French First Week Activities: In my previous 4 posts, I've talked about why it's so important to create an immersion atmosphere, how to set the tone for the year, and how to set expectations for the first day of French class. In this post about the French first week activities, I'll be sharing the lessons
Check out these 12 engaging first day of school activities that will help set a positive tone for the year and help build relationships from day 1.
Discover the perfect All About Me preschool activity designed for young kids! Get a free printable worksheet that's simple, engaging, and ideal for emergent readers. Download now!
It's the first week of Phys Ed and the start of a new school year which means a clean slate and new beginnings. The start of the school year is key because it sets the
Back to school in your ELA classroom just got easier. Starting a brand new school year requires a ton of planning and organization. These freebies are a great way to ease the stress and start
Whether you are a seasoned pro or new to teaching with STEM, these first-week activities for STEM are sure to be a hit in your classroom.
Pre-K & Preschool activities for the first days of school. Find more Beginning of School Activities for Pre-K In the beginning of the year, we spend a
If you have students who say, "I don't have anything to write about" then this writing activity could definitely work for you. It lends itself to pretty much any grade level. I was actually introduced
First Week Watercolor Portraits 7 comments Back to School, Bulletin Boards, Self Portraits, Tutorials Every year, my second graders paint a watercolor self-portrait. It is truly my most favorite first week activity of all time. After sharing this picture of this year's portraits on Facebook, a sweet reader asked if I had a blog post about them. Well, it dawned on me that while I have shared my annual self-portraits many times, I've never really shared them exclusively in a post. So, here goes! Every year, I have my students paint a self-portrait during the first week of school (an idea I learned while student teaching many moons ago). I hang these portraits in the room, for the entire year. They really brighten up our space and they are such a joy to look at (this is a picture of my students' portraits from last year). I am not an art teacher and I believe that kids should be encouraged to take risks, so when I task my students with painting their portraits, I pretty much let them "have at it." Don't worry, it isn't a total free for all. I do model the process and I also share examples from years past, like the ones shown below. I just make it very clear that I don't expect their paintings to look like an actual photograph. ;) I always begin by pointing out how much of their body/self they will be painting. I tell them to think about the pictures they see in their yearbooks and how those pictures only show people's heads and shoulders. I explain that they will include only their head and shoulders in their paintings. I then show them examples from previous years (sometimes students move and they get left behind, so I have a few on hand). Once the students understand what it is that they will be including in their portrait, I model the drawing process on the board. I discuss how large the head should be in relation to the paper and show them what this looks like. From there, I show them how I draw a neck and shoulders, hair, and facial features. I apologize that I don't have a photo of this, but essentially, I model and narrate the process, one step at a time. And, then...it's the students' turn. I give each student a piece of white card stock (8x10 inches) to work with. Card stock is brighter and thicker than construction paper, and it just seems to hold the paint better, in my opinion. Then, they start their drawing. Sometimes, I have them draw the outline of their pictures with a black crayon (see below). When I do this, there is NO pencil involved. This helps them to really slow down and visualize before they draw because they know that they can't erase. However, this year, I let them draw with pencil first and then they traced over their pencil lines with a Sharpie. Why did I do that? I have no idea, it was just what I decided to do when I was prepping the materials, but the end result was still fab! Once the students draw the outline of their portrait, they get to paint! Using watercolor is a tricky thing for many second graders. They have a hard time always gauging how much water to use, so a discussion about this (and a little modeling) ahead of time is a good idea. Tip: No matter how much explaining and modeling you do, you'll still have a student or two that uses too much water. Let them use a tissue to blot their paper if you notice this happening. I lay the portraits to dry on the floor, in an out of the way spot. They dry within minutes here in the desert. Once they are dry, I flatten them by stacking heavy teacher manuals on them overnight. I could iron them, but my iron and I do not get along. At all. The next morning, I hang them up and admire the sight before me...all year long. :) At the end of the year, it's always fun to repeat this process. You will be amazed at how much growth your students show. Here are a few examples from last year. Amazing, right? We always get lots of compliments on our portrait display, and the kids are always very proud of them. They love seeing if their parents can guess which one is theirs, and it's fun to see how many parents get it right! At the end of the school year, I send the portraits home as a keepsake. Many parents have commented how much they love them, and they are the perfect size for framing! First week self-portraits are a great way to encourage students to take risks, have fun, and learn to use materials. Beyond that, the students take great pride in their creations and enjoy them just as much as I do, and we have something truly magnificent (that they created!) to look at all year long. :) Share It:
These 'If You Take a Mouse to School' activities are perfect for your first week of school. We love using Laura Numeroff's books and this one is always a favorite to use at the start of the year. In this blog post you'll find a bunch of different activities as well as free downloads to
Check out these 12 engaging first day of school activities that will help set a positive tone for the year and help build relationships from day 1.
