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Keeping balloons in the classroom to keep them engaged

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Keeping balloons in the classroom to keep them engaged

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-Setting up different sensorial station to calm the learners down

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-Setting up different sensorial station to calm the learners down

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Nursery

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I am just as excited to start off the school year as the kids are. I spend a lot of time planning back-to-school activities to build my classroom community of learners and friends. As a Responsive Classroom teacher, I know that students can not and will not learn if the classroom community is not ready for learning. So I like to start off the year with these must-do activities that help my students feel comfortable with each other and with me during the first week of school.

Day 1 is CRAZY as students rush into class with excitement anticipating meeting their classmates and teacher. There are supplies to collect and sort through, transportation lists to confirm and review and so many things to do in one single school day. Meeting and remembering all of your student's names could be difficult on the first day and it's not easy for the kids either, especially if you have 2 or more Kaitlynn's, spelled differently I may add, in one classroom. So making back-to-school name tags is a must.

Want to dive right into STEM on day 1? Give students this Name Tag Challenge.

Exciting news...this activity was featured in Good Housekeeping. For this activity, focus on and evaluate the engineering design process by observing how the students work through the criteria and use the tools to problem solve, use critical thinking skills, create & design, redesign, and evaluate. It's really just a fun way to get to know students the first week of school BEFORE delving into STEM standards. You will immediately begin to tell who can do this with ease, who gets frustrated, who redesigns over and over again, and who just gives up! It definitely helps teachers and students remember student names on day 1, plus gives you a quick informal assessment of students early on. As a class, we do a classroom museum walk when all are finished and give thoughtful comments or suggestions to each student's work (optional).
*BONUS: CREATE YOUR OWN! If you would like to change the criteria or materials, you can create your own challenge for your students. Your students can even create the challenge too. Change it up and have fun with it.
Follow me to find this FREE STEM NAME TAG CHALLENGE and more at For The Love of Teachers Shop.

I first heard about this idea on the news. A teacher did this activity in the classroom and was surprised by the responses she received. I was completely touched by this story and knew I had to try it. So I did this with my third-grade students. I gave my students one index card (that's all you need) and told them to share with me one thing that they wanted me to know about them. I said that it could be as simple or as general as their favorite color, hobby, or sport, something they like or enjoy or it could be something more personal, a feeling or a thought. I put my own spin on this activity by modeling it first by giving each student an index card with one thing I wanted them to know about me. It was easier than I thought coming up with 23 facts about myself than I thought. 😉 After each student received a card from me with a personal fact their eyes lit up. They loved receiving a fun fact about their teacher and eagerly began writing a fun fact about themselves for me. I was completely blown away by some of the responses too. Some were very general like, "I love animals." "I have 3 cats." "My favorite color is sky blue." But then some of them were more personal like, "My mom and dad just got divorced." "I cannot buy my school supplies yet." "I have no pencils at home." "My mom works late." This activity tells me so much about my students and how they were feeling on the first day of school. Some were feeling happy and excited and some were feeling a little bit anxious and scared. This is an activity that I NEVER skip because I know it helps me and my students connect and I hear get to hear all of their voices.

If you want to get fancy, I did create these cards, I Wish Teachers/Students/Classmates Knew. You Could get them here.

You can leave these cards out all year for students to fill out if they want to share something with you at any time. They can drop them into a little mailbox. We also did this as a share activity during morning meeting, I Wish My Classmates Knew.

It's a book too! It's a great read!

This is my favorite back-to-school activity. It's inspired by the "Writer's I" with the same idea in mind, but I use and display it as a getting to know you activity at the beginning of the school year. Have your students fill in the "I" template with nouns about themselves. The noun could follow an adjective or stand by itself. I always model mine first by brainstorming a list of nouns about myself in front of my students. Then I take my favorite words and order them the way I'd like from top to bottom in the "I" template. I hang these in the hallways for Open House. My students and their parents loved reading theirs and each other. I put together a few templates, black & white, and color.

Follow me to find this FREE All About Me: "I" and more at For The Love of Teachers Shop.

By the end of week 1, I always have my students work on an All About Me Project. I have done All About Me books, banners, but I really like this All About Me newspaper. It is a great way to kick off the school year with a getting to know you activity. It's easy to print and reuse year after year. You may want to give students a few days to complete this and it may trickle into week 2. I always introduce it with a sample of my own. They come out really awesome. I put these newspapers up for display and then add them to our class library. The kids love reading each other's newspapers.

You can get this All About Me Newspaper here or get the digital versions in Powerpoint here and in Google Slides here.

