I am just as excited to start the school year as the kids are. I spend a lot of time planning back-to-school activities to build my classroom community of learners and friends.  As a Responsive Classroom teacher, I know that students can not and will not learn if the classroom community is not ready for learning. So I like to start the year with these must-do activities that help my students feel comfortable with each other and with me during the first week of school.

Day 1: Back To School Name Tag Challenge

Day 1 is CRAZY as students rush into class with excitement, anticipating meeting their classmates and teacher. There are supplies to collect and sort through, transportation lists to confirm and review, and so many things to do in one single school day. Meeting and remembering all of your students’ names could be difficult on the first day, and it’s not easy for the kids either, especially if you have 2 or more Kaitlynn’s, spelled differently, I may add, in one classroom. So making back-to-school name tags is a must.

Want to dive right into STEM on day 1? Give students this Name Tag Challenge. Exciting news…this activity was featured in Good Housekeeping. For this activity, focus on and evaluate the engineering design process by observing how the students work through the criteria and use the tools to problem solve, use critical thinking skills, create & design, redesign, and evaluate. It’s just a fun way to get to know students during the first week of school BEFORE delving into STEM standards. You will immediately begin to tell who can do this with ease, who gets frustrated, who redesigns over and over again, and who just gives up! It definitely helps teachers and students remember student names on day 1, plus gives you a quick, informal assessment of students early on. As a class, we do a classroom museum walk when all are finished and give thoughtful comments or suggestions to each student’s work (optional).

*BONUS: CREATE YOUR OWN! If you would like to change the criteria or materials, you can create your own challenge for your students. Your students can even create the challenge too. Change it up and have fun with it.

Follow me to find this FREE STEM NAME TAG CHALLENGE  and more at For The Love of Teachers Shop, or you can get it directly on our site here.

Day 2: I Wish My Teacher, Students & Classmates Knew…

Looking for a back-to-school activity that helps you build relationships, create a positive classroom community, and truly get to know your students? This meaningful student reflection activity was inspired by a powerful mentor text and has become one of my favorite classroom traditions.

After reading the mentor text, I put my own spin on the activity by modeling it first. Instead of asking my students to share something about themselves immediately, I gave each student an “I Wish My Students Knew…” card with one personal fact about me. Their eyes lit up! They loved learning something about their teacher, and it encouraged them to open up and share something about themselves in return.

Some responses were lighthearted:

• “I love animals.”
• “My favorite color is sky blue.”
• “I have three cats.”

Others gave me important insight into my students’ lives and emotions:

• “My mom works late.”
• “My parents just got divorced.”
• “I’m nervous about the first day of school.”

These reflections helped me understand my students on a much deeper level while creating opportunities for empathy, trust, and meaningful conversations. It quickly became one of those activities I never skip because it helps every student feel seen, heard, and valued.

This activity isn’t just for the first week of school! Leave the cards available throughout the year so students can continue sharing thoughts, feelings, celebrations, or concerns whenever they need to. Students can even place completed cards in a classroom mailbox, making this a simple way to encourage ongoing communication. It also works beautifully as a Morning Meeting, SEL, or classroom community-building activity.

If you want to get fancy, I did create these cards, I Wish Teachers/Students/Classmates Knew. You could get them on TPT here or shop directly on our site and get them here.

It’s a book too! It’s a great read! I Wish My Teacher Knew: How One Question Can Change Everything for Our Kids

Day 3: All About Me: “I”

This is my favorite back-to-school activity. It’s inspired by the “Writer’s I” with the same idea in mind, but I use and display it as a getting to know you activity at the beginning of the school year. Have your students fill in the “I” template with nouns about themselves. The noun could follow an adjective or stand by itself. I always model mine first by brainstorming a list of nouns about myself in front of my students. Then I take my favorite words and order them the way I’d like from top to bottom in the “I” template. I hang these in the hallways for Open House. My students and their parents loved reading theirs and each other. I put together a few templates, black & white, and color.

Follow me on TPT to find this FREE All About Me: “I”.

You can also shop directly on our site and get this here.

Day 4: All About Me Newspaper

By the end of week 1, I always have my students work on an All About Me Project. I have done All About Me books and banners, but I really like this All About Me newspaper. It is a great way to kick off the school year with a get to know you activity. It’s easy to print and reuse year after year. You may want to give students a few days to complete this, and it may trickle into week 2. I always introduce it with a sample of my own. They come out really awesome. I put these newspapers up for display and then add them to our class library. The kids love reading each other’s newspapers.