Explore 18 back-to-school activities perfect for the first day and first week of middle school. Start the school year right with easy, low-prep activities that engage and motivate students!
Homeschooling mom and engineer with a passion for STEM education.
Tidbits and treats for teachers
It's time to go back to school! With the back-to-school season upon us, it is time to start planning back-to-school activities for the first week of school.
Once every student has a baggie of Magic Dough on his or her desk, I pass out a copy of the Magic Dough Lab Report. We talk about what it means to
Nearly 400 teachers weighed in on their favorite back-to-school activities and ice breakers - and here are their top picks! The most popular, practical, and unique back-to-school activities loved by teachers around the world!
I have had the BEST first week! It was jam packed and the days went by in the blink of an eye. I've been use to have 18 kids for the whole day in first grade. Since I'm just teaching reading, I have three different classes and 72 kids! That is definitely going to take
Does the first week of Kindergarten have you shaking in your boots? You are not alone! I've been at this for a little while now so you would think it would get easier with time but I am here to tell you it does not! I still get anxious right before school starts. What will they be like? Will I remember what to do at line up time? What if I don't set things up right and I mess up the whole rest of the year? (sounds dramatic but that is really what goes through my head!) I sat down as soon as school got out and wrote down my first week of lesson plans to put my mind at ease. It has really helped with my worry so far! I wrote down the first five days, plans and procedures I need to introduce, brain breaks, classroom community building activities, easy morning work to get started with and even got my welcome back gifts ready. My mind is officially at ease. I want to make sure I have a lot of fun and a LOT of books planned for the first week too. Here are a couple of fun crafts to go with the books I have planned. Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr. You can't skip this book the first week of school! Our focus will be all about names the first week (or more!). I put together all of my favorite books with some crafts to help teach all of those back to school procedures like cutting, gluing, and of course following directions. The Wheels on the Bus This one is fun for a little first sound fun. The students change the words to match the first sound in their name. A My Name is Alice by Jane Bayer Alphabet books are the best the first few weeks of school. A My Name is Alice Jane Bayer is the best! This is a fun activity to do after we read the book and they will make really cute self portraits to hang in the hallway the first week of school. Not only did I plan out the activities for these books but for lots of other favorites like Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes, Rosie Takes a Walk by Pat Hutchins, No David by David Shannon, and Stand Tall Molly Lou Melon by Patty Lovell. So now I don't have to feel guilty when I am floating in the pool this summer (just kidding, I never feel guilty doing that!) But honestly, I can relax knowing all I have to do is hit print when I get back to school. These plans can work for you too! Click here to see them in my store! Or if you are not ready to think about school yet pin this for later! P.S. Get a FREE ALPHABET ACTIVITY when you sign up for my newsletter HERE!
Learn about eight important and must-do first week of school activities for your middle school students to start your year off right!
Start your year of right with these activity ideas for the first week of school for secondary special education classrooms.
Handing little learners a pair of scissors for the first time in a classroom can make teachers a little uneasy. Spend time focusing on how to cut with scissors, as well as, seeing what tool learners are ready to use is important. What Scissors to Use? There are many levels of development a child needs
Spending the first week of school teaching classroom expectations and procedures is essential for a successful year. Glue is a tricky school supply for many little learners and there definitely needs to be instruction dedicated to teaching learners how to use this tool.Glue BottlesWhen learners are not taught how to use their glue correctly things
Name Jar activities for 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students perfect for the first week of school to celebrate students and build classroom community.
