This hilarious little gem is the perfect first day of school book! See how I use it in my classroom to create the most fun and full first week of school ever! I even build anticipation before the first day of school by displaying this on meet the teacher night.

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.

Use the Build a Name STEM activity as a get to know you activity in the first week of school. Pair with Your Name Is a Song by Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow.

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!

Which Back to School Activities Elementary can I use for Building Community in my Classroom? Which All About Me Activities are most engaging for my students?

Back to School Activities that are great for an online classroom or inside a classroom.

Scissor salad is a fun way to practice how to use scissors and build fine motor scissor cutting skills. Get free labels and worksheets!

Start the first week of school with a getting to know you activity that will be worth its weight in gold! This Back to School First Week One Pager Activity and Name Tag is a super useful way to get to know your students. It can be folded to create a cute name tent for kids' desks, making it easy to connect names and faces. Or you can display them on an "All About Me" bulletin board to make your classroom look stylish! The icebreaker prompt choices are sure to be a hit – students will get to show off their personalities and present their favorite topics in a fun, visual way. WHAT IS INCLUDED IN THIS BTS ACTIVITY? Teaching instructions on using this as a print or digital one-pager Student assignment sheets and planning pages A 33 slide slideshow to use while explaining the tasks A choice board and brainstorming sheet to give students ideas and guidance An editable version of the choice board 6 blank templates An example of a student one-pager A rubric Digital versions of everything on Google Slides HOW WILL THIS BE SUPER USEFUL? I use it as a first day of school activity for my middle school ELA students; however, it's really perfect for any middle school or upper elementary class. You can even make one for yourself, so students can get to know the teacher! The prompts help me get to know my students' personalities, and the name tent part helps me learn their names much faster! After I know their names, the kids prop them up whenever there is a substitute. Any way you shake it, this one-pager will enable your students to get creative and have fun, while you get to know them better. :) Thank you for the time, patience, and energy you put into teaching each and every day. ❤️ Darlene Anne

First week of school with your ESL students can be great and set the tone for the year. Make connections, set classroom expectations and gather information.

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

STEM Class Activities for the First Week of School If you want to get to know a little more about your students, and get them started to think like scientists, mathematicians, and engineers, I have some great ideas for you! Get to Know You Activities for STEM Class Get to know your new STEM students with an All About Me activity! The Math About Me and Science About Me activities are perfect for this. With multiple options, depending on what grade you teach, there is something for everyone. These activities have your students think about things in a slightly different way. For example, in the Math About Me activity, their age can be displayed as a mathematical expression (such as 48÷4), while in the Science About Me activity, the banner asks students to write down how many solar orbits they have taken (their age). Collaborative Activities and Team Builders ABC STEM Game: Try to think of a "STEM word" for each letter of the alphabet as a class. You might start with "astronaut, architect, or ASK (the first step of the Engineering Design Process). Find Your Pair or Find Your Team: Use sets of colored straws, pencils, colored dice, or mini erasers. Pass out one to each student and then have them find the other student(s) with the same color/type of object. You can also use pairing cards such as these. This is great for when you want to build STEM teams, too! Find all my favorite STEM Team Builders and Icebreakers in this post: STEM Lab Rules and Expectations It's important to go over safety rules for all equipment, your specific rules to your classroom, and then to set expectations for students. You may have some you start with and you may want to ask your students to help come up with some basic ones too. Some ideas for STEM rules and expectations: Only operate equipment you've been trained to use. safety Report accidents right away. safety Clean up your workspace when you are finished. responsibility Listen to your teammates. It's okay to disagree but not be disrespectful. cooperation Sometimes you will fail and that's okay! Do your best and try again. growth mindset If you don't know, ask. curiosity What other rules and expectations do you use in your class? You may want to have a specific set of rules for things like robots, too! I created a free set of robot rules you can download below: Need a safety poster for your glue guns? This editable resource is available to download here: STEM Building Challenges Try some basic building challenges with your students so they can get a feel for hands-on activities right away! You can download Tower Task Card Challenges from my free resource library: You can also find STEM challenge cards to use with KEVA planks in this blog post: STEM Books to Read What better way to start off your school year than with books that inspire creativity and explore failure and growth mindset! Find all my recommendations over at this blog post: I hope you have a great start to your STEMtastic year! Pin these ideas to save them for later:

Are you looking for a stress-free first week of ELA activities for high school classroom? Look no further! Keep reading for ideas, tips, and lesson plans for the first week (and beyond)! #backtoschoolactivities #elateacher #highschoolela

Cognates in Spanish provide an easy win for your novices! Check out a unit of Spanish 1 lesson plans to explore cognates in Spanish!

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

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

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.

