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A Back-to-School Checklist for Busy Teachers

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Start this list now for a stress-free first day at school.

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If you’re feeling tired and disengaged, there’s a good chance it’s related to trauma, secondary traumatic stress, and/or “battle fatigue.”

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The start of the school year can trigger some serious anxiety for students - and teachers. Through the use of Social Emotional Learning (SEL) strategies, educators can help students cope with back-to-school anxiety to truly thrive in class. Here's how to recognize the signs of student distress and ways to guide students through anxiety. And, these technique can definitely work for educators so that we can calm our own classroom anxieties too!

What is SEL?

According to The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL), "social and emotional learning (SEL) is the process through which children and adults acquire and effectively apply the knowledge, attitudes, and skills necessary to understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions." SEL can be seamlessly integrated into a school's culture and norms or it can be explicitly taught outside of academic learning time.

Read more about bringing SEL into the classroom and why we need SEL now.

Understanding anxiety

"From time to time, all individuals experience varying degrees of anxiety, fears, and worries. Anxiety is a normal experience that typically reflects anticipation about events that might have a negative outcome," according to Kim Killu and R. Marc A. Crundwell in their article " Students with Anxiety in the Classroom: Educational Accommodations and Interventions." When students don't learn coping skills, anxiety can have deep and long-term impacts upon student performance.

About "half of students diagnosed with an anxiety disorder experience significant difficulty functioning at school. Anxiety lowers academic performance and productivity, although students with mild levels of anxiety can sometimes compensate using persistence and hard work," says A.P. Wagner in Worried No More: Help and Hope for Anxious Children. " Tardiness, absenteeism, and perfectionism, common with more severe levels of anxiety, can lead to incomplete work, test failure, or possible repetition of a grade."

Whether you're working with kindergartners starting school for the very first time or experienced students returning to high school, each new school year can trigger feelings of anxiety. While new-school-year anxiety feelings rooted in things like anticipation or uncertainty may not be part of a full-on, generalized anxiety disorder, these emotions can still be distressing.

Children and adolescents can start to feel anxiety during the summer as the new school year approaches. They may have worries such as: Will I like my teacher? Where are my classes? Will I know anyone? What if no one likes me? What if I get scared? What if I'm bullied? Although anxiety and school can go hand-in-hand for some students, there are many ways we can help our students.

What teachers can do

Say hello before the school year starts

A great way to demystify the new year is to introduce yourself before school starts. Write a welcome letter directly to your students and send it to them at home. Include a photo of yourself and one of the classroom to alleviate anticipatory anxiety. Doing so also provides context and a familiar face for students to look for when they arrive at school. While this may seem labor-intensive, you only need to write one letter to send to all of your students, and this labor of postal love will go a long way in reducing anxiety for your incoming learners. It can also make the first few days a lot less stressful.

Know the symptoms

Some students, especially younger ones, may wear their school anxiety on their sleeve. They may come to class crying, feeling terrified of being separated from their family and operating independently in a new environment. But educators should also look for students who isolate themselves, appear irritable, refuse to eat, seem extra tired, have trouble concentrating, or who display nervous behaviors like nail-biting or fidgeting.

"It's common for kids to avoid talking about how they feel because they're worried that others (especially their parents) might not understand. They may fear being judged or considered weak, scared, or "babyish," according to KidsHealth. "This leads many kids to feel alone or misunderstood." Recognize the signs. Let your students know that it's okay to be nervous and that you are there to support them.

Try using worry stones

Worry stones are oval-shaped, polished stones with a thumbprint indentation. When students feel anxious, encourage them to rub their thumb across the stone as they take a deep breath. This method of self-soothing is a form of cognitive behavioral therapy. Over time, it becomes a habitual practice to self-calm and shift one's concentration away from worry. Teachers can give anxious students - or all students - a stone to hold for a day or the first week of school.

Get grounded

Grounding is a technique that helps divert the brain away from the spiral of anxious thoughts back into the present moment. Chicago's Dr. Sarah Allen, a clinical psychologist, notes that "When we start to think about something stressful, our amygdala, a section of the brain located in the temporal lobe, goes into action. The amygdala, simply put, is the part of our brain that is responsible for our emotional responses, especially fear. It is great for preparing for emergency events, but sometimes it kicks into action and detects a threat where there really isn't any."

Grounding techniques, she argues, help us break out of this "vicious cycle" of anxiety by re-focusing on what's around us through our senses. The 5-4-3-2-1 Grounding Technique is a popular one that can be used with children and young adults.

For each part of this activity, students can say or write down what they see, feel, hear, smell, or taste.

5 - SEE: Have students look around for 5 things they can see, and state what those are.

4 - FEEL: Ask students to list off 4 things they can feel.

3 - HEAR: Students should listen for 3 sounds they can hear and say what those sounds are.

2 - SMELL: Tell students to identify 2 things they can smell.

1 - TASTE: Ask students to state 1 thing they can taste or want to taste and say it out loud.

Finish by taking a deep, cleansing breath.

Let your worries go with the Worry Jar

The Worry Jar is an activity that helps students mindfully identify their worries and give themselves permission to shift their focus away from them for a while. "It is like storing them for safe keeping," says clinical psychologist Dr. Stephanie Margolese. "Just knowing that their worries are contained in the jar can free your child from having to replay them in their minds." Ask students to write down their worries and anxieties on a piece of paper. If they're too young to write, students can tell you their worries and you can write them down. It helps if the teacher plays along as well by writing down their own worries. Next, have students fold up their paper and put it in the jar while saying: "I can let this worry go for now." Store the worry jar out of sight. If you'd like to give students a space to express their anxieties, you can also schedule "Weather Report" or "Status Update" times when students are encouraged to share their worries in writing or out loud as a classroom family. Sharing anxieties can help students see that their peers may be feeling many of the same things and it can build empathy amongst classmates.

Read more about Social Emotional Learning: The Magic of Circle Talk

Teach mindfulness with the Squeeze & Release muscle technique

Ask students to lie down or sit comfortably. Turn on some calming music, and guide students to squeeze and then relax each muscle in their body, one at a time, from their head to their toes. With each release, have students exhale a nice big breath. The teacher should verbally guide students through each section, head to toe, and then ask them to squeeze their entire body and let go with a final deep breath. This calming exercise helps student maintain focus on their mind and body while slowing down the nervous system. Encourage students to use this technique whenever they feel worry creeping in or if they can't sleep.

Check out our mindfulness activities for elementary classrooms.

Teacher tools to test out

The Calm Schools Initiative

Calm.com is giving its mindfulness training tools to every teacher in the world - for free. Simply sign up and any teacher with a K-12 classroom will get free access to Calm's paid subscription service content. "Teachers will have unlimited access to our growing library of guided meditations and mindfulness exercises, including Calm Kids, our programs tailored for age groups from pre-K through high school."

Back-to-school anxiety resources

For young learners

For adolescent learners
Jennifer L.M. Gunn spent 10 years in newspaper and magazine publishing before moving to public education. She is a curriculum designer, teaching coach, and high school educator in New York City. She is also cofounder of the annual EDxEDNYC Education Conference for teacher-led innovation, and regularly presents at conferences on the topics of adolescent literacy, leadership, and education innovation.

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Using SEL to Alleviate Back to School Anxiety | Resilient Educator

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The start of the school year can trigger some serious anxiety for students - and teachers. Through the use of Social Emotional Learning (SEL) strategies,

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Social emotional learning (SEL) is more important now than ever.

SEL is the process by which people, both children and adults, develop the knowledge, self-awareness and personal well-being to build the emotional competencies that help them thrive in both academics and life.

Likewise, social emotional learning activities give kids the tools they need to deal with challenging situations, cope with new environments, develop a growth mindset and forge positive relationships with their peers and beyond.

