Fifteen Activities to Welcome-In The School Year

The school year is just around the corner for some and a little over a month away for others, but the bottom line is that it is coming and quickly!  There is so much chaos during the first few days of the school year, despite the best laid plans.  It's probably just the nature of the beast, but nonetheless, it just adds to the stress.  Despite the chaos, I try to focus on student engagement, set clear expectations, and start establishing a sense of community.  These are important to me from the get-go which is why I created the Back To School Activity Pack Bundle.

Included in this bundle are four activities: 

School-Wide Treasure Hunt includes 9 audio QR codes and an activity sheet that students use to record the places they find within the school.  Clear and detailed instructions are provided to make this activity easy to set-up.  I can't wait to use this with students this fall!

Friends Finds includes an interview sheet and a compare/contrast graphic organizer.  Each student interviews two classmates and records their answers.  Then, using the graphic organizer, they compare and contrast the information from the interviews.

Extra, Extra, Read All About Me!  Using a newspaper template, students give information about themselves such as their favorite movie, book, and hero and set a personal goal for the year.

Five About Me Students share five things about themselves using the numbers 1-5.  For example, a student may share, "I took one vacation this summer; I have two sisters; I have three pet fish," etc.

There are countless other activities everywhere that are great resources.  We listed a few for you!

Get-To-Know-You Yahtzee - FREE
This activity, found at The Middle School Counselor, is played like the game but with a twist.  Students share information about themselves when they roll a specific number combination!

Memory Wheels - FREE
This cool idea comes from Middle School Math Moments and More and is simple but fun!  Create a circle to look like a wheel.  Students write their names in the center and then write interesting facts about themselves.  Here is an example from the blog:

All About Me: A Back-to-School Lapbook - $5.00
This super cute activity is from Teacher's Lounge.  The foldables include favorite things, summer activities, who's in the class, facts about self, super powers, etc.

Multiple Intelligence Survey For Kids - FREE
I have had this activity in my back pocket for years, but I have yet to use it.  I vow to use it this year because I think it is such a great resource from Laura Candler!

Find Someone Who - FREE
This is a free activity from Sweet Integrations. It includes 20 boxes of fun "finds" so your students can begin to connect with their peers!

New Kids On The Block "Child Glyphs" - FREE

This cute activity is found at Welcome to Room 28.  It includes a printout for the head, t-shirt, shorts, and a key for the glyph.

Back To School - $5.00

This bundle of activities can be found at Nita-Marie's Classroom Creations and includes cute graphing activities, writing prompts, all about me pages, and other activities.  There are plenty of activities for different interest levels.

Back To School Math Number Hunt - FREE

This activity by Games 4 Learning is a great get-to-know-you math activity that has students ask each other about numbers relevant to their lives. 

Toilet Paper Pass - FREE

The Teacher's Corner offers a funny and cheap activity for the first day of school.  Students pass around a roll of toilet paper and tear off as much as they would like (without telling them why, of course).  Students separate the toilet paper into squares and tell one thing about him/herself for each square.

All About Me Paper "Bagpack!" - $4.00

Brooke Hilderbrand created this adorable activity which is also available in Spanish and provides a letter for parents to get involved, too!

Back To School Icebreakers - FREE

This download from The Primary Schoolhouse includes 56 question cards that students can ask each other or be asked in a large group.

Back To School GAME SHOW - FREE

This is a team activity by Tiny Toes that includes the following categories: Scrambled (students unscramble a word), AlphaBody (students use their bodies to spell), Make a List (a timed event in which students make a list of certain items), Main Idea (students determine how words are related), and DRAWiT (students draw pictures).  (This activity was reported not to work on Macs.)

The Riddle Book - FREE

Kristin Ketteringham (Yahoo Contributor Network) posted this activity in which students create their own riddle books.  They write four to five sentences about themselves with the last line reading, "Who am I?"  Once everyone is finished, students try to guess which riddle belongs to each student.

Back to School Thinking Maps

This bundle of activities is created by Sabrina Beg and includes a series of 11 maps/graphic organizers for students that can be done in groups or independently.

If you have any great ideas or resources that you have created to welcome in the school year, please leave your information in the comment section!