It is the first week of kindergarten! What do I teach? I get this question all the time! I am so excited to put together this page together for you. I’m sharing our favorite first week of kindergarten read aloud stories and the free coordinating printables I made to go with them. Plus I will s
Back to School Activities that are great for an online classroom or inside a classroom.
We love this Dandelion Wish Craft for a variety of times throughout the year. Use this as a beginning of the year activity to brainstorm what goals students would like to accomplish this year. Use this as a New Year’s activity after Christmas break to imagine what this year will bring! Use this as an ... Read More about Dandelion Wish Craft + Writing
Scissor salad is a fun way to practice how to use scissors and build fine motor scissor cutting skills. Get free labels and worksheets!
This blog post is full of ideas for the First Week of Kindergarten. Includes book suggestions, activities, and links to accompanying ideas.
Team-building activities in the middle school classroom are a great way to build relationships at the beginning of the school year!
Learn about classroom management routines and procedures for middle and high school classrooms in this blog post.
The first week of school generally consists of getting to know one another, in addition to discussion and practice of classroom procedures and routines. We also got our creative juices flowing by creating summer reflection writing pieces, squiggle stories, and "All About Me" mini-posters. Students are getting to know one another and me, and we are learning to work together to build a successful and positive classroom environment. On Wednesday, I wrote out six questions, all having to do with how to make our classroom and ourselves function to the highest level, on six pieces of chart paper. Students, in groups of three, spent two minutes at each chart, collaborating and responding to each question on a sticky note. After all groups visited each chart paper station, I hung all of the charts up and we discussed each answer and noticed some very interesting trends. Here's the finished product, which you can click on to enlarge: Inspired by Life in 4B To tie into the previous activity, I was inspired by my wonderful teammates, Mrs. Fadden and Ms. Mattox, to develop at class pledge with my students. We reviewed our responses to the above questions, and then we put all of the ideas together to form a cohesive paragraph that we have all agreed will help us to remember why we are here at school and what our common goal is. Below is the rough draft of our class pledge (which I will type up, make pretty, and have all of my students sign): Since we were able to develop a class goal (to achieve success in third grade), I also had each student determine an individual goal after reading the story Matthew's Dream by Leo Lionni. I displayed our "Hopes and Dreams" for third grade near the classroom door, so that we can refer to, and revisit, them throughout the year. Lots of students are interested in learning how to sharpen their cursive skills, multiplication and division skills. I was very impressed by the number of students ready to take on our 40 book challenge! More on that later! Here's our class display of our hopes and dreams for third grade: Lastly, I read a book called Have You Filled a Bucket Today? The premise is that everyone carries an invisible bucket everywhere they go. When your bucket is "filled" you feel happy.When your bucket is "empty" you feel sad or upset. People can fill buckets by lending a helping hand, smiling, being kind, including others in games, and more. People can empty buckets by teasing, being ungrateful, acting disrespectfully, and more. I encourage my students to recognize the actions of bucket-fillers by writing them quick note and sticking it in their bucket display. This helps make everyone feel good. When we feel good, we want others to feel good. Therefore, kindess is passed from person to person. This is our bucket-filling display, complete with ways we can fill buckets and ways we can empty buckets: I look forward to more of these types of meaningful activities that promote teamwork, kindness, and achievement with your child!
The first day of school doesn't have to be boring! This blog post explains what to do for the best first day of school!
Are you ready to have the best school year ever? Try these 5 ideas in the first week of Spanish class to set yourself up for...
It's time to go back to school! With the back-to-school season upon us, it is time to start planning back-to-school activities for the first week of school.
All about teaching preschool! Great ideas for preschool activities, standards-based curriculum, preschool assessments, and documentation.
The first week of school is a great time to build classroom culture, community, and teach class routines. Ideas for engaging first week of school activities to make it easy and fun!
Beginning of year special education forms - As an inclusion intervention specialist, your first week of school can get hectic fast. You are playing the...
Needing some first week of speech therapy ideas for your elementary caseload? This blog post has LOTS of ideas.
20 Free Name Activities for the First Week of Kindergarten. Check out these amazing hands-on and fun name activities! Integrates multiple skills.
