Back to School Tips
It’s back-to-school season, and teachers everywhere are preparing to welcome their students back into the classroom! A teacher must stay organized, set expectations, and create a positive learning environment that encourages students to reach their full potential. With that in mind, here are some Back-to-School Survival Tips to help you get back to school with a smile on your face 🙂
Learning the names the easy way!
You can easily learn the names of your students with NAME TENTS. This is simply paper that can fold and stand up on the kids’ desks. Ask them to write their names on it and decorate it as they want. When the class ends, they put their tents away and bring them the next class.
Hey! Just because you are part of my community you can download my Editable Name Tents for free HERE
All About Me
This is the MUST DO back-to-school activity to learn about your students. In this activity, they must fill in a worksheet with their interests, favorite books or movies, and a bit about their interests. This is an excellent way to start creating meaningful relationships with your learners. Check out my Back to School Templates HERE!
Collage Yourself
Ask your learners to make a collage of their own personalities from objects they have at home. They should take photographs of those objects and paste them on paper. They can add words, phrases, their favorite quotes, etc. Finally, students must talk about their college. If you are teaching virtually, you can ask your students to create a zoom background that represents who they are. Then, have students present their backgrounds to the class.
Class Contracts
This is an agreement between learners and the teacher to follow specific rules and standards. Doing this at the beginning of the year is extremely important to avoid misunderstandings and misbehavior.Â
Some Ideas to work with classroom rules: 1. Show pictures of students who are misbehaving and pictures of students showing good behavior. Talk about the differences. 2. Create rhymes to consolidate rules. For example, “hands up in the air if you have something valuable to share!”
Cooperative Games
The main goal of a cooperative game is to work together towards a common goal. There is no competition, no winners or losers. These games are great for building relationships.
Game 1: In this game, students must make a circle, hold hands, and pass a balloon without allowing it to hit the ground. Ask students to count how many times they can “bop” it back into the air without breaking the circle.
Game 2:Â Cooperative Stand up: Have your group get in pairs. The pairs will sit on the floor, back to back. They must stand up without using their hands. After the pair stands up, have them find another pair, and all 4 must sit down and stand up. This can continue until the entire group is together and everyone tries to stand up.
Game 3:Â Marshmallow Challenge: In fifteen minutes, teams must build the tallest free-standing structure out of 20 sticks of spaghetti, tape, one yard of string, and one marshmallow. The marshmallow must be on top.
I hope these activities will help you feel more relaxed as you envision a creative and super-enriching school year. We’re in this together! All my very best.Â
Paula.