Wondering how to bring social emotional learning to your classroom or school? We'll cover:

We even asked teachers who use Prodigy to give us their recommendations!

What is social emotional learning?

Social emotional learning helps students build social skills, form healthy relationships and manage their emotions.

According to the Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL):

For many students, school is a major source of meaningful relationships and one of the first places they make social connections outside of their immediate family. Building these skills from a young age is incredibly important for academic and lifelong success.

So what? You might say. Children learn these skills on their own - they don't need to be taught at school.

You might be surprised.

Social emotional learning needs to be taught to have maximum impact. Researchers agree that students with well-developed social emotional skills see improved academic and social outcomes:

So what, exactly, does social emotional learning include? CASEL lists five core social emotional learning competencies:

1. Self-awareness -Recognizing emotions and thoughts, understanding how they influence behavior and assessing personal strengths and weaknesses.

2. Self-management - Regulating thoughts, emotions and behaviors. Setting goals, controlling impulses and managing stress.

3. Social awareness - Understanding the perspective of others, showing empathy for diverse groups of people and finding support through family, school and community relationships.

4. Relationship skills - Communicating, cooperating, resisting negative pressure and offering help. Building and maintaining healthy relationships.

5. Responsible decision-making -Making ethical and respectful choices about personal behavior and relationships, and evaluating the consequences of decisions.

Why is social emotional learning important?

Social emotional learning equips students with skills they'll use well after they leave school, and is essential part of the way students learn in a rapidly changing society.

A great by-product of #SEL is that it not only creates the foundation for life-long learning but also stimulates the development of our most critical interpersonal skills; the ability to work collaboratively, show empathy for others, & communicate respectfully with diverse ppl.
- SocialEmotionalLearning (@SELearningEDU) February 28, 2020

Plus, social emotional learning impacts academic outcomes for students of all backgrounds!

A 2011 meta-analysis on the effectiveness of social emotional learning found students in schools with high-quality social emotional learning programs showed an average gain of 11% in academic achievements.

For every dollar schools invest in social emotional learning, they see an average long-term return of 11 dollars in their school and the wider community.

The earlier social emotional learning skills are developed, the better

According to a study commissed by the OECD , teaching kindergarteners basic social and emotional skills"[can] have long-term academic benefits on students' reading and vocabulary, including in high poverty schools, suggesting that SEL may assist in closing achievement gaps."

Overall, students with strong social and emotional skills are:

Think of how many students could you reach with the right social emotional learning program or activities!

Social emotional learning activities for all ages

No matter what grade your students are in, these activities can be adapted to help teach core social and emotional skills.

1. Art activities

Art is a great way for students of all ages to relieve stress and express their emotions in a positive, healthy way.

Start by picking a piece of music (or even a poem or story) for students to react to. Ask them to use art supplies to react, providing prompts like:

2. Practical tasks

Your classroom is a busy place, and there's a lot happening. Keep it organized with a chart that encourages students to take responsibility and complete simple, age-appropriate classroom tasks like:

Watering plants

Sharpening pencils

Erasing the chalkboard

Keeping track of timed activities

Delivering attendance to the office

Keeping the classroom library organized

Turning the lights on and off in the classroom

If you're teaching remotely, put students in charge of:

Tracking attendance

Moderating the chat section

Giving a short weather report

Choosing from a list of brain breaks

Rebecca K., a 3rd grade teacher and member of Prodigy's Champions Club, says:

3. Mindfulness activities

Alright, let's pause.

Breathe in, and out.

Lower your shoulders and sit up straight.

Doesn't that feel better?

Mindfulness breaks can help students of all ages learn how to identify and regulate their emotions when they're sad, scared or stressed.

Take a minute in your classroom and try some of the activities below.

Teach students to STOP when they encounter an emotional situation. Roleplay some stressful situations and teach students to:

Ask students to identify where they're holding stress in their bodies. This can be tense shoulders, a frown or even a bouncing leg. Guide them through releasing stress for a more balanced body.

Pay attention to the senses. Ask students to identify:

4. Goal-setting activities

A big part of social emotional learning is cultivating a growth mindset - and what better way to do that than setting goals?

Make goal setting a regular part of your classroom routine, whether you:

Host student-led conferences - Set academic and behavioral goals

Start a new unit - Use a KWL (Know, Want to Know, Learned) chart to help students identify which skills they want to develop

Give feedback on a project - What did students do well? What should they focus on next time?

Jane H., a teacher in Prodigy's Champions Club, knows the importance of building a growth mindset:

5. Student check-ins

When students learn, they bring their emotions with them. Prodigy teachers like Arpie M. and Amber A. recommend starting your day with a check-in to understand what students are feeling:

6. Reading books

SEL skills: Self-management, social awareness
Materials: Your favorite SEL book ( try this list for ideas)

Boost reading comprehension and social emotional learning with books designed to teach key social emotional learning skills. Co-learner and elementary teacher Lesley P. says:

Use social emotional learning books as an opportunity to introduce your students to diverse authors, characters and emotions.

For younger students, use read-alouds to model emotions and encourage students to respond with their own feelings. Older students can respond in class discussions or journal entries.

7. Setting aside time for online community

It's hard to build a community if you need to teach your students through distance learning. So try setting aside a few minutes a week where students (and their parents) can drop in and chat about:

If you'd like, bring along some icebreaker questions or online-friendly games you know your students will love. Your students will learn the value of relationships, and you'll get to know your students and learn how to engage with them in meaningful ways.

8. Icebreaker activities

SEL skills: Self-awareness, relationship skills
Materials: Our list of the best classroom icebreakers

Icebreakers are a fun and easy way for students of all ages to share a little bit about themselves in a low-pressure environment. They also give students a chance to reflect on their own emotions and desires for the year, and help them build relationships with each other.

Lauren W., a math teacher, loves doing this early in the school year:

And special educator, Crystal M., has figured out an effective way to incorporate icebreakers into virtual classrooms:

Social emotional learning activities for preschoolers and kindergarteners

It's never too early to start developing social emotional skills. Here are some activities you can use with the youngest students in your school!

9. Daily greetings

Get students excited about a new school day and give them the chance to set personal boundaries.

When students arrive in the classroom - either virtually or in person - give them a list of different greeting options.

Some popular choices are:

When you give students a choice, they can stop and evaluate their wants and needs, as well as their mood coming into the classroom.

10. Emotion identifiers

The best social emotional learning strategies are incorporated into regular classroom instruction.

Try this simple craft: Hand out paper plates and have students draw faces that represent simple emotions - happy, sad, angry and confused can be good places to start.

Attach the plates to popsicle sticks and use them as masks during read-alouds. While you're reading a story, ask your students how they think the characters are feeling.

You can even use the masks as a quick morning check-in to understand student emotions at the beginning of the day.

11. Calm-down corners

Being a kindergartener can be stressful - they're encountering new experiences, new friends and an unfamiliar environment.

Create a calm-down corner to help students deal with hard emotions. A calm-down corner looks different in every classroom, but try adding:

Send students to the calm-down corner when they need some quiet time alone, and encourage students to pay attention to their own emotions and use the resources on their own.

Social emotional learning activities for elementary school

Use these activities to teach elementary students about identifying emotions, being kind and working together.

12. Encouraging positive self-talk

SEL skills: Self-awareness, self-regulation
Materials: Our list of positive affirmations for kids
"This is too hard." "I guess this is good enough." "Everyone is better at this than I am!"
As a teacher, you have an important opportunity to build students up and influence how they think about themselves.

Gently correct students when you hear negative self-talk throughout the day, and use it as an opportunity to suggest kind thoughts:

Model this throughout your teaching, too - if you make a mistake, don't berate yourself. Use it as an opportunity to demonstrate positive self-talk and try again.

