First day of School Activities
Are you ready with First Day of School Activities for your kiddos? No matter how much you plan for that first day, things happen. I’ve learned through the years to make sure that I always have something EASY for my new first graders to do if I’m distracted (meaning things your students can do without you).
I learned this lesson the hard way – quick story…
First day of school… 24 kids… all labels on desks… all names on EVERYTHING! Since I had 24 kids, I KNEW that I would NOT be the one to get a new student. I was READY! I was PREPARED! AND THEN… I’m walking with my little kiddos around the school showing them the bathroom, cafeteria, etc. when the counselor walks up with 2 little boys. She’s smiling at me – I smile back. They are twins… and they are precious. (Side-note… I have twins – so of course they have a special place in my heart.). She then says… “Mrs. Juneau… I would like you to meet… and she names them.” Now… I am thinking – “Why in the world is she introducing me to these two fellas – but OK… I’ll play along.” “Well… hello – welcome to Milton”. Now – they look at me like I’m speaking a foreign language, but I didn’t think much of it.
Fake it til you make it attitude – but I was dying inside!
She then tells me that they will BOTH be in my class. I smile and give an excited “Oh my gosh… I’ve always wanted to have twins in my classroom – I have twins at home… blah blah blah”. The whole time I’m thinking… WHAT?????? YOU’VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!!!!! I had one extra desk – JUST IN CASE… but surely didn’t have 2. Nor did I have supplies for 2 more students – I could go on – but I’m sure you get the picture.
But that’s not the best part. She then proceeds to tell me that they don’t speak ANY English. Ya’ll… it took all I had to keep it together. I only speak English… as in I don’t even know one word in another language – pathetic but true!
Anyway – short story long… one of the twins cried all day long – then tried to run home. I lost the first two days with the rest of the class. I WAS NOT PREPARED to be distracted all day long. The rest of the students were unbelievably good, but I knew after this debacle, I would be ready for things that were out of my control.
Classroom Coloring Book
One of the items that is on the students desk (usually when they first walk into our classroom in day 1) is our rules coloring book. It’s an easy way to keep students engaged while they color the cover of the coloring booklet. I also have a powerpoint that we use with the coloring booklet to go over classroom rules – but truly for the first day, it’s a life-saver to keep them occupied and coloring (which in my opinion, soothes nerves as well!)
Collaborative Poster Activity
You could also give students each a page to color that will then create a collaborative poster. Once students color their portion of the picture, they can build the poster together. These turn out SUPER CUTE and are great to hang up in the classroom or outside your door.
Just make sure you have the supplies for your students – colors/markers/color pencils – tell them they can color it however they want!
1st day of school activities
We also have a collaborative poster that says, “Our first day of school was cool” and goes along with the flipbook that they create telling about their first day.
The collaborative poster is hung on the outside bulletin board, and the flipbooks are all around the poster! These turn out SUPER CUTE!
The collaborative poster portion could be the part that students can do without any help from you. Just tell them to color their section however they want. Again – make sure you have their supplies ready (colors, colored pencils, or markers, and scissors).
Looking for other First day Activities
If you are looking for other first day activities that require teacher guidance, check this blog out – also comes with a FREEBIE! This activity is done yearly and is so much fun and super cute! Read about it here!
ANOTHER BACK TO SCHOOL ACTIVITY
Here’s another back to school activity that we do that will help students learn all about the people who work at your school. Everything is editable, and it is super easy to add pictures. Check out my blog post here!
I hope these help in some small way! I’d love to hear how your first day back went – hoping it was fabulous and uneventful!!
Until next time!
Shanon
We Are Better Together