You can get this All About Me Newspaper on TPT here or shop directly on our site and get it here.

You can get the digital versions in PowerPoint on TPT here or shop directly on our site and get it here.

If you’d like this resource in Google Slides, you can get it on TPT here or shop directly on our site and get it here.

And for primary grades K-2, I send home an All About Me project at the end of week one. This book is the cutest getting to know you back to school activity and a class favorite. Over the summer, I make a copy of the book for each of my students. I cut it out and staple each book. I send the book and directions sheet home at the end of the first week of school before the weekend (We start before Labor Day, so the kids had a 4 day weekend to work on their book). The kids had until their assigned morning meeting “share day” to bring in their books to share with their classmates during the 2nd week of school. We shared about 4 books a day. The books became part of our classroom library so students could peruse the books throughout the year. This project certainly helps build classroom community and friendships. Plus, they came out fantastic! The kids really enjoyed making and sharing their books with all of us.

You can get this All About Me Book Project on TPT here.

You can also shop directly on our site and get this here.

Day 5: Hope and Dreams

As a Responsive Classroom teacher, I always start the year by discussing, sharing, and writing about our Hopes & Dreams. I display my students’ hopes and dreams as a reminder that if we all want to reach them, we have to do our part in following the rules, routines, and expectations to help us all reach them. I ask my students to write a few sentences and answer the following 2 questions:

What are your Hopes and Dreams?

How will you reach your hope(s) and dream(s)? (What will you do (actionable steps) to reach your hope(s) and dream(s)?)

My hopes and dreams are…

I will reach my hopes and dreams by…

You could get this watercolor pennant banner to write and display your students’ Hopes and Dreams on TPT here, or shop directly on our site and get it here.

We revisit this activity right after the New Year to see if we have met our hopes and dreams and if we need to keep working on reaching them or create new ones. You could check out my New Year’s Hopes and Dreams on TPT here or shop directly on our site and get it here.

If you are not a Responsive Classroom teacher and want to learn more about it and need some support planning back-to-school activities, then I highly recommend the book, The First Six Weeks of School. It’s absolutely my go-to for planning the first 6 weeks of school. It’s easy to use and is teacher-friendly with so many great ideas. Visit For The Love Responsive Classroom for more Responsive Classroom tips and tricks!

Wait, One More…Back to School Activity: Welcome to Our Hive

This is a great back-to-school or beginning of the year activity for you and your students to get to know one another in a fun way. This is a no-prep and easy to use activity during the first week, or even on the first day, of school. If you love the bee theme, you’ll love this.

Includes:

Welcome to Our Hive cover slide- add student names in the text boxes under the bees. Insert teacher name(s), grade, school name, and school year on the lines of the beehive. Include your Bitmoji if you’d like.

Student slide- each student (and the teacher) fills out ONE of these slides.

Here are 2 ideas:

1. Students insert a photo, include a fun fact, and fill out the favorites in the hive. Text boxes included.

2. Students insert a photo AND write a brief bio about themselves (family, pets, hobbies, interests, etc.), include a fun fact, and fill out the favorites in the hive. Text boxes included. *You may want to give your students a choice.

• Ideas for sharing in product intro.
• View in present mode, or however you’d like, as a whole class, independently, or even share with your families at Back to School/Open House night. The parents love this, and so will your students. It brings your students together as they get to know one another, make connections, build friendships, and create a class community.

Check this out on TPT here or shop directly on our site and get it here.

If you need help teaching and modeling back-to-school routines, read these related posts:

Interactive Modeling: Classroom Management Time Saver (Includes a link to my modeling scripts, which I use to teach and model all back-to-school routines.)

Guided Discovery: An Easy Overview

13 Fun Back-to-School Activities

Our website was featured in the article titled: ‘17 Atividades e Ideias de Volta Às Aulas‘ (17 Back-to-School Activities and Ideas) published on Twinkl’s educational platform. Visit the publisher’s site to explore free educational resources.

Wait, what?! There is more! Check out these back-to-school freebies!

Back to School Like a Boss Planning Checklists

 

Meet The Teacher Letter-Bee Theme

Get my FREE classroom management checklists here.

If you like it, then pin it!

Happy Back to School!