If you're looking for inspiration, check out this list of 27 positive affirmations for kids. It covers affirmations designed to:

It also includes some bonus mantras made specifically for grown-ups!

13. Learning about student interests

Build connections between students with a fun game of bingo! Hand out cards to students and ask them to find classmates that match the description on each square.

Use our bingo card to customize your set with descriptions like:

Plays soccer

Likes spinach

Has two or more siblings

Likes cats better than dogs

Speaks more than one language

Likes pancakes more than waffles

Favourite ice cream flavour is chocolate

And whatever else you can think of! Not only does it introduce students to diverse backgrounds and experiences, it's also an excellent first day of school activity.

14. Random acts of kindness

SEL skills: Relationship skills, social awareness
Materials: Our list of 93 random acts of kindness ideas!

Promote random acts of kindness in your classroom to build a positive school culture and help students develop empathy.

Some of our favorite ideas are:

Talk to a classmate that looks lonely

Lend a friend your favorite book or movie

Write thank-you notes for the school janitor

Hold the door open for the person behind you

Donate old towels and blankets to a local animal shelter

Students will learn the value of being kind to others and build relationships in and outside of the classroom!

15. Writing a story together

Hand out cue cards with story prompts or pictures. Start the story with "Once upon a time," then move to the next student. Students must use the prompt on the card and their social awareness skills to work together and build a compelling story.

Record the stories students come up with! Afterwards, ask them questions like

16. Morning questions

Start the day with a bang! Arianna R., a 2nd grade teacher, says:

You'll learn more about your students, and students will be able to bring more of themselves to the classroom.

Try questions like:

Morning questions are also easy to adapt for online learning, and can help students feel a sense of community even if they're not with their classmates in person.

17. Playing games

There are plenty of reasons game-based learning is great for students, but one of the most compelling is that it teaches students how to work together, solve problems and find solutions - while they learn.

A look inside the classroom of Special Populations Teacher, Melissa B., illustrates this:

Social emotional learning activities for middle school

For many students, middle school means changing social relationships and new responsibilities. Help them cope with social emotional learning activities that build relationship skills and self-awareness.

18. Journal writing

Journaling is a great way for middle school students (and up!) to process information, make sense of their emotions and reflect on the lesson.

Give students regular time each week for journaling. Provide prompts like:

To encourage student reflection, consider grading just one or two entries students choose to show you from the journal.

19. Debating

Debate is a great way to teach middle school students how to formulate arguments, actively listen and respectfully disagree with their peers.

Plus, it's easy to incorporate into your lesson!

Pick a debate topic around a novel your class just finished, a current event or anything else your students are passionate about.

Divide into teams, then have students create a structured argument and respond to their classmates. It's also a great way for students to practice public speaking skills!

20. Quote of the day

SEL skills: Self-awareness, relationship skills
Materials:A list of relevant quotes (check out our list of teacher quotes!)

Ask your students to respond to a significant quote on a given topic or issue and challenge them to think about the speaker's emotions, encouraging empathy and critical thinking.

Pick a quote and put it up on the board. Either in small groups, individual journaling responses or a whole-class discussion, ask students:

21. Student-led celebrations

Let your students blow off some steam and work together to plan a classroom party! Turn a celebration into a chance to teach responsibility, budgeting, time management, teamwork and more.

Provide students with a rubric to outline expectations, a clear time constraint, and a budget (even if that budget is $0.00).

Challenge them to:

Pick a theme

Send invites

Pick a date and time that works

Decorate the classroom

Plan and run activities the whole class will enjoy

Organize setup and clean up afterwards

You might be surprised at the ideas they come up with!

Social emotional learning activities for high school

It's critical for high schoolers to master effective communication and build relationships with people outside the classroom, whether they're heading to college or going straight into the workforce.

22. Class meetings

Make space for community and responsibility in your high school classroom and hold class meetings on a weekly or monthly basis.

Challenge students to bring ideas that make the class better, include all students in activities and solve problems.

You can use this as a space to gather student feedback, solve disagreements, plan class events or even just share!

It might take a bit for students to open up, but the results will be worth it. Consider using a Google Form or suggestion box in your classroom, then address the feedback as a group and develop solutions together.

23. Interest presentations

Every student is passionate about something - cartoons, soccer, knitting, bass guitar, you name it!

Harness those passions for a more involved learning experience! Ask students to find a real-world application they're passionate about for what you're learning in class.

Some ideas include:

Students will have the opportunity to connect with their classmates on a more personal level and find a way of relating to the class material.

24. Egg drop

While students of all ages will probably respond well to this activity, there's nothing that brings a group of teenagers together more than dropping things from high places and seeing what happens.

Challenge students to build a structure that will support a delicate, uncooked egg when it's dropped from the top of a ladder (or from the top of a school building, if possible).

They'll have to work together in teams to build an effective protection for their egg, and use conflict-resolution strategies to work effectively.

Afterwards, ask students to reflect on how their team worked together. If they weren't successful, what could they have done differently? If they did succeed, why?

25. Teamwork activities

Learning how to effectively work with others is the most important skill high school students can master as they head out into the real world.

Fortunately, there are many different teaching strategies that emphasize collaboration and cooperation:

Use cooperative learning to teach students the fundamentals of group work

Launch project-based learning in your classroom to harness student enthusiasm and encourage a spirit of discovery and cooperation

Assign service learning projects to show students the benefits of giving back to their community, while also connecting it to in-class lessons

Download your social emotional learning activities pdf

Our amazing team of Prodigy teachers has put together a package of worksheets to help you build social emotional skills with your students. Download yours today!

How to choose the best social emotional learning curriculum

If you've already seen success with SEL activities, why not try a whole curriculum for your classroom or school? Here are our tips for picking a curriculum that works for you.

Make it work for your school

Can your school handle an entirely new social emotional learning program, or is it something that can be integrated into the existing curriculum?

Depending on your school's goals and needs, social emotional learning can take different forms:

Relevant EdTech tools can also help students develop social emotional skills in different ways.

Virtual or augmented reality tools can help stressed students control their emotions

Online learning activities and communities teach students the importance of teamwork and collaboration

Game-based learning platforms like Prodigy Math can help students develop a growth mindset in an adaptive and engaging digital world.

Choose the right program for your grade

There's a big difference between social emotional learning skills in preschool and middle school. Many programs cover all grades, but some focus on age-specific skills.

Wondering what each age range needs? Here's what to focus on:

Preschool and kindergarten

Students just entering the classroom need to learn basic social skills like:

These skills can be developed through teacher modeling and age-appropriate discussions about emotions.

Elementary school

Guided discussions, read-aloud stories and problem-solving opportunities can teach basic social skills and appropriate classroom behavior.

The earlier parents and community members get involved, the better. Take-home materials can reinforce social emotional learning activities at home.

Middle school

Students need to understand how to transition between classes and tackle new academic challenges. Staff should work together to create cohesive strategies for the classroom and extracurricular activities.

Middle school is often a time of changing social dynamics, so focusing on healthy relationships and stress management can also be beneficial.

High school

Subject-specific strategies work best in high school, where students usually work with different teachers every day.

High school students need to:

Make it research-backed

Even the most well-intentioned social emotional learning curriculum can fail if it's not supported by sound pedagogical practices, solid research and clear, actionable goals.

The same 2011 study that connected academic gains with social emotional learning also created a framework school leaders could use to determine the effectiveness of a social emotional learning program: SAFE.

SAFE stands for Sequenced, Active, Focused and Explicit. When considering a program, ask:

Does the program contain sequenced activities that teach relevant social emotional skills in ways that connect and build on each other?

Does the program promote active learning techniques like discussions, modeling or role play?

Is the program mainly focused on developing one or more social emotional skills relevant to my school's needs?