And for primary grades K-2, I send home an All About Me project at the end of week one. This book is the cutest getting to know you back to school activity and a class favorite. Over the summer I make a copy of the book for each of my students. I cut it out and staple each book. I send the book and directions sheet home at the end of the first week of school before the weekend (We start before Labor Day, so the kids had a 4 day weekend to work on their book.) The kids had until their assigned morning meeting "share day" to bring in their book to share with their classmates during the 2nd week of school. We shared about 4 books a day. The books became part of our classroom library so students could peruse through the books throughout the year. This project certainly helps build classroom community and friendships. Plus, they came out fantastic! The kids really enjoyed making and sharing their books with all of us.

You can get this All About Me Book Project here.

As a Responsive Classroom teacher, I always start off the year by discussing, sharing, and writing about our Hope & Dreams. I display my students' hopes and dreams as a reminder that if we all want to reach them, we have to do our part in following the rules, routines, and expectations in helping us all reach them. I ask my students to write a few sentences and answer the following 2 questions:

What are your Hopes and Dreams?

How will you reach your hope(s) and dream(s)? (What will you do (actionable steps) to reach your hope(s) and dream(s)?)

My hopes and dreams are...

I will reach my hopes and dreams by...

You could get this watercolor pennant banner to write and display your students' Hopes and Dreams here.

We revisit this activity right after the New Year to see if we have met our hopes and dreams and if we need to either keep working on reaching them or create new ones. You could check out my New Year's Hopes and Dreams here.

If you are not a Responsive Classroom teacher but want to learn more about it and need some support planning back-to-school activities, then I highly recommend the book, The First Six Weeks of School . It's absolutely my go-to for planning the first 6 weeks of school. It's easy to use and is teacher-friendly with so many great ideas. Visit For The Love Responsive Classroom for more Responsive Classroom tips and tricks!

This is a great back-to-school or beginning of the year activity for you and your students to get to know one another in a fun way. This a no-prep and easy to use activity during the first week, or even on the first day, of school. If you love the bee theme, you'll love this.

Includes:

Welcome to Our Hive cover slide- add student names in the text boxes under the bees. Insert teacher name(s), grade, school name, and school year on the lines of the beehive. Include your Bitmoji if you'd like.

Student slide- each student (and teachers) fills out ONE of these slides.

Here are 2 ideas:

1. Students insert a photo, include a fun fact, and fill out the favorites in the hive. Text boxes included.

2. Students insert a photo AND write a brief bio about themselves (family, pets, hobbies, interests, etc.), include a fun fact, and fill out the favorites in the hive. Text boxes included. *You may want to give your students a choice.

Ideas for sharing in product intro.

View in present mode, however you'd like, as a whole class, independently, or even share with your families at Back to School/Open House night. The parents love this, and so will your students. It really brings your students together as they get to know one another, make connections, build friendships, and class community.

Check this out here.

If you need help teaching and modeling back to school routines, read these related posts:

Got some great back-to-school activities and ideas to share? I'd love to hear your ideas too.

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Back to School Freebies

If you like it, then pin it!

Happy Back to School!

Christine Weis is a passionate educator, classroom management coach, wife, and mom of two busy boys. She enjoys teaching, writing, and creating resources for teachers.

Filed Under: Blog

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5 Must Do Back To School Activities- Week 1 ~ For The Love of Teachers

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BONUS: CREATE YOUR OWN! If you would like to change the criteria or materials, you can create your own challenge for your students. Your students can even create the challenge too. Change it up and have fun with it.

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Give students a name tag which they will stick at their back and then they are other students to guess the name

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1. Star strategy - Write 5 things about yourself - related to yourself (using hints) in one word. Students will try to guess the context of those words related to the individual.
2. Number line - Arrange yourself in an ascending/descending order of the distance from the school to your house.
3. 6 word story - One student will give a 6 word story based on his/her choice and another student will elaborate on the same.
4. Draw your vacation (nearpod)

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Signature Step for introduction
Starting with the Teacher, each individual will have a signature step which describes their energy.

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Mood check ins: Pre and post class
Circle time
Movement activities
Bingo, Jenga
Riddles
Curiosity questions
Magic map : Land of happiness, gratitude, kindness etc

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1. Star strategy - Write 5 things about yourself - related to yourself (using hints) in one word. Students will try to guess the context of those words related to the individual.
2. Number line - Arrange yourself in an ascending/descending order of the distance from the school to your house.
3. 6 word story - One student will give a 6 word story based on his/her choice and another student will elaborate on the same.

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Ask the students to answer:
Would you rather go to a beach or a mountain?
Would you rather get lost in a jungle or a cave?
Would you rather wake up once the alarm rings or snooze?

then interact with other students who has 2 -3 answers same as yours and find your twin.

