Make going back to school fun for your students with these activities that will bring smiles and laughter to your classroom!
- Make a Name Rainbow– Help your students introduce themselves by making these adorable name rainbows that are also perfect for bulletin boards. Simply prepare some cloud cutouts using white construction paper and short strips of colored paper. Ask students to write their first name in the middle of the cloud and then each letter of their name on each strip as shown. For Kindergarten and first-grade classes, students can simply write the letters of their first name and then glue the strips to the back of the cloud. If your class is more advanced, brainstorm adjectives that students can use to describe themselves to make an acrostic poem.
2. Capture the Moment– Create a fun first-day-of-school photo op for your students! Encourage parents to snap a picture of their child when they drop them off in the morning or you can take a picture of each student as a gift for the end of the year. If you need FREE photo props like the ones below, click on the link here.
3. Make 1st-Day-of-School Crowns -Celebrate the first day with these fun crowns! As soon as students come into the classroom, welcome them with these crowns to color and make their own. Students can wear them throughout the day and bring them home to keep for memories! Click on the link here to grab crowns for Head Start, preschool, Pre-K, kindergarten, first grade, second grade (plus 2nd day of second grade), and third grade (plus 3rd day of third grade).
4. Share with Emojis– The beginning of the year is filled with emotions. Encourage your students to use a yellow circle cutout to draw an emoji to show how they are feeling about being in a new grade. Use this to show how common it is to have so many feelings and share the same feelings about starting a new school year as a class. This will allow all students to express their feelings in a fun way while building community. After sharing, use the emojis to make a pictograph for a math lesson. For the lesson and more, click on this link.
5. Our Class Rules– Brainstorm the type of behavior that your students wish to see and show this year then work together to create a short set of rules as a class. Once five or fewer rules have been decided and voted on, invite each student to write their name on the anchor chart with the rules. This helps show that each student is accountable and responsible for following each class rule.
6. Set Goals Together– Help students start the year out strong by setting goals together! This book is a perfect read-aloud to help students think about all the things that they want to work on and improve. After reading, students can write down their goals and share them as a class. Click on the link for the Back-to-School printables below and more.
7. Review and Practice Skills– The beginning of the year is the perfect time to review and practice basic skills. These easy-to-complete skill sheets for reading, writing, and math are fun and can be compiled to make an adorable bus booklet!
8. Incorporate STEM! -Encourage team building and collaboration at the beginning of the year by incorporating some interactive STEM lessons into your day! Below is an example of a fun STEM activity that ties a popular nursery rhyme to a challenge that encourages students to work together to investigate different materials to protect the Dish from “Hey Diddle, Diddle”. For this activity and more Back-to-School STEM activities, click here.
I hope these activities give you some ideas to make your classroom more fun and interactive for back to school! If you need more Back to School books and activities, click on the image below.