Is the program explicit about targeting specific social emotional skills?

If your program ticks all these boxes, congrats! You're ready to implement social emotional learning in your school.

Are you an administrator or teacher? Here are 4 steps for bringing social emotional learning to your school

Here are five key steps to help you implement social emotional learning in a responsible, effective way:

1. Talk to your stakeholders

Students don't just develop social emotional skills in the classroom. They cultivate them in school hallways, the larger community and at home.

Student development occurs in multiple contexts, and some programs might require you to collaborate with other stakeholders and build connections.

A stakeholder is anyone with an interest in bringing effective social emotional learning to your school, including:

Parents

Teachers

Students

School and district administrators

Community members and leaders

Counsellors and other school staff

Communicate with stakeholders before, during and after implementation to understand their needs, resources, limitations and goals. Get a wide variety of perspectives using:

When stakeholders feel like their opinions are taken seriously, they're more likely to be active partners in social emotional learning.

2. Define your goals

Implementing social emotional learning in your school requires thoughtful planning and implementation in coordination with all your stakeholders.

Consider starting with a small pilot program. Talk to the teachers you think would be the most receptive to social emotional learning in their classrooms and work with them to create a plan. Then check in frequently, collect regular feedback and adjust your efforts as needed.

If all goes well, those teachers will become experts who can guide, support and encourage the next group of teachers who join the program.

Don't try to do everything all at once, and make sure you regularly ask for feedback to assess the effectiveness of your program.

4. Implementation

Now it's time to bring social emotional learning to life in your school!

According to researchers at the University of British Columbia, there are eight factors of effective social emotional learning program implementation:

Fidelity - Was the program delivered as intended?

Dosage - How much of the program was delivered?

Quality - How competent and well-trained were the teachers delivering the program?

Adaptation - Was the program changed in any way?

Participant engagement - How engaged were students?

Differentiation - Was the intervention unique, compared to other programs?

Monitoring of the control condition - What activities took place in the control group while the experimental group received instruction?

Reach - What portion of eligible students participated in the intervention?

Examining these factors will help you make sure your social emotional learning is effective for your school.

Implementing social emotional learning programs & activities

Building a schoolwide initiative around social emotional learning doesn't happen overnight.

To make your classroom or school district collaborative for academic learning alongside SEL instruction takes time and patience. But these social emotional learning activities can begin to bridge the gap by pairing academic learning with development of the whole child.

Students can achieve at a high level while learning maturity, responsibility and self-control, and build toward a positive mental health outlook.

Social emotional learning can go a long way to promoting a better school experience for every student!

Prodigy engages students and helps build math skills

Prodigy Math is an adaptive, engaging platform that turns math into an adventure! Sign up today for your free teacher account and get tools to help you differentiate math questions, align in-game content with your lessons and track student progress.

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25 Social Emotional Learning Activities & How They Promote Student Well-Being

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Social emotional learning (SEL) is more important now than ever. SEL is the process by which people, both children and adults, develop the knowledge, self-awareness and personal well-being to build the emotional competencies that help them thrive in both academics and life.

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20 SEL Activities for High School - Teaching Expertise

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Social-emotional learning is an important skill that is taught to elementary students but is often overlooked in high school.

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Build social and emotional skills into any class.

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What is Teacher Self-Care and How to Practice It

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Discover what self-care is, why it’s important for teachers, and how to bring self-care activities in your daily life and in the classroom.

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By educators, for educators, The Mindful Schools Podcast supports listeners in resourcing inspiration from within.

We share practices to help you reconnect with your own strengths and passion for teaching, as well as give concrete examples of what mindfulness looks like in action, both for your work with students and for your own self-care.

Our intention is to be responsive to what is happening in schools in real time, from the vantage point of our team of mindful educators, and create discussion, community and support for those working in the field. We look forward to connecting with you.

Ep. 9: Rethinking Burnout
Listen to "Ep.9: Rethinking Burnout" on Spreaker.

We're all feeling the effects of sustained uncertainty, stress, and social distancing. When does this all amount to burnout? What does mindfulness and self-care have to do with self-preservation in the face of burnout?

This episode highlights Crystal McCreary's recent talk on burnout with our current Mindful Schools Mindful Teacher Certification Program and Schoolwide Implementation Program cohorts. Listen and get a window into these immersive programs.
Applications for our immersive year-long programs are now OPEN! Help us spread the word.

Listen to "Ep.9: Rethinking Burnout" on Spreaker.

Myth: mindfulness is about me and my inner world. Alan and Crystal talk about how walking in someone else's shoes--being radically empathetic--can support us to move toward 'we' in these disconnected and divided times.

Ep. 3: Educators Coping with Overwhelm
Listen to "Ep. 3: Coping With Overwhelm" on Spreaker.

This time of year, we're anticipating returning to school--faculty calls, juggling, busyness, overwhelm. There is so much to do. This week, Megan, Alan, and Argos talk about their go-to strategies that support them during overwhelm.

Ep. 2: Back-to-School Amidst Uncertainty
Listen to "Ep. 2: Teaching in Uncertainty" on Spreaker.

The anticipation of back-to-school is amplified tenfold because, this year, we're in a pandemic and navigating online and hybrid learning and a lot of unknowns. How can we bring our focus to connection and to what is certain?

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Strategies for fostering relationships with middle and high school students starting on the first day of the school year and then growing them all year long.

Teachers often spend time early in the school year building relationships with students, but this needs to be a yearlong endeavor. To that end, the two of us, high school English teacher Kimberly and middle school English language arts and social studies teacher Sarah, teamed up to help new, and not so new, teachers with growing relationships over the long term.

The best way to begin building relationships is to learn students' names as quickly as possible. You might be the only adult in school in that student's day to use their name in a positive way, so there's great power in learning names quickly. During all activities on day one, we both quiz ourselves on students' names. Kim uses her roster to try to match names to faces and then during class puts it away to see how many she remembers. Sarah uses a yearbook to start matching faces with names, so that when students walk in, she can greet them by name. Ultimately the goal is to know students' names by the end of the first day. While we may not have learned all of the names by day two, we're well on our way to scoring 100 percent by the end of the week.

Additionally, we prioritize relationship-building activities on day one over traditional first-day activities such as giving pretests, going over a syllabus, or handing out textbooks. For example, we have students fill out a sheet with information such as their favorite and least favorite foods, any pets and their names, etc. This information can be the basis for a classmate trivia game, which is great to play during the days before a break.

As we continue to roll through week one and shift to academics, we create ways to continue building relationships through academic activities. We both teach ELA and use personal narrative writing, journaling, and sharing favorite books to build relationships and see where students are with their writing and reading.

Finding ways to get to know students in other content areas may require creativity. For social studies in the upcoming school year, Sarah plans on asking students to write their personal history or create a timeline of their life, perhaps sharing their favorite historical figure and explaining why they chose that person. Not only would something like this help teachers continue to get to know their students, but also it would help to build relationships among students and develop a sense of classroom community.

First Month

In the first month we work to learn at least one nonacademic fact about each student. Sometimes we do this in conjunction with academic activities, and other times we have a simple conversation during nonstructured moments.

For accountability, Kim uses the list of students at the end of month one and goes through the names and writes down everything she remembers about each student. Sarah makes sure to schedule time with her professional-learning community by the end of the first month to compare notes with her team. Both methods keep a focus on building relationships and help identify those students we might still need to connect with.

Keeping a Focus on Relationships the Rest of the Year

As the school year progresses, it's easy to end up focused on just the standards. It's equally important, however, to keep a focus on building relationships. We utilize the first few minutes of class to continue to learn about students.