The first week of school is a critical time to teach all your classroom procedures and expectations. I usually spend the first week of school…

Tidbits and treats for teachers

Team-building activities in the middle school classroom are a great way to build relationships at the beginning of the school year!

Want to teach rules and expectations in an engaging way? Use picture books! These 15 picture books are some of the best to start your year.

Learn about eight important and must-do first week of school activities for your middle school students to start your year off right!

Create back to school memories with 25 super-cute back to school coloring pages for kids. Grab the free printable PDF download for each!

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

Whether you’re a brand new teacher or you’ve been at this for a while, the first week of school is a crazy, roller-coaster ride of a week. Students' emotions are intense this week, and so are yours as their teacher. Plus, a lot more administrative stuff is asked of you. It can be a tough week, to put it mildly. What you need to make that first week run smoothly is a strong plan that allows everyone to feel safe. So, I went ahead and planned that week for you. I’ve laid it all out here. It includes ways to connect with your students (on their terms); it also allows for you to begin equipping them with what they need to be successful in your class. Over the last two decades, here are a few things I've found to be the most important things to focus on that first week: That students get a sense of who you are--that you are knowledgeable and caring That you start building relationships and rapport with your students, but on their terms That you start establishing class norms, routines, and expectations That you start getting into the material of the course in a way that sets them up to do well in your class Everything you do that first week should have one or more of those elements in mind. I've got a lot of FREE LESSONS in this post. If you want to jump straight to those, click here. Without further ado, here's your first week of school, planned. Monday: Welcome and Writing When I was a brand-new teacher I did icebreakers that first day and then I would talk for a solid 30 minutes about my syllabus. Whatever you do, don’t do that. That was not a great plan because it threatened some students (icebreakers are hard), and then it bored all of them (syllabi are boring). Here’s a much better plan that I discovered over the years with help from colleagues: Save your syllabus for the second day of school. The first day of school is filled with so much listening for your students, and it’s exhausting for them. But when I say “listening,” I don’t really mean that they hear and register what the teacher is saying. It’s more like the listening that appears to be happening when a group of students is sitting at desks silently. They aren’t talking, but they aren’t listening. Because who could actually take all that information in when they’ve heard 5 other syllabi presentations that day? What’s more, why even bother listening if all that information is printed on the syllabus? They can just read it when they have questions. If you do your syllabus the first day of school, that's fine, but only spend 10-15 minutes on it. Instead of talking at length through your syllabus, have them do this first-day-of-school activity. This activity allows you to give your students either a set of questions geared toward their history as a reader and a writer or a creative writing opportunity to see what their writing style is like (which can work great for more advanced classes or creative writing classes). You can grab this lesson and over 100 more resources when you become a member of the English Teacher Vault! My History as a Reader and Writer Assignment One of the options in this activity asks students a set of questions about their history as a reader and as a writer. These questions are broad as well as specific and work great with 9th-11th graders. Have them write for a pretty big chunk of the class period. Then, over the next several days you can read through these and get a sense of who your students are in a way that did not require them to embarrass themselves or think of something clever that rhymes with their names. Having students create name plates on that first day of school that they then bring back all week is also incredibly helpful as you start learning names. I go into a lot more details about this lesson in this blog post “Want An Outstanding Activity For The First Day of School?” One added benefit of this activity for the first day of school is that it immediately gets students writing in your classroom, and they will start to relate your class with a place where meaningful writing is going to happen. It sets the tone. I like to start with a narrative writing unit early in the school year, and this first-day activity is narrative writing. Some students could later draw from what they’ve started here and develop it into a longer narrative writing piece. Tuesday: Syllabus, Accounts, and Norms Briefly, cover your syllabus. For Tuesday, hit the high points of your syllabus if you didn't go over it Monday, but do not read the syllabus to your students. I find it best to explain the late work policy, when you are available to respond to emails, and what your “office hours” are. Besides these things, students can read what’s on your syllabus. It’s also helpful to have your syllabus designed as an infographic that draws students’ attention to key places and lets them take the information in quickly and easily. We have an editable syllabus template in the English Teacher Vault that you can make your own when you become a member! Set up accounts. If students need to set up any type of account for your classroom, this is the day to do it. Set aside 10 minutes for students to do this and then move on. Establish classroom norms. The most important thing you will do on day two is to establish your classroom norms for the year. If you are not familiar with the concept of classroom norms, this will revolutionize how you handle classroom management, especially with secondary students. High school students are transitioning between childhood and adulthood, so it’s important they have some voice in what the expectations are for them at school. They have more ownership this way and more buy-in. If this is all totally new to you, please jump over to this blog post and take 5 minutes to read all about what classroom norms are and the benefits of using them in