BACK TO SCHOOL  

      Thematic unit activities, lesson plans, poems, songs, and resources for early childhood and primary teachers.

           Beginning a new school year can be an anxious time for students and even master teachers.  There is excitement in the air as well as that heavenly smell of new crayons. The impression you want to leave after the first day is important since it will create a tone for the entire school year.  The following activities are suggestions that can be used in your back-to-school planning.  Additional information for letters, forms, classroom management, etc can be found at the back to school menu. The resource book below is available through this site and Amazon.com.  Click on the cover with the mouse and learn more about this resource.

                    Scholastic Resource Book - Back-To-School

                  GETTING TO KNOW YOU

  The following are suggestions to use in preparation of your student class list and getting to know the students.

   1.  Before school starts, send a post card or letter to your students welcoming them to the _______ grade.  Samples of these letters are in the back to school section.

   2.  Write each student's name on sentence strips.  Put the names in a pocket chart.  I use a pocket chart that is a garment rack with wheels.  This is rolled outside of the classroom door.  The names of all of my students are placed in the pocket chart in alphabetical order.  Parents can pass by the door and read the names, etc. 

  3.  When students enter, have them take their name from the pocket chart. This will give you a visual as to the students who are present as well as the no shows. Make extra laminated sentence strips and leave them blank.  These can be used for new additions to the class.

  4.  Use the name cards for games and activities for the first day. After the first day, the name tags are placed on the word wall.  These are our first words of the year.

  Activities using name cards:

   When students are sitting on the floor for the morning meeting, sing a song about names.  Some suggestions may include:

                   Tune:  If you're Happy and You Know it

    * If your name starts with ( letter name) wave hello

    * If your name starts with (letter name) stand up tall

    * If your name starts with (letter name) clap your hands.

   In our class, Pooh and Piglet are mascots.  The students sit on the floor in a circle.  We pass one of our mascots around singing a song (Good Morning Song is easy to learn).  When the song stops, the student can say something about their favorite color, pet, etc.  Since many students are shy, giving them a topic to tell about usually produces more of a response.  The character is passed around again and the game continues. 

   Getting to Know You Game

   This idea is from Mailbox September issue of monthly ideas.  The activity is called, "Get the Scoop".

    This matching game is a way for students to get to know one another.  Using 9" x 12" sheets of tag board, make templates of an ice-cream cone and a scoop of ice cream.  Provide one cone and one ice-cream template, two 9" x 12" sheets of construction paper (one brown and one pink), two small index cards, scissors, crayons, glue, and a pencil for each student.

    Group the students into pairs.  Have each student trace and cut out a brown cone and a pink ice-cream scoop.  Ask each student to interview his partner and write a few descriptive words or sentences on an index card.  For students who are not writing yet, they can draw a picture, orally retell, or have an adult write for them.  The interviewer draws a picture of the partner on the index card.  This is glued to the ice-cream scoop.  They write their partner's name on the back of the ice-cream scoop. The teacher collects all of the projects.

    To play the game, choose a cone and read the description.  to find out who has the picture of the selected student, ask "Who's got the scoop?"  If the name matches, they have the answer correct.

      Give me a Hand Activity:

  This activity is easy to do but may take some adult help for early learners.  Each student traces their hand on construction paper.  The shape is cut out.  Glue the hand on another piece of construction paper of a contrasting color.  On each finger, the student can write or draw something about themselves (good helper, love to eat pizza, etc).  The hands are then placed around the bulletin board or door.  This activity also helps build community when shared in group.

     The following pages are designated for specific topics and activities

                    Click on the underlined topic to view that page.

                 School Songs, Poems, Activities

                Back to School - Book List and Resources

                               Apple links and Johnny Appleseed links

                 Back to School ... More sites and good stuff

Back to School     Back to Links List

                                        Email...