Sarah uses the days-of-the-week activities to start the day. Tuesdays "This or That" or "Tuesday Thought" gets students excited to begin their day with a quick share. With Tuesdays "This or That," Sarah asks students for their opinions about two random but sometimes connected things (e.g., beach vacation or mountain vacation, reading or writing, PS4 or Xbox etc.), and students raise their hands to answer. We then spend a few minutes talking about the reason for their choice.

Tuesday's Thought consists of Sarah putting a quote on the board and students discussing its meaning and journaling about their connections to the quote. She'll often ask students to write how they can use that thought in their daily life.

Wednesdays are "wow facts." At the beginning of the year, students (who are comfortable) share a surprising fact about themselves, and on Wednesdays, Sarah puts one of these facts on the board. We are all amazed at what we find out about our classmates/students. For "Thankful Thursday," students write a quick note to someone they're thankful for and share it with that person. The difference that these notes have made is remarkable.

Kim uses a mix of activities to start class. Some days she asks a question, such as, "What is that one movie you can watch over and over again?" Students then share their answers with the entire class. Students who may not have an answer know it's OK to say that they don't know. This is similar to Sarah's "This or That" strategy. Another idea is to ask students to submit a link to a favorite (school-appropriate) song and start class by playing it. Students can then guess who picked that song. Regardless of what method you use, taking a few minutes at the start of class to develop a habit of connecting with students pays off throughout the year in student behaviors and productivity.

We as teachers know that it's the little things that go the distance when it comes to connecting with students. Being even-tempered, being predictable, or saying hello or good morning to start the students' day can make all the difference. When a teacher shows recognition to a student in the hallway, asks how their night (or game, concert, practice, etc.) went, or just listens, it can make all the difference in that child's day. Students love to see the fun, silly side of teachers. Keeping a focus on connections 180 days of the year can make students feel safe, seen, and ready to engage.

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Strategies for fostering relationships with middle and high school students starting on the first day of the school year and then growing them all year long.

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Much like students who spend more hours on the hook of an essay than they do the bulk of an essay, I often found myself with a case of English teacher writing block when it came to planning my first day of school activities. Though I have ten years (x two semesters each) of first-day experience, the back-to-school butterflies fluttered just as much on year ten as they did on year one. A lot of my anxiety came from planning a first day of school that didn't match my teaching style at all. I did what I thought I was supposed to do which was read a boring PowerPoint about myself and explain all of the rules. Nothing says, "let's make learning fun!" like rules and boring teacher facts. 😉 Therefore, a couple of years ago I decided to change the path of my first day of school routine, and that has made all the difference. Instead of talking at the students, I conversed with them. Instead of telling them the rules, we made them together. Instead of pointing out the supplies, I let them discover them.
Here are my favorite first day of school activities for high school and middle school English:
(I personally used these as first day of school stations, but if learning stations aren't your style or can't fit with your class time, you can adjust to fit your needs)

1. Introduce yourself using rhetoric- Rhetoric is something that English teachers teach regularly, yet it might not occur to you how powerful pathos, logos, and ethos can be when it comes to introducing yourself to your students on your first day.

While we sometimes think of rhetoric as a persuasive technique for argument and sales, I believe the art of persuasion can apply to almost anything- including the influence you have in your classroom. When you really think about it, all teaching is one big persuasive speech. We convince students to learn, we open their minds to more points of view, and we prove why what we teach matters. While all of this will take place over the course of your class, it's important to start your journey of influence on day one. If you can tap into all three sides of the rhetorical triangle-their hearts, their minds, and their trust-on day one, then you set yourself up to make an impact this school year.

To do this, think about ways you can show your expertise and your heart while also making a logical case for your curriculum and classroom procedures. This part of my first day agenda only takes around five to ten minutes, and it starts by greeting each student at the door with a smile and directions for sitting so that they feel comfortable and aren't left out of the "cool table." I then take attendance with a fun attendance question to lighten the mood and begin to learn names. After this, I project a single slide that tells about my heart, my qualifications, and my curriculum. I have found that the less time I spend in front of the room on the first day, the better it is for both my students and my nerves.

2. Get to know students- Now that students know you a little more, it's time to get to know your students. Since I want to keep with the ELA theme and hate traditional icebreakers, I created an ELA profile sheet that students can fill out so that you can learn more about them. I actually haven't used this sheet in a couple of years because I do something similar as an introduction to British Literature, but thousands of other teachers use it every year and love it! You can grab your free download by signing up for my Building Book Love Letter.

3. Use stations for first day of school tasks- There are always a number of housekeeping items that must be taken care of on the first day of high school. Stations are a fantastic way to create movement and natural icebreakers while also making sure each back to school task is complete.
Here are back-to-school station ideas:
1. Set up a worry or "I wish my teacher knew" box- Back to school can be an exciting but also stressful time of year for many students. To get them in the practice of acknowledging their stress and worries, set up a worry box based on this article from Harvard: Two Techniques for Reducing Stress . However, be warned. Some silly answers you make you laugh while other serious answers will make you sob. You can decide if you want this to be anonymous or not, but if they leave a very worrisome anonymous note, you will have no way to address. it.

2. Go on a classroom scavenger hunt- While going over procedures and classroom materials is a necessary first day of school task, it doesn't have to boring! Simply turn it into a scavenger hunt instead! Students in this station walk around the room to find all of their supplies and will even complete a few subtle icebreakers along the way such as "find Mrs. Bible and tell her your favorite time of year." If you want an editable version of this scavenger hunt, you can find it in my First Day ELA Resource.

3. Close Read the Syllabus- Cutting my syllabus down to a one-page infographic has ensured that I relay all of the important information AND that my students actually read it. For this station, I have students read their syllabus and do prompts that it says such as "Sign up for Remind."

If you want to be able to make your own infographic syllabus in PowerPoint, I have a handy template for you in my ELA First Day Resource.

4. Have students help you create the rules- When I implemented some flexible seating last year, I knew that I would need to have rules, but I wanted my students to come up with the rules. This honestly worked out better than I could imagine. You can read all about how this element of surprise add more joy in my room throughout the year here in: Keeping the Wonder: An Educator's Guide to Magical, Engaging, and Joyful Learning .I just set up a station in the living room area and let students write down the rules they thought were fair. I then went through each class and tallied the opinions. The majority won in favor of rotating days for flexible seating. Therefore, I just had to make an easy system and follow it. Since I had group tables around the room, each group had their day to use the flexible seating. Monday was table one and so forth. I was able to accomplish this because I made sure that every student had a desk. The flexible seating was extra seating. This type of rule brainstorming works with other classroom rules as well!

5. Get students excited about reading- This back to school activity is my favorite because it helps build excitement around reading from day one! I implement 10 minutes of free choice reading at the start of class every single day, so naturally, I want my students to choose a book on our first day of English class. I allow students to browse my classroom library and check out a book on the spot, or they can try their luck at one of the new and exciting books that I have in the book raffle! The book raffle works like this: display your new or highly sought after books and have a cup under each book. After you talk up the books, students can come through and add their name to the cup if they want to enter for a chance at first dibs on checking it out. This would work extra well if you had one copy of the book for each class, but I didn't and it still built excitement for reading amongst all of my classes!

6. Make classroom decor with your students- While I love creating a magical place to learn for students, I also think that it's important for each student to be represented in their classroom. For the past five years or so, I've done a dictionary get to you activity that turns into a book page banner that I leave displayed all semester long. You can look at the pictures below for an idea, and also read more about how to make this craft here: Get to know you activities for secondary ELA students

I hope that this blog post has given you lots of fun first-day activity ideas for high school and middle school English. Be sure to tag me on social media so that I can join in on your back-to-school excitement!

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First Day of School Activities for High School and Middle School English - Building Book Love

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Much like students who spend more hours on the hook of an essay than they do the bulk of an essay, I often found myself with a case of English teacher writing block when it came to planning my first day of school activities. Though I have ten years (x two semesters each) of first-day ...

