Help Students Settle Into Your Classroom
Here are fun back-to-school ideas to help your students get ready for a successful school year. Another great back-to-school idea is to have your students write reviews of their summer reading on Share What You're Reading.
Articles
Make Class T-Shirts to Start the Year
by Andrea J. Spillett
Mentor teacher Andrea Spillett shares her best ideas for welcoming students to kindergarten with a t-shirt-making activity.
Fabulous First-Day Ideas
Primary- and Intermediate- level teachers offer suggestions for first-day-of-school lesson planning.
Welcome to the First Day of School!
by Jacqueline Clarke
Instructor Magazine |
Here are some fun, getting-to-know-you activities for the new school year, like making class "new year" resolutions, creating welcome bags, playing Guess Who? and Switch!, making a time capsule, and more.
Save time with these ready-to-print resources.
Top 5 Ways to Welcome Students Back to School
Winning Ideas |
Make your incoming students feel at home through icebreakers and get-to-know-you activities.
Lesson Plans
Name That Child
Early Childhood Today |
This get-to-know-you activity requires children to use their language and observation skills.
Creating a Classroom Constitution
by Tracey Roudez
Students discuss rules at home, in the community, and at school, then develop a classroom code of conduct, or class constitution.
The Relatives Came: A Family Read-Along
by Genia Connell
This writing prompt idea gets students to talk about themselves, their families, and their summer vacations through narrative writing.
Getting to Know You
by Jennifer Chandler
With this beginning-of-the-year icebreaker activity, students get to know each other through alliterative descriptors.
Hey Teachers! Get to Know Me!
by Mariama Sesay-St. Paul
The Bio Poem and the Classmate Inventory are designed to help you get to know your students while they get to know each other. The Bio Poem is also a useful writing diagnostic.
Unit Plan: A Beary Good Beginning
by Jan Tankey
Tie in a fun and memorable bear theme when introducing your students to the classroom rules using the 3 lessons from this unit plan.
Unit Plan: Famous First Graders
by Gayle Berthiaume
In this unit, which includes 4 lessons, students interview each other and make a short film with the goal of foster teamwork and self esteem.