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Ice breaker activities
- Learner's profile activities
- Goal settings
- 1 minute games/introduction conversation
- Write the names tags using things that defines their names
- Physical activities (eg. sit or stand)

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Welcoming students with personalized positive endorsement.

Guess who corner

Buddy up introduction

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Mandala Art

Move and freez
Speak your Mind
1 minute challenge
Guided Meditation
Square breathing techniques

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Grab this FREE back to school Presentation that's great for virtual learning!
Get to Know Each Other This Year!

Students love those first day ice breakers! Here is a quick and really fun get-to-know-you activity for the first week of school. Have each student take out a sheet of notebook paper and write three interesting, but not widely known, facts about him or herself. Students should not put their names on their papers.

Then have the students crumple up their papers into balls and have a "snowball" fight. After about half a minute or so (or as long as you can stand it), have each student find a snowball, which by now are all over your classroom. After uncrumpling the paper, each student must try to find the student whose snowball he or she retrieved.

Extend the activity by having students share the three facts with the class. A good way to do this is to choose one student read his or her facts. Then the student who the facts were about goes next. Continue until everyone has read theirs.

Another option is to have a second snowball fight and do it all again either with the same snowballs or with a new set

Check out Walk, Talk Trade for more ice-breaker fun or this Back to School Bundle to get your students ready to learn!

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Grab this FREE back to school Presentation that's great for virtual learning! Get to Know Each Other This Year! Students love those first day ice breakers! Here is a quick and really fun get-to-know-you activity for the first week of school.

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Building Community Before the First Day of Middle School and Beyond

This Edutopia article highlights how “Teachers can take steps to create a positive classroom culture before school even begins that will pay off throughout the year.” Though MS is specifically mentioned in the title, the ideas are good for G6-12.

​​Kervan, Lindsay. “Building Community Before the First Day of Middle School and Beyond.” Edutopia, 25 Jul. 2023, www.edutopia.org/article/building-community-middle-school.

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PS - check out the MS and ES ideas: many will be adaptable for HS!

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PS - check out the MS and ES ideas: many will be adaptable for HS!

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Ask students to bring in a small token of something that is important - meaningful to them (hobby, interests, passion, trip memory, etc) to keep in the room. - perhaps on a shelf in the classroom to establish common sense in the space.

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Great way to build rapport with students and understand students emotionally while engaging them.

Would try 'Quick, Draw' as well. Seems to be better than Pictionary !

-Kaushik

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Give students some time to create a collage of images representing their time from holidays. These are then discussed in class. Helps familiarise a new group to each other and break ice.

Jyaysi

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Use statetments mixing true and false facts. Students take turns reading a statement and the class decides if it's fact or fiction. This game sparks discussion, critical thinking skills and debunking misconceptions about the subject.

Jyaysi

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Greeting the children- (by selecting or creating a new way of greeting - Student agency) creating a child friendly environment by playing a soft background music and displaying different play resources on the table for them to explore in the classroom followed by MM- Morning message, Morning song (introduction song), reading a book related to Back to school (Interactive read aloud What they like about school or what did they do in their summer break)- They can either illustrate or turn and talk. Decorating their cubby, Understanding what are essential agreements and creating one for the class with their classmates.

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Two truths and a lie ( using anecdotes instead of adjectives)

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Two truths and a lie ( using anecdotes instead of adjectives)

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A designated space to talk to one another as the learners reach their homerooms.

-Deepika

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How to Make Students Feel Welcome Every Day

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High school teachers can use these strategies to keep students engaged in learning throughout the year.

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Have your students draw themselves. After they have done this, collect the papers and hang them up for the whole class to see. Now have students try to guess who the artists was for each picture.

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PS- look at the G1-G5 list on this padlet, lots of those work for G6-G8.

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PS- look at the G1-G5 list on this padlet, lots of those work for G6-G8.

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Set Up

Create a master "bingo" card and make enough copies for each participant.
The bingo card should contain a grid of squares each containing a statement or question that will apply to some members of your group and is in line with the objectives of your class, workshop, or event.

Directions

Hand out the bingo cards and instruct participants to mingle around introducing themselves and finding other participants who can sign their cards indicating that a statement applies to him/her e.g. if one of the squares says "speaks more than one language" and you asked me if that applied, I would sign that square on your card. Typically it is best to limit the number of squares any one person can sign on each card, e.g. no one can sign more than 1 or 2 per card, to encourage people to mingle with more people in order to fill their card.

