Back to School Activities

Pretty soon all teachers and students will be back in classes again. Are you still looking for an activity or two to round out your first day? The first day of a new school year is very important. It establishes you as an authority figure in your classroom and gives students their first impression of you. It is very important that you begin to get to know your students from day one, and that your students get to know each other as well!

There’s all sorts of things you can do to accomplish this. You can try activities, writing prompts, crafts…there’s a myriad of options, and so one is sure to work for you! If you’re stuck, try out one or more of the ideas we’ve come up with!

Activities

A fun activity to encourage students to speak to one another is to have them become detectives. Students will become their own version of Sherlock Holmes as they investigate clues about their classmates. Each student gets a card and writes down clues about themselves. Give some examples of the types of clues students should use. Remind your students they cannot use the words on the index cards! They must engage their brain to try and ask their fellow students questions related to the clues on the cards without using the word. This activity will make students think and interact with others as well!

If you’re looking for a classic activity, a time capsule is the way to go. There are many ways to handle an activity like this, but here’s what we recommend. Give each of your students a brown paper bag and tell them to decorate it however they want. They can draw on it, glue pictures of their favorite shows, books, sport players…whatever they want! Inside the bag they should place several items they feel represent them. Make your own bag as an example. They should also fill out a sheet of paper with answers to questions you come up with. Some great ideas are favorite school subject, school subject they struggle with, favorite TV show, hobbies, etc. Later that week every student explains their bag and chooses several questions on their sheet to share with the class. At the end of the year they get their bags back and can see how they’ve progressed and what has changed!

An active social life at school is almost as important as an active academic life at school. Some students struggle with making friends. Maybe it’s because they are shy. Maybe because they have a difficult time finding people with the same interests as them. Well that’s what this activity is for. Line your students up and instruct them to step forward if the answer is “yes” to any of the questions you ask. At this point, ask questions related to student’s interests. Some examples: “Have you ever been to a baseball game?” “Do you enjoy reading?” “Do you play an instrument?” Invite students who step forward to share details if they wish. Once the activity is complete, encourage students to seek out others that answered yes to some of the questions they answered yes to. This allows them to discover what students they have things in common with, and allows you to get to know them better.  

Writing Prompts

Instead of simply asking students to write an essay about what they did over the summer, focus on a writing prompt that is going to help you get to know them better. Here’s some options!

·         What are your hobbies? Write an essay describing them, why you love them, and a personal anecdote about you doing each one.

·         What goals do you have going into school this year? What goals do you have for the years beyond this one?

·         What was an important event in your life, and how has it changed you?

·         What do you enjoy about school? What do you not enjoy about school?

·         The science project that went wrong (fiction)

·         The class that had no rules (fiction)

Of course, that’s just a small list of the many activities and writing prompts you may use. We hope that some of them will be useful!