The first day back at school is an important day for both students and teachers. It will set the tone for the rest of the year and is a great chance for you to get to know your students and your students to get to know you. In that spirit, we’ve come up with some fun and engaging back-to-school activities for kids such as books to read, ice breaker exercises and more. These are some simple ways to help your new students get over their first day jitters and get into the school year.
First Day of School Books
The first day of school is going to be a hectic day for students, parents and teachers alike; a good way to slow down a bit and take stock is to read a good book to your kids that is specific to the situation. Quill.com has some good first day of school books covering everything from first day jitters to instructional books for teachers. Reading to your students is a great way to ease the day a bit while entertaining your students at the same time (because everybody loves Curious George).
Icebreakers
You’re coming back after a summer of beach trips, summer camps, barbeques, and pool parties — kids are going to need a little encouragement to get back into the swing of things. This icebreaker is a simple but fun activity that won’t cost you an arm and a leg and might even get your kids to crack a smile or two in the process.
Using sticky notes, write out the names of pop culture personalities, historical figures, etc., and stick a note with a name on each student’s forehead. Once everyone is properly attired in their new head gear, pair up the students and give them 3 shots (yes or no questions) to guess the name.
Once they figure it out, allow them to help the other students who are still guessing. It’s an old twist on a classic game. Just make sure the names you choose are known and acceptable to your students: The latest boy band members? Yes. Your favorite Game of Thrones characters? Maybe not.
Making Rules Fun
Delivering your classroom rules can be a dry and monotonous bit of your first day activities. However, if you can make a recitation of the laws of the classroom a bit more fun, why not do it?
Any kind of memorization games can be used here — a crossword puzzle with clues about the classroom rules is a quick and easy way to get kids thinking on the first day — and not about what they’ll be doing after school. An index card question and answer game is a good idea as well.
Who are you?
Getting your students to know you — who you are, what music you like, what your favorite books are (again — Curious George’s First Day of School is totally acceptable) — is a great first day of school activity. It humanizes you and offers you a chance to get to know the kids in return.
Now that you have a couple starter ideas about what to do for the first day of school, feel free to tweak these a bit to suit the needs of your specific classroom. Good luck on beating those first day jitters and best of luck with the rest of the school year!
Krista Wolfe
Quill.com Contributing Writer
Krista Wolfe is a marketing project manager for Quill.com where she writes to help small businesses, teachers and healthcare professionals make more informed decisions on office essentials. She also writes on our new community blog, Café Quill, about a wide range of business matters such as leadership, productivity and work-life balancing. Krista lives in Chicago and you can find her on Google+ or LinkedIN.