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Icebreakers: Social Emotional Learning (SEL) Supports

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Short conversation starters that invite students and teachers to share opinions, build relationships, and have fun.Inspired by ASCD article “The Pandemic...

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ClassTag connects teachers and families with one easy to use app for all their communication needs. Check it out.

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Building relationships with parents in schools is a good indicator for student success, but getting parents involved first requires planning.

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Free and printable All About Me worksheet templates | Canva

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Get to know your students with these All About Me worksheet templates. Customize a worksheet and have your class fill them out.

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As teachers, we are always looking for new ways to engage students and build classroom community during the first week of school. There is often a lot of anxiety for both the teacher and the student as they get reacquainted after the summer break. You want your new students to feel right at home. You want them to feel connected to the class, to each other, and to you.

While the first week tends to be filled with enthusiasm, it's important students get to know their new classmates, but you don't want to overwhelm them with too much at once! The first days of a new school year can be overwhelming enough for shy or introverted students without adding stress.

If you're looking for fun activities for starting the year off on the right foot, you'll love these ideas for engaging students and building classroom community with all about me activities during the first week of school.

This post contains affiliate links. While purchasing from these links does not cost you anything additional, it does mean I earn a small commission.

What is the purpose of doing All About Me Activities during the first week of school?

First week activities, such as All About Me, can seem like a time-filler during the first weeks of school when working with older students. However, they have an important role even in upper-level classrooms. First, they help students get to know one another during the first weeks of school.

In addition, All About Me activities are critical for allowing you to interact with students and learn more about their interests, strengths, and goals. This will help you give each student personalized attention and help you know all the basics you need to know about learners by the end of week 1.

Third, All About Me activities provide an opportunity for students to practice self-reflection and communication skills and can build classroom community among students who sit next to one another.

All About Me activities can also help students learn about others who are different from themselves. This can lead to more inclusive classrooms and stronger connections for all students. Lastly, they also help students practice being comfortable talking to their classmates in new ways and can be used as an ice breaker during the first weeks of school.

Great Read-Aloud Ideas to Introduce Your First Week of School Activities

One great way to introduce these community-building activities is with a high-quality read-aloud. If you typically avoid using picture books with older students, I challenge you to try it. You might be surprised to discover just how engaged they are as you read, and you might just find a new favorite book!

Here are some of my favorite back-to-school picture books to read aloud during the first days of school.
If you're looking for more great options, I've shared a whole list in this post: 26 Great Back-to-School Books to Build Community.

10 Great First Week of School Activities to Build Classroom Community

As you start to write those first-week lesson plans, you might be struggling to figure out what activities you want to incorporate into your plans. It can be hard to come up with something that students haven't already done year after year, especially as they begin to reach upper elementary.

If you're looking for new All About Me activities for the first week of school, try these ideas. They each have a unique focus to help students build classroom community and engage with their teachers and classmates.

1. Use Venn Diagrams to find similarities and differences with a classmate.

It's never too early to introduce your students to graphic organizers, and the Venn diagram is one that you'll use again and again. So this year, introduce your students to a Venn diagram for All About Me activities.

Begin by reviewing the purpose of the Venn diagram - to compare and contrast two things. Then pair up students with their classmates and have them work to brainstorm ways they are similar and different from one another.

These make a great display on a back-to-school bulletin board, and it's one of those practice activities that also help introduce several important academic vocabulary terms that students will need to understand. In addition, this offers a hook that you can refer to throughout the year when you work with Venn diagrams.

2. Get poetic with your writing activities on the first week of school.

I love using poetry as a way to help students share about themselves and their experiences. Poetry can be an excellent vehicle for self-reflection since it asks students to look inside themselves and discover something unique about their lives. Writing poetry is also a great way to build personal connections between students and their lives outside school.

Acrostic poems can be a great All About Me activity for a writing class. Students can create their own poems using the letters of their names to begin each line. If they have difficulty thinking of things to include, here are a few ideas that you can prompt them with:

Share something unique about yourself that you haven't shared before.

Indicate your favorite thing to do.

_______ is my favorite subject in school.

I like to play with ________.

A place I'd like to visit is ________

My favorite food is ________.

Alternatively, you can have students create an "I Am" poem to share about themselves and their hopes for the year. These can be an excellent way for students to introduce themselves to others, and they also make an incredible display if your school has an Open House or Parent Night.

How to make it work:

There are two typical formats for this type of poetry, so you can select which one you prefer depending on what grade level you're teaching and the needs of your learners.

Option 1: Formulaic "I Am" poetry offers students basic sentence starters for each line of the poem. Each line should follow the pattern of "I (verb) ________." They fill in the blanks with their answers to create the finished poem. Jen Runde from Runde's Room shares a great example she used for her 6th graders on her blog here.

Option 2: Free verse gives more flexibility and is great for older students or creative writing classes. In this situation, each writer can create their own idea of how each line should begin rather than a template. While the poem still follows the pattern where each line starts with "I (verb)...", this offers more opportunities for students to express themselves as individuals.

3. Try a unique spin on a Math About Me activity during the first week of school.

Add a little arithmetic to your All About Me activities by creating Math About Me sheets. You might have already created a Math About Me sheet to introduce each student to the class, but if you haven't, it's a great addition to a first-week activity, and it makes a fun display. Alternatively, you can put them together to create a fun class book!

Math About Me is fun because it goes beyond the basics of listing favorite movies or book characters as you might use in another class discussion activity with elementary students. Instead, your learners get hands-on with math to describe themselves and share with their classmates.

Here's a version I've used in my own classroom as an introductory math activity:

4. Have students film a commercial - Great for remote learners.

If you've got a tech-savvy group or you're meeting virtually via Google Meet, it can be fun to have your students write a short commercial about what makes them a wonderful friend to have. It also provides an opportunity to introduce some basics of media literacy and the art of persuasion right from those first days.

The goal is to make a 30-second video telling about themselves and why they make a great friend. This is an excellent opportunity to introduce students to the art of storytelling, and you can use it as a light-hearted icebreaker. Plus, it can be fun to have a showing of all the commercials students made.

You never know! You might spark a new friendship!

5. Do a Find a Friend Activity to help students meet their classmates.

We've all done a "Find Someone Who" activity before, and there's a good reason why!

These offer a great opportunity for students to mix and mingle while learning about their classmates. The first days of school can be a lot of sit-and-get. Listening to rules, learning procedures, and getting acclimated.

This activity is an opportunity to get up and moving!

The goal is to find a classmate who meets each of the criteria listed on the provided sheet, and you can design these to be as basic or deep as you want. For example, have students find someone who has the same favorite color, or you might see if they can find someone who speaks another language.

This can be a great activity to incorporate into your morning meetings for elementary students because it offers a chance for conversation. You can direct how deep or basic the questions are. Since these meetings are all about relationship building, students need the opportunity to talk to one another, and this type of activity is a great way to do that from the first day of school.

Take a peek at the photo above, and enter your information to get the activity I used as part of my classroom icebreakers for free.

6. Play Four Corners to get kids up and moving.

Speaking of getting kids moving, you can also try a game of Four Corners as an All About Me first day of school activity. It's a kind of "Simon Says" game, but instead of following the directions, students have to move to the spot that best describes their answer. So, for example, students may go to different parts of the room depending on their favorite subject or how many siblings they have.

The game will require students to get up and move around and it might help them to put aside their fears and just go for it! This is also a great way for you to get some time to observe your students and see who would be a good match for your small groups.

By observing where students are, you can get a sense of their interests and strengths. For example, you might find one or two students who always go to the same spot every time. If so, they might be a great fit for a small group activity focused on that subject area. This can help you make some quick determinations about how you'll organize your small groups and work with your kids throughout the year.

