Back to School Community Building Activities
Ditch the boring meet the teacher slides and the uncomfortable icebreaker activities! Start your year off right with my back to school resource, which was designed with the intention of helping students ease back into the classroom setting and get to know each other in a fun engaging way that will build classroom community. Here are the activities that are included in this resource.
Get to Know Me Cootie Catcher
Allow students to introduce themselves, practice important social skills and form relationships with their classmates, which will help them to collaborate successfully and feel comfortable communicating their thoughts with their classmates. Students will create their own cootie catcher from the provided worksheet. Students will practice following step-by-step directions that show them how to build and play with the cootie catcher. Directions are available in video and written format. Then, they will use it to ask and answer questions with partners.
Classroom Rules Reading Comprehension & SEL Activity
Read this passage to improve reading skills and practice finding evidence to answer questions, while promoting social emotional learning. This passage will make students begin to reflect upon what school would be like without rules. This will help students to understand the importance of following them. Students will develop one classroom rule / norm to share with everyone, which will lead into a meaningful conversation about classroom expectations.
Back to School Word Search
What kid do you know that doesn't love a good word search?!? I bet the answer is none. Students will practice spelling skills, as they find 18 hidden words related to school in the puzzle.
Back to School Word Scramble
Have students work together to unscramble letter combinations and make real words while practicing vocabulary and problem-solving skills. Afterwards, challenge students to unscramble preselected circled letters from the real words to answer a Back to School riddle. Students will have extra fun figuring this out and a few laughs to kick off a positive year together.
Do you want your students to go home raving about how much fun they had on their first day and about how excited they are for what's in store? This is the activity for you! Build classroom community and transition into this school year with ease. Help your students connect with each other, practice communication skills, collaborate, think critically, and read. These activities are perfect for the first week of school, social emotional learning, and / or morning work. Make your students' experiences in your classroom meaningful and engaging from day one!
