and teaching tool.  Bellwork was my cornerstone for several rough weeks to lean onto with the hope I was still teaching.