A handy hint is to pre-label your corners with colors or letters to make the game run smoothly. Then you can put the answer choices on your projector (like above) and have students move to the right corner without much hassle.

7. Complete an All About Me Book as a part of your first week of school activities.

Having students create an All About Me Book can be a fun way to get to know your learners while making a purposeful end product.

You can use the 8×8 booklets from the Target Dollar Spot with blank pages and let students write about anything they want. Alternatively, you can provide a more structured framework using a book template that has students complete pre-made pages and templates to share information about themselves.

Here's a fun example I've used with my learners in the past:

Read more about this resource here: All About Me Books: A Back-to-School Activity.

8. Have students write a letter to their future selves.

This can be a really meaningful one, especially if you're teaching a grade level that is the start or end of a big transition year. For example, the fifth-grade teachers at one school I worked at did this with their students. Then, when the students went to middle school the following year, they would mail the letters to them at the end of the school year.

One of the great things about having students write a letter to their future selves is that it gives them the chance to think about their lives differently and be more intentional about their education. It can also be a great way to make predictions about how they will get along in middle school.

9. Make Getting to Know You Fortune Tellers

At some point, most students get into making fortune tellers, so why not use it to your advantage and make it into a fun getting to know you activity. Have students create their own fortune teller using a pattern or template in the classroom. You might even consider using some of the prompts I've shared in my post 20 Questions to Get Kids Talking.

You can pre-write some questions onto the template before copying it, or you can allow students to add their own questions. If you have students add their own questions to the template, be sure to remind them not to write anything too personal. Fortune tellers are fun, but you'll need to monitor students to ensure the questions being asked are school-appropriate.

When they use their fortune teller with a peer, the classmate must answer the question under the flap they selected. Then they can mingle again and repeat the process.

Add a little music, like Musical Chairs, to make it extra fun. Of course, whoever they are standing near when the music stops is their partner that round.

Covid hint for First Week of School Activities - This is also an awesome idea for reducing germs that often spread during some team-building activity ideas commonly used at the beginning of the year - like the questions on a beach ball activity.

10. Create All About My-Selfies!

The 10th activity I want to share is one that upper elementary students and middle school students love! If you're working with a grade level interested in social media, this can be a fun way to tap into this. You can grab this project here.

I've done this activity in two ways in the past.

Option 1: Have students identify what makes them unique.

First, I've had students draw a selfie showing something about them that makes them unique. Then they write a caption and hashtags to match. We did these on phone templates and used them to make a cute display. However, they were also a great talking point between students.

Option 2: Play Secret Selfie

The other option is a guessing game, which can be fun if students have been together for several years and think they already know one another pretty well. In this case, prompt students to draw a picture that matches various likes and dislikes into each square. For example, you might say, "Draw something that represents your favorite color in the first frame." Continue this until you've done the entire 9 or 12-square.

Once all the boxes are complete, students draw a secret selfie (or take a picture of each student) to place underneath and attach their clues over the top, like in the image below. Then display them with numbers attached and have students try to guess who is who!

This is also a great one for displaying during Open House! It is entertaining to watch parents try to guess which one their child made!

The benefits of taking time for All About Me activities during the First Week of School

Classroom community matters. Students who feel connected to their teacher and classmates are more likely to do well and less likely to drop out.

In addition, all About Me activities create a safe environment for students to share personal information and build relationships. It is surprising how much safer it is to share personal opinions when your class feels safe and comfortable with one another.

By including all about me ideas as part of your first week of school activities, the classroom transforms into a community, and your elementary students become less nervous when it's time for them to share their ideas and opinions.
How do you foster classroom community from the very first day?

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10 First Week of School Activities & Lesson Ideas to Build Community

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As teachers, we are always looking for new ways to engage students and build classroom community during the first week of school. There is often a lot of anxiety for both the teacher and the student as they get reacquainted after the summer break. You want your new students to feel right at home.

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In this article, you'll find fun back-to-school activities for middle school students that can be downloaded and printed for FREE! I love that these back-to-school activities for middle school students are fun and also encourage students to utilize their vocabulary from the first day of school.

It is always difficult to know exactly what to do during the first days of school, but I do know that I want to establish a great classroom community. The best way to do that is for me to get to know my students and for them to get to know each other. I also want to show students - from the beginning - that I want them learning all the time, and that every activity we do relates back to our classroom instruction.

Each of these back-to-school activities for middle school encourages student learners to work together and/or learn about each other. I make sure that I always encourage students to celebrate each other and also understand that respect is paramount in the classroom.

1.) Your Face Tells Your Story Activity

My first, and favorite, back-to-school activity for middle school students is both fun and creative. Have students fill out the face template with interests, aspirations, and ideas about themselves. Their hair can be made of phrases that incorporate favorite already-learned vocabulary words or the first few words of your unit. Note: You can also use these faces later as narrative writing prompts.

2.) Now Introducing... Activity

The second back-to-school activity for middle school students helps students really learn about one another. Pair students up and ask them to interview each other using the downloadable template. When the interviews are complete, have students share with the class the top three interesting aspects of their interviewee, and encourage them to use at least one or two vocabulary words as they tell the class about their partners. Make sure to emphasize the importance of respect, diversity, and learning from one another in these interviews so that students take them seriously. Please note that some of the details students glean from these interviews can be used for creating characters later in students' writing.
Download both of these back-to-school activities for middle school now!
3.) Breaking the Ice Activity

This next back-to-school activity for middle school students is a bit goofy, but it encourages the use of vocabulary and creates the positive community atmosphere that is so important in our classrooms. Students will be completing sentences one (vocabulary) word at a time with hilarious results! See the directions and template for specific instructions.
Download the Breaking the Ice Activity now.
4.) Vocabulary Names Activity

I love this final back-to-school activity for middle school students because it again encourages students to use vocabulary words... it also helps me to remember students' names. Students essentially create their own mnemonic devices for their names using their vocabulary words and some creativity! I suggest reading all of the details for this activity in the original blog article.

First, students should flip through their vocabulary book (or alternatively a vocabulary list or even Vocab Gal's word of the week to familiarize themselves with some higher level words). Have them write down the words that in some way describe their personalities-preferably with some alliterative or consonance connection to their own first and/or last name.

Some examples:

Elementary:
Ms. Ressler at the Center (as the teacher)
Ms. Ressler the Inventor (that's what we teachers do every day!)
Ms. Ressler the Present Leader (this year, I'm your teacher)

Middle/High School:
Ms. Ressler the Benefactor (I am here to give you knowledge)
Ms. Ressler the Venerable Renegade (I like to flout traditions and am become respected amongst my peers)

Have the students write their finalized name (extra points/awards if they can use more than one word) on the template provided and decorate it. They can attach it to their desks, you can hang up the slips around the room, etc; you decide where they should go.
Download the Create a Name with Vocabulary Activity now.

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Back-to-School Activities for Middle School

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In this article, you'll find fun back-to-school activities for middle school students that can be downloaded and printed for FREE! I love that these back-to-school activities for middle school students are fun and also encourage students to utilize their vocabulary from the first day of school.

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The beginning of the school year can be an intimidating time for students (and teachers). By doing activities to help students bond, you will create a classroom culture where all feel comfortable and ready to learn. So if you are looking for the best activities to set the tone for the rest of the school year, look no further!

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20 Fun, Engaging Back to School Activities for Middle School - Teaching Expertise

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The beginning of the school year can be an intimidating time for students (and teachers). By doing activities to help students bond, you will create a classroom culture where all feel comfortable and ready to learn. So if you are looking for the best activities to set the tone for the rest of the school year, look no further!