Alternatives

Alternative Goals: You can set the goal that everyone should try to fill their card in the time allotted (recommended since this encourages the most discussion and collaboration), or you can choose to offer a prize to the person/people who finish first (encourages more competition and less discussion) or in typical bingo fashion, you can have the person who finishes a row first yell out "Bingo!" and win a prize (allows for least amount of discussion, but also requires the least amount of time).

Alternative Content: This can be adapted for almost any content so be creative e.g. squares can contain math problems, trivia questions, or personal statements such as "has lived in 2 or more countries," "doesn't have a profile on myspace or facebook," or "has stood up for someone else's rights."

Debrief

Share something you learned about one of the other participants.

Which squares were easy to fill? Which were hard?

Share something you learned about yourself during this activity.

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This game helps participants to get information on each other in a fun, competitive way.

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Kids move their bodies and get in a few laughs while playing our popular Recess Enhancement Program (REP) game, ZIp, Zap, Zoom.

Zip, Zap, Zoom

Players: 10-15

Time: 5 minutes+

Where: Auditorium, hallway, cafeteria, classroom, gymnasium, library, playground

Equipment: None

How to Play:

Form a circle and stand 6 feet away from each other.

One player starts the game by clap-pointing while saying, "zip," to a player on his or her left.

That player will clap-point and say, "zap" to a player on his or her right.

Next, that player will clap-point while saying, "zoom" to someone new. Keep the pattern going.

Restart if the wrong command is said or someone claps in the wrong direction.

Check for Understanding

What comes after zoom?

Which way do you turn for zap?

Game Tip

Do a practice round before starting?

Conflict Resolution Tip

Make sure players look each other in the eye before passing.

Outdoor Tip

Add jumping or squatting to the clap-passing movements.
PLAY: REP IT OUT
EASY: Complete in 30 seconds.

MEDIUM: Add lunges to the clap-passing movement.

HARD: Stand on one foot while waiting.

Help Asphalt Green provide resources for kids to stay active. Asphalt Green, like many nonprofits, has felt the effects of COVID-19. We need your support now more than ever to continue providing for the community. We are stronger together.
DONATE TODAY

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Kids move their bodies and get in a few laughs while playing our popular Recess Enhancement Program (REP) game, ZIp, Zap, Zoom. Players: 10-15 Time: 5 minutes+ Where: Auditorium, hallway, cafeteria, classroom, gymnasium, library, playground Equipment: None Form a circle and stand 6 feet away from each other.

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Makes young ones comfortable in case they have some language barriers or are new to the environment..

Dipali

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Getting to know our learners..
Can be roll a dice, spin the wheel, find someone who, rapid fire, guess a  truth and a myth about me...

Dipali

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Character Greeting
A lot of Ice Breaker Activities
Sunshines On
Earn a Entry Ticket By doing This
Positive Quotes Day-

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Know your teacher!! Also termed as Meet your teacher!! 

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Know your teacher!! Also termed as Meet your teacher!! 

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Can be a quiz, can be would you rather, can be a guessing game, anything creative..

Dipali

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1.Prepare a good introduction

Introducing yourself can be a very good start to welcome students but don’t just introduce yourself as a teacher, do mention your hobbies, interests, and a fun and interesting story that would gaze the attention of students. Students can be very excited to know that the teacher is interactive and that would create a friendly environment around the whole class. To create a humorous environment the teacher can also tell a real-life funny story to the students or the story behind being a teacher.

2. Know about your students

Taking introductions of a student is very important for a new class since the first class should be interactive and a two-way interaction should be held up. The teacher can remember the name of the student and can ask about their hobbies and areas of interest which would make the introduction more friendly. The teachers can also ask students to tell about their most embarrassing or most proud moment to attract the attention of the whole class.
3.Setting up goals for the year

A short review of the syllabus should be given to the class to make them aware of the content that would be delivered to them by the teachers. This would let the students know what a teacher would be expecting from the class and how much effort should a student would make to be good academically. Although the syllabus should not be discussed in too much detail on the very first day as the teacher would be reviewing the syllabus again on upcoming classes. So, the first day should be a light interactive, and fun day including an overview of the expectations and goals of the class.
4.Allowing students to showcase their skills

On the first day, the teacher can ask every student to showcase their talents in front of the class. This would create a fun environment and students would then know more about their classmates. However, a student must not be forced to do a certain task as could create a negative environment, hence the first day should be kept cool, fun, and interactive, and activities like these help in making the first day more memorable to all of the students.

5. Ask students to write their expectations for the year

The teacher can ask the students to write their expectations from the new class as it would help to prepare the teacher for the academic year and the teacher would know if anything extra could be done to make the learning more interesting by fulfilling their expectations.