Six Back to School Activities for a Successful First Week
Back to school can be exciting and stressful, so having back to school activities planned will reduce anxiety.
That first week is about building relationships and getting to know each other before diving into the learning.
I find the first week of school to be a quick transition from strangers to a community, and I want to squeeze an introduction to routines and procedures in there while trying to make it start to stick.
Several activities work well as we head into the school year and I cannot wait to share them with you.
Have students determine a word of the year
Create a class contract
Have students complete an All About Me activity
Do a scavenger hunt
Play Would You Rather
Have students do an email etiquette lesson
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Melissa Burch 0:00
Hey friends welcome back to annotated ELA. If it's your first time listening, welcome. We are continuing the back to school fun with back to school activities for the first day or even the first week of school. Because Ready or not, it's coming. Let's talk back to school activities and planning for the first week. If you're interested in checking out the activities mentioned in this episode, go to the show notes at annotatedela.com/episode 15.
Melissa Burch 0:30
The first suggestion for our back to school activity is Word of the Year. I know this activity is generally completed during the New Year. But having students start the school year with a word that symbolizes their goals and hopes for the school year is a lot of fun and motivational. It's also a glimpse into each student and who they are and what they value. Which doubles as I get to know you activity and possibly even a writing activity. This activity can be a digital activity or a physical product. However you use it, it is beneficial and useful. Either way, having the students complete a physical version of their word of the year allows them to put it in a prominent place in their binder or their notebooks and see it all year long, which is a great keepsake and a great reminder for them throughout the year.
Melissa Burch 1:21
The second suggestion for a back to school activity is a class contract or norms. A class contract is a sure way to create community and buy in. First you want to do a brain dump. This can be done as a whole class, as a think pair share, or as a small group activity. Once the brain dump is completed, come back as a whole class if you've separated out into smaller groups, and share out. No idea is a bad idea during any of the brain dump time. Once everyone has brain dumped as an entire class, begin to combine and narrow down ideas that are similar and narrow this down to three to five norms or expectations. Finalize the norms by making a poster and having students all sign the poster. Funny side note, most of my middle schoolers tell me they can't sign the class contract poster because they don't know cursive. My response is always, "Well, how are you going to sign things for me when you're rich and famous." So we practice signatures, it's always a fun time. You can add some extra fun by having each class give themselves a class name and even a mascot and then putting it on the posters. This differentiates it and brings them together as a class, we will create our class norms, we'll narrow it down, and then I'll put it together in a fancier way for them to sign, and then we laminate and hang up. These don't need to be giant posters. It can be done on eight and a half by eleven. printer paper, do what works for you in your class. But it's always fun. And when students have voice and choice they have buy-in and they know what the expectations are because they helped create them.
Melissa Burch 3:06
The third suggestion for a back to school activity is an all about me activity. This is a versatile activity because it can be very simple or more complex. It can be a one-page activity and include a writing component where you ask students their preferred name, their birthday, if they have pets, if they have siblings, who their immediate family is that lives with them, goals, sports, hobbies, anything that you can think of. It can also be deeper activities where they create images that symbolize who they are, and then write about it. The All About Me activity is meant to be a way for students to feel like their voice is being heard. And it should be quick and simple for the teacher to review so that going over these activities at the beginning of the year is easy and not more exhausting, but are also useful and intentional for getting to know the students in front of you.
Melissa Burch 4:04
Suggestion number four for a back to school activity is to have a bingo game or type of scavenger hunt. This presents so many options, you can create scavenger hunts for anything at the beginning of the year. Do a scavenger hunt to help them locate items in the syllabus, in the textbook, or in your classroom. And you can make it extra fun by making the scavenger hunt a bingo card. The scavenger hunt that I have used in the past brings students to where materials are stored, what they need to do to use the restroom, the classroom library procedures, and they have to find the teacher and share information with the teacher. They get to know their peers. The possibilities are endless. This activity gets students up and moving, which is an added benefit that first week of school because they are spending a lot of time sitting and taking in rules, and they're just glazing over. When it is framed as expectations and when they're up and moving, it is just another way for them to take in that information.
Melissa Burch 5:11
Suggestion number five for a back to school activity is a game of Would You Rather in speed dating format, except maybe don't call it speed dating. Students grab a card that has a Would You Rather question on it, then they find a partner as quick as they can. If you don't like a lot of chaos in your room. This activity can be set up with students sitting at desks and then rotating through desks. So students grab a card, put their hand up in the air and find a partner that has their hand up as quickly as possible. Then Student A reads their Would You Rather question to Student B. Student B answers that question with a small explanation to it, then Student B reads their question to Student A and Student A answers in the same format. When both students have answered they switch cards, put their hand up and find a new partner. This is a lot of fun. The timer should be set for about three to five minutes, you don't need longer than that. And an added benefit for this is it doesn't have to just be a beginning of the year activity. It can be used all year long to break up lessons or other activities you're doing, and the Would You Rather cards have numbers in the corner. So it can be used to group students as well. It is a fun, do it all activity.
Melissa Burch 6:30
And finally, the sixth suggestion for a back to school activity is an email etiquette lesson. There is so much writing that can be done at the beginning of the year. So do what works. But I don't know about you, as the year progresses, I get emails from my students about their assignments, and their grades. Those emails leave a lot to be desired. If you know what I mean. Starting the year with how to properly format an email saves my sanity, almost. This will have to be practiced over and over and over again. But laying the foundation now gives me a place to start to remind them what is expected when they send an email. And the added fun is that when we practice this the first week of school, the students send emails to teachers about what they're excited about for the year. What a great way to start the year and pep up some of those teachers as we come back to school. Full disclosure, most of these activities are not taking up an entire class period. Depending on how long class periods are. Some might feel a majority of that time. These are just activities that are meant to be something fun and quick and simple to do to save teachers sanity that first week of school.
Melissa Burch 7:49
Let's recap the six activities for back to school activities. Suggestion number one is to have students determine and complete a Word of the Year Activity. Suggestion number two is to create a class contract or expectations. Activity suggestion number three is to have students complete an All About Me activity. Suggestion number four for a back to school activity is to do a scavenger hunt. Suggestion number five of our back to school activity is to play Would You Rather. And suggestion number six of our back to school activity is to have students do an Email Etiquette Lesson. I hope that there's something that you have found helpful and that you can use in your classroom. Check out the show notes for everything I mentioned in this episode at annotatedela.com/episode 15. Until next time, friends I hope the back to school season is going well for you because the magic is in the process.