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Back to school. Finally! In Belgium, school starts on the 1st of September, after a summer break of two months. Other countries have already begun the new school year, others still have a few weeks to go.

There's one thing we all have in common: the first day of school. A special day for students and teachers. A day full of emotions. Stress, fear, relief, happiness, joy, ...

How can you make sure those first-day-of-school emotions are good emotions? I'm betting on creative back-to-school lesson ideas students will find a fun thing to do.

So here they are!

15 fun back to school classroom activities

First day of school activities are based upon one goal: to get to know each other. Most first day of school activities are for elementary, but I included a few as well for middle school students and high school students. Some can be used for all ages too.

First day of school activities for elementary students

1. All about the bag

Hand out a paper bag to all your students the first day of school and put a little note on it:

Directions:

Fill this bag with 4 things or objects that tell something about yourself. (only 4 things, no more, no less)

All your objects have to fit in this bag.

Decorate the bag if you wish!

Bring the bag back tomorrow and be ready to share with the class.

2. Figure me out

In fourth grade, students have already learned arithmetics. You could let them create a profile of themselves, describing some fun facts using arithmetics. Take a look at the image below for an example.

Students have to figure out the person by calculating the facts. Then they have to guess who that person is.

3. Beach ball game

A classroom game to get to know each other better. All you need for this first day of school activity is a beach ball and a marker. Write down several questions on the beach ball in a random order.

Examples of questions:

What are you most proud of?

What's the most heroic thing you did?

What's your favorite animal?

What color is your toothbrush?

I am thankful for _____

What's your favorite movie?

What's your favorite sport?

How many siblings do you have?

What's your favorite dessert?

What do you like to do after school?

When's your birthday?

And so on.

Now form a circle and throw the beach ball to a student. Wherever the student's left thumb lands, is the question he has to answer. After answering that question, he can throw the ball to another student.

4. Create a time capsule

You probably already know the concept of a time capsule. If you have ideas of your own, go with it. If you don't, here's something you could do with a time capsule on the first day of school.

Let your students write down their wishes and hopes for the following school year. What do they want to learn this school year? Then put everything in the time capsule and bury is somewhere safe beneath the ground. You could also put a fun class picture in it.

At the end of the school year, you dig up the time capsule and let your students reflect on what they've learned and if their wishes at the beginning of the school year came true. You can also try to make the exact same class picture. It's fun to see who has changed in one year and who didn't.

You could do this first day of school activity in college as well! If your students are much older, like college students, you could let them write down the profession they want to practice at the end of their studies. A lot of them will have changed along the way, but it's fun to see how their dreams and expectations change in time. It's also fun to just include a bucket list of each student. These are things they want to do during their time as a college student.

5. Nice mnm'ing you

Everyone loves mnm's. Besides eating them, you could also use them for a fun back to school lesson. Divide the mnm's over a few cups and share them with your students. Students have to pick out a mnm blindfolded and tell a story or answer the question. Every color represents its own story.

Tell us

Red: something about yesterday

Orange: something you do well

Yellow: something about your childhood

Blue: something you learned last week

Brown: something you can't live without

Green: something you watch or listen to

Oh, one more thing... Of course students may eat the mnm's after finishing the question. Guess who's going to be the most popular teacher this year? 😉

6. Randomness

The Randomness widget from BookWidgets is handy for creating a variety of back-to-school games. Spin the wheel to generate a student and ask them to talk about a randomly selected topic. Alternatively, you can give a specific topic and spin the wheel to see which student is chosen.

Topics you can include:

What would you do with 1 million euro?

What is your favorite place on earth?

What is your biggest dream?

Click here to start creating your own back to school randomness activity with BookWidgets.

7. Would you rather

To get to know your students you could ask them crazy choice questions. Make fun cards and let them pick one. They have to answer the question "would you rather...?".

Here are some examples:

Would you rather have to eat raisins every day or eat peas?

Would you rather walk around with a hole in your pants or with a broken zipper?

Would you rather eat a salad or liver?

Would you take a bath or a shower?

Would you rather have lunch with the president or a famous singer?

Would you rather wear gloves or a hat in the winter?

Would you rather eat chocolate or skittles if it's all you had to eat on a hike?

Would you rather adopt a cat or a dog?

Would you rather go snowboarding or skiing?

Would you rather wear flip flops or sneakers?

Would you rather have an in ground pool or a horse?

Would you rather live in Hawaii or in Italy?

Would you rather get in trouble with your parents or your teacher?

Would you rather ride on an elephant or a giraffe?

And so on.

8. Snowball fight

Let each student take out a sheet of paper and write down 3 interesting, but not widely known, facts about him or herself. There can't be any names on the papers!

Let students crumple up their papers into balls and have a paper "snowball" fight. After a few minutes, all the paper snowballs will be all over the classroom. Now, students have to find a snowball, and unfold the paper. Each student must try to find the student whose snowball he or she retrieved.

9. Fit in puzzle

Create a giant blank puzzle and hand out a blank piece of the puzzle to every student. They have to decorate the puzzle piece with drawings that say something about themselves. After, you collect the puzzle pieces and complete it again with the help of your students. Now you have something to put on your empty classroom wall!

First day of school activities for middle school students

10. Tell it with emojis

Let your students summarize what they did during their summer break using only emojis! If you have new students, you can also let them introduce themselves using emojis.

For example:

11. Bingo

The back to School Bingo is a fantastic icebreaker activity for middle school children as it will help them to get to know their classmates. Create a Bingo Card in BookWidgets and in each square, write a brief description, such as:

Challenge your students to go around the room, asking classmates some questions. When they have a match, they are allowed to tick off that square.

Click here to start creating your own back to school bingo activity with BookWidgets.

12. Art-phone

Social media and smartphones are going to be omnipresent during this school year. This fun classroom activity for the first day of school is a nice reminder of that fact. Let's get crafty and create an art-phone like the one in the image. Create an Instagram wall, a chat session and a social profile.

For more details, take a look at this Pinterest pin.

13. (B)all about me

It's kind of the same as the creative Instagram activity above this one, but still a little bit different.

Students have to decorate their paper ball with drawings of themselves. Check out what I mean by clicking on this Pinterest link. The result is beautiful!

First day of school activities for high school students

14. Get on that chair

For this classroom icebreaker, students need to be flexible and balanced. For every student, the teacher places a chair. All the chairs should be lined up in a single line. Every student has to stand on a chair. Then, the teacher asks them to go stand in a certain order. For example: "I want you to organize yourselves from young to old." The students now have to change places without touching the ground.

With this 1st day of school activity, the students get to know each other better in an interactive way. The teacher can give other orders like: "from tall to small." or "from A to Z." Every time the students have to change their positions without pushing someone off the chairs. If you want to make it more challenging, you can set a time limit.

15. Lie to me

This first day of school activity is a fun way to get to know your students better. Not just the basics, like where they live or if they have a brother, but real stories and anecdotes.

The students have to tell 3 facts about their life. Something that happened to them. Two of them should be true, and one should be a lie. The other students have to find out which one is the lie. You'll be surprised what kind of crazy things can actually happen! (Or how good your students can lie!)

Wrap up

I hope you now know what to do during your first day of school. If this is not the case and you would like other creative lesson ideas, click here. Share this with your teacher colleages to give them some inspiration. Here comes the new school year! 🎉

Other get-to-know you games are also welcome, of course! Share them in our Teaching with BookWidgets Facebook group and don't forget to follow us on Twitter.

Oh one more tip: here, you can find student introduction games and fun student energizers.

Say hi 👋 to me on LinkedIn

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15 creative lesson ideas for the first day of school

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Back to school. Finally! In Belgium, school starts on the 1st of September, after a summer break of two months. Other countries have already begun the new school year, others still have a few weeks to go. There's one thing we all have in common: the first day of school.

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