10 of the Best Back to School Activities!

It’s back to school time and time to think about meaningful but fun back to school activities! In this post, I will share ten of my favorites. Watch for future posts because I’ve got lots more!

1 – TEACH CLASSROOM PROCEDURES

Veteran teachers know that procedures can be taught on the first day, but need to be reviewed and practiced every day for a few weeks. This intentional time to learn/practice procedures pays off throughout the year with more time for learning.

The problem is that you want kids to actively learn and practice these procedures, not just listen to you sound like Charlie Brown’s teacher while you explain them and review them.

Here is a great way to teach classroom procedures from Teacher Thrive:

~Write common questions that students might have about classroom procedures (for example: when can we go to the bathroom? Where do we turn in work?).

Try to have one for every student. Create questions that will touch on every procedure that you want to teach.

~Number each question, type them in a document, print, and cut them out. Give each student one question at the beginning of the day. (As you number the questions, start with the procedure questions that HAVE to be discussed early in the day or at least discussed on the first day.)

~At different points throughout the day, call on the numbers in order: “Who has number 1? Could you please read your question?” The student will read their question and then you discuss the procedure.

~Maybe do a few questions at a time (no more than five) so that it doesn’t become a marathon session and your students’ eyes glaze over with boredom.

Need a list of classroom procedures?

2 – USE A SCAVENGER HUNT FOR STUDENTS TO GET TO KNOW EACH OTHER
Scavenger hunts are a great way to get kids up and moving and talking to each other. There are a ton of great inexpensive resources for this on Teachers Pay Teachers HERE.

3 – TRY OTHER GET-ACQUAINTED GAMES
If scavenger hunts aren’t your thing OR if you want to do more get-acquainted activities on the second day of school, you could try some other fun games like the Cupcake Game or the M & M game (grades 5+ version HERE and one for all grades HERE.

4 – USE A SCAVENGER HUNT TO LEARN ABOUT THE CLASSROOM
Scavenger hunts are another great way for students to locate areas of your classroom and learn their way around. HERE is a good editable template on Teachers Pay Teachers.

5 – CREATE NORMS FOR BEHAVIOR
Spend time discussing your class norms (or rules) for behavior and make some sort of display.

At our school, our PBIS acronym is CLIMB (Caring, Learning, Intelligent Choices, Motivation, Be Respectful). We make the letters for the word CLIMB out of poster board and give one letter to each group of students. Their job is to write and draw on the letter to illustrate/explain what our class will look like/sound like when we are following these expectations. We hang the letters up above the board so they are visible, front and center!

We also narrow down one norm for each letter and write that on a piece of chart paper. Then everyone, including the teacher, signs the chart and we keep it on display all year.

6 – CREATE A VISION FOR YOUR CLASSROOM
I love this idea from Mrs. Robinson’s Classroom Blog.

Here’s how to do it:

~Post six pieces of chart paper around your classroom with the following titles:

1 – What should kids in our class do to make sure our class runs as smoothly as possible?
2 – What do you hope to learn this year in ____ grade?
3 – What do YOU need to do in order to be successful this year?
4 – What will ______ (your name) need to do to help you this year?
5 – Our classroom should be _______ every day.
6 – School is important because ________.

NOTE: you could certainly change these topics to something else. The point is to get your students thinking about how to help themselves and the entire classroom to do their very best this year.

~Put students in groups of three. Allow each group to spend two minutes at each chart, collaborating and then responding to each question on a sticky note. (When I do things like this, I set a timer and then direct students to rotate to the next chart when the timer goes off.)

Here’s a photo from her blog:

Source: Mrs. Robinson’s Classroom

~After each group has visited each chart, hang all of the charts and gather the class to take a look and discuss each chart. Talk about what you notice (trends, good ideas, etc.).

~You might just leave these charts posted for a few days, reviewing them periodically. Another idea is to create a class pledge. To do this, take the big ideas from the charts and write a paragraph together (as a shared writing activity). Revise as needed, then make a final copy and post it in your classroom. I have seen some classes read their pledge together aloud every morning as part of their morning routine. Other classes read it one day a week, usually on Monday. Do what works for you!

Here’s an example of her class pledge:

Source: Mrs. Robinson’s Classroom

7 – DISPLAY BOOKS EVERYWHERE
Have plenty of books on display. This signals to your students that reading is important in this class. Even if you teach just math or just science, find books related to your subject and display them.

You can use inexpensive plate stands like THESE to display books, both picture books and books from your classroom library.

My post about great picture books to start off the year is HERE and an even more comprehensive list is in my Teachers Pay Teachers store HERE.

8 – SEND HOME A PARENT SURVEY AS “HOMEWORK” FOR PARENTS/CAREGIVERS
Consider sending some sort of family information form asking for information about the child. Parents/caregivers really appreciate this as it gives them an opportunity to share information with you and it shows your commitment to getting to know their child right away. You might include questions such as these:

~what does your child like to do for fun outside of school?
~what does your child like about school?
~what has your child not liked about school?
~what are your goals for their child this year?

For a printable list of questions that are ready to send home, here’s a link!

9 – REVIEW CLASSROOM PROCEDURES

Now that you have taught the procedures, you’ll have to review and practice them frequently during the first few weeks of school. (You’ll find that you have to review them after winter break and spring break too!)

Here are some fun ways to review from Kalena at Teaching Made Practical:

~use a “Find Somebody Who” to review procedures (she has a free sample of this on her site);

~take pictures of students following the procedures correctly and post in the classroom;

~create anchor charts of the most important procedures (or have your students do that in small groups) and post in the classroom;

~in small groups, have students act out the incorrect way to follow the procedure, then model the correct way;

~use Blabberize, a free online tool, where students can create talking pictures to explain a classroom procedure! This is a lot of fun. Kalena explains more about Blabberize HERE.

10 – AND REVIEW SOME MORE!
THIS is a great editable resource on Teachers Pay Teachers that uses memes to teach class rules and procedures!