Sometimes it can be hard coming up with first day of school activities. My first year of teaching there was just so much to do that my plans for the first day of school were pushed to the back of my priorities list. This left me at school until 8pm trying to think of ideas to help my students feel welcome and comfortable in their new classroom. There is no curriculum to follow on the first day of school. But I just keep in mind my main goal – to make students feel welcome and to make them want to come back the next day. So here is my list of first day of school activities to will make your students excited for the year ahead.
Name Tags
This is the very first thing my students do when they walk in the classroom. They decorate their personalized name tag to put on their desk. I hang them up on their desks with painters tape that first day of school to help me learn students’ names. Then after school I will put a boarder around them with card stock, laminate them, and then put them back up on student desks so that they are durable for the entire year. Find the name tags I use here. I do a similar thing the second day of school. As morning work, students decorate the cover to their Student Take Home Binder.
Get to Know You Activities
After my students finish their name tags, I like the break the ice a little bit with some Get to Know You Activities. I start out by letting students get to know you a little bit. I prepare a bag before hand and I put items in the bag that represent some of my interests. For example, I put in one of my running shoes because I like to go running. I like to include things that I know my students will connect with as well. For example, I put in the case to one of my favorite Switch games.
To introduce this activity, I tell studnets I have a bag full of items that represent things I like. I randomly call on students to reach in the bag and take out an item. I explain why I choose that item. Then I ask student to raise their hand if they like that same thing.
After we get through all my items, I tell student that now it is their time to “make” their bag. They do this on a worksheet I give them. On the worksheet is a picture of a bag. Students draw pictures of their interests and things they like. There are some lines on the bottom where students can can list those things.
Then I like to collect those and record my students’ interests. The I can easily have quick conversions with my student about their interests. This helps me make meaningful connections and positive relationships with students early on in the school year.
I also do a couple other Get to Know You Activities. I have students do a classmate scavenger hunt. Students go around the room trying to find classmates that like different things. Then we do a little Would You Rather Activity. I ask my students a would you rather question and then depending on their answer they walk to a different side of the classroom. This is a great way to get students up out of their seats and moving on the first day of school.
Find these Elementary Get to Know You Activities here.
Classroom Agreement
The first day of school is a good time to set rules and expectations. But I like to take that a step further. I like to focus on the values our class will follow. They become our class culture. You can brainstorm values with your students. Or even read some picture books that teach those values. Read more about creating a classroom agreement in this blog post here. Find the Classroom Agreement template I use here.
Little Red Hen
Speaking of values, I love the lesson that is taught in the little red hen. It can apply directly to the classroom. If students expect the teacher to do all the work, they won’t get the rewards of learning.
I like to make strawberry lemonade with my students because usually it’s really hot in August when it’s the first day of school. I display a poster with the recipe and then help me with each step. Then we go outside to the playground. I give them a cup of lemonade and then I let them play on the playground for 15 minutes. It’s a great way to break of the long day.
Classroom Scavenger Hunt
I want my students to feel comfortable in our classroom. I want them to get to know the classroom in a fun way on the first day of school. So I read to them the Gingerbread Man. Then I hide gingerbread men around the classroom with clues and have students search for them. You can also do this around the school if you want! I surprise students and give them a little cookie to eat at the end. They love it!
Anchor Chart Bulletin Board
I love first day of school activities that get students involved in setting up our classroom. It helps them to feel a part of it. It helps build the community in our classroom because we all play a part of creating it. I have a bulletin board in our classroom where I display all of our anchor charts we make as a class. I have students color a letter to the words “ANCHORING OUR LEARNING” and hang them up at the top of our bulletin board. Find this resource to use in your classroom here.
Class Schedule Cards
Similar to the last one, I get my students involved in making our daily schedule cards as well. I show a brief slide show of all the topics and subjects we will be learning in second grade. Then they get to choose a few of our schedule cards and draw the picture that goes with the subject. Then I display these all year long by our whiteboard so students know the schedule for the day. Here the link to these editable schedule cards.
Learn a Few Essential Procedures
This is one of my favorite first day of school activities because the more I can have students knowing how to do things, the less I have to explain every little step in the future. It helps save me brain power and my sanity! That’s why it’s so important to teach and practice procedures the first part of school. However, on the first day of school we don’t want to overwhelm students with a bunch of procedures.
I teach my students essential ones for the first day of school like lining up, using the restroom, and moving to and from the carpet. I use a powerpoint to help teach and model them. We read the steps to the procedure. I model it for students. They tell me what they saw and heard. We record those on the powerpoint. Then I let students practice and we add anything we can about how that procedure looks like, sounds like, and feels like. To find the powerpoint I use in my classroom click here. To learn more about the routines and procedures I teach in my classroom read this blog post here.
Class Word Search
Having students do a class word search helps them learn their classmates’ names in a fun way. They are great as a morning work activity or as a fast finisher activity on the first day of school. On the second day of school, I even have them make their own class word search. They fill in their classmates’ names and then random letters. Then they switch with a partner and do each others’ word searches.
But my students really love the I Spy based word searches. I hide their names within pictures and they have to find all the names. Get this Class Word Search resource here.
First Day of School Math Activity
I do like to incorporate some academics in our first day of school activities. This helps set the tone that the main reason students come to school is to learn. It also helps me get an overview on where students are at academically. That is why I do a fun First Day of School Math Activity. We make a class picture graph of some of our favorite things. For the first day of school, I like to have my students choose their favorite subject. I give them three options: math, reading, and writing. I give students their picture card for the chart. This is just a small piece of paper that has a picture on it that represents the subject they chose as their favorite. They color the picture and then we tape them up on the front whiteboard to make our class picture chat.
This First Day of School Math Activity is a fun way to get to know students and where they are at academically day one of school.
Then I give students a worksheet where as a class we convert the picture graph into a bar graph. Then we answer some questions about the graph. This helps me see where students are at with basic math facts. I can also model using a math fact strategy to my students.
Over the next few days I repeat this activity but what different questions like what is your favorite fruit and what is your favorite dessert. I love how it also helps me get to know my students a little more as well. Find this First Day School Math Activity here.
Learn more about the Math Fact Strategies I teach my students here in this blog post:
I hope that this blog post gave you some ideas for first day of school activities you can see yourself using. Get to know your students and have fun that first day. Show your students how excited you are to be their teacher. Help them want to come back the next day.
Looking for everything you need for Back to School? Check out this bundle where you get all of these First Day of School Activities resources plus other back to school essentials in this Back to School Mega Bundle here.
Need more ideas for the first day of school? Check out this blog post from my friend, Kate: Activities for the First Day of First Grade
This blog post also has some fun ideas for first day of school activities: Back to School Activities to Start the Year Off Right
Finally, learn how to build a foundation of math at the beginning of the school year in first grade in this blog post here.