your secondary classroom. In this blog post, my former colleague, Sam Bradford breaks down what norms are and how you can set them up early in the school year. Essentially, norms are principles decided upon by all your students--they are not rules that the teacher created and imposes on students. They are short and easy to remember, and they should also be revisited frequently. You can have your students brainstorm individually, and then work in small groups to start developing the classroom norms. As a class, you will ultimately decide on a handful of norms that will be your guiding principles every day. These norms might change later in the school year, and that is totally fine. They are dynamic! Here is a great free resource that walks you through how to set up norms in your high school ELA classroom: Norms Construction – A Process of Negotiation – School Reform Initiative Wednesday: Get Into Grammar Now that you’ve set up your classroom norms, you can jump into the content of your class. It’s important to get to meaningful learning in that first week to set the tone that this is a place where purposeful learning will happen. A focus on grammar is a way that students can be successful that first week, get needed review, and have the essentials that they will need to do well in your class going forward. By teaching a few highly-engaging grammar lessons this first week of school, you will set your students up for a clear path toward powerful writing for the rest of the school year. Teach vivid verbs on third day of school. Verbs are familiar to your students, but most students don’t realize the power of using action verbs instead of linking verbs. This lesson gets them there. I’ve put together a free parts of speech unit that I’d love to give to you, so you have nothing to prep on this day at all (and for several other days those first few weeks). Each lesson includes: Direct instruction on the concepts of action and liking verbs, strong nouns, adjectives, and adverbs Amazing mentor sentences that showcase the power of each part of speech Sentence frames for students to start practicing using parts of speech well A video writing prompt that will further instruct students in using the concepts in their own writing Quick writes to follow up the lesson and to allow students to work with each part of speech The free lessons will give students a sense that they have a path to becoming better writers, and your classroom is the place where that will happen. Thursday: Build On Grammar For Writing Success For the fourth day of school, continue teaching grammar in a way that is engaging, purposeful, and with a clear purpose: for students to become better writers. From time to time, it’s good to start class with a very short hands-on game to review grammar concepts. These games should be low-stakes, and early in the school year they should not be competitive. Remember, you’re working hard to create a safe place that first week. This hands-on grammar game allows students to look at mentor sentences and then determine if each sentence has a linking verb or an action verb. Students can do this activity in pairs, or you can do it as a full class. There are several variations of how you could use this game depending on the size of your class. This activity comes with the free parts of speech unit! After this game, jump into a lesson on using strong nouns. I know what you are probably thinking, “My high school students know all about nouns.” And I hear you, and I get that. They do know a thing or two about nouns, but let me tell you what this lesson does and does not do: It does not: Require students write down the definition of nouns Require students do tedious worksheets finding nouns It does: Challenge students to think about how to use nouns intentionally Remind students of the difference between concrete and abstract nouns Immediately give students a chance to write meaningful prose using nouns intentionally Let students have a little fun thinking about and playing around with nouns If you’re worried that around this time (two grammar lessons in two days) your students will start to moan, whine, and complain that “grammar is boring,” or that they “know all this already,” or that “there’s no point in knowing grammar,” let me say this can be your response: Grammar is a tool for better writing. It is my strong belief that knowing grammar is indeed useless if you are only memorizing a bunch of terms (i.e. an adjective modifies a noun or pronoun). It's also useless if students are only working with grammar in isolation on worksheets or drills that don't affect their writing. The purpose of grammar is for students to understand how language works, so they can apply those concepts to their own writing, creating powerful pieces of writing that let their voices be heard and even effect change. That’s it in a nutshell, but if you want to read more so that you are ready for your students (totally valid) questions regarding the point of grammar, check out this blog post,

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.

Even experienced teacher’s get first day of school jitters when starting a new gig. Not only do you have to meet a dozen or more new colleagues (in your second language), you also have to introduce…

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

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

Writing first week of school lesson plans are overwhelming since you’re not in your planning groove after summer break. So, I planned for you!

If you are looking for some fun ways to start the year with your upper elementary students, then consider adding in one of these 5 ideas!

As teachers, we are always looking for new ways to engage students and build classroom community during the first week of school. There is often a lot of anxiety for both the teacher and the student

I cannot tell you how much I dread the first week of school anticipation. Here are some first week of science activities...

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!

I'm Sharing My Kindergarten Lesson Plans for Week One Of School! Including Freebies: Insta-Portrait and Build Your Name Printable Activities!

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.

Get ready for the first day of school with these Kissing Hand activities. These back-to-school printables are perfect for preschool and kindergarten classrooms!

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!

Classroom community building activities and free ideas and lesson plans to kick off the school year or implement at any time.