First Week Of First Grade | Back To School Activities

Description

The first week of first grade is an important time for community building so that you can get to know your new students! This resource contains many back to school activities that you can begin to implement on the 1st day of school! Get to know your students and build relationships right from the beginning with these fun and engaging activities!

This resource is also appropriate for second grade.

This resource provides 10 activities, as well as extra printable for your students to complete. Activities can be used more than once as well because there’s such a wide variety!

Here’s what is included:
Musical Chairs
This game includes cards to get to know your students! Just like with Musical Chairs, put the chairs in a circle, play the music, take a chair away, and then stop the music. The student that doesn’t have a chair draws a card from the hat and answers the question.

Would You Rather?
This game includes two posters- a number 1 and a number 2. Hang the posters in two opposite corners. Read the “Would You Rather?” question and students will go to the corner which has the answer they pick.

Playdough Activities
I like to buy playdough for my students for the first day of school. This is a great activity to have on their desks when they enter the room. You can have them create while you are doing the busy first day of school stuff- talking to parents, unpacking school supplies, consoling kids who miss Mama, taking attendance, lunch count, etc. This is a nice, quiet, fun activity that your whole class will enjoy! Playdough mats are included for your students to create on.

Classroom Scavenger Hunt
I like to have my students roam the room in order to find out about their classroom, while also getting wiggles out. I’ve included many different versions of this in hopes to meet everyone’s needs. I’m aware not all classrooms have computer stations and not all teachers use community supplies, etc. So, I’ve included a few options, as well as pretty simple versions too.

Roam The Room
I made a variety of “Roam The Room” cards because all teachers have so many different things. What one teacher has may not the be the same as another teacher. Therefore, I didn’t number the cards because I didn’t know what teachers could use. So, here’s my suggestion. Print, laminate, and cut the cards you can use. Number them 1-12 with a dry erase marker. If you can use more than 12, then you could have your students do this multiple times by numbering them differently and switching out the cards. By using a dry erase marker, you can easily wipe it off and play again! Once you’ve prepared your cards, hang them up (I just use tape) next to the object. For example, I would hang my pencil card next to my pencil cup! Students roam the room looking for the cards. They fill out the “Where In Our Room?” paper while they do so.

The Gingerbread Man Loose At School Activities
After reading the book, take your students on a tour of your school so they can learn the building better. Use the Gingerbread clues (hang up beforehand) as a fun way to find different places.

The Kissing Hand Activities
After reading the story, there is a fun craft and first day feelings chart to complete!

“Your Teacher Says”
This game is similar to Simon Says. Put all the cards in a bowl. There are appropriate behaviors and inappropriate behaviors. Explain to students that if you say an appropriate behavior, they should act it out. If you say an inappropriate behavior, they should not. If they do, then they are “out”. When you are all finished, there are labels so that you can chart as a class appropriate and inappropriate behaviors. There are also many printables and a booklet to help teach the rules! A leadership contract is also included for your students once they’ve learned all the rules.

Shine Bright Banner
After students complete the banner, hang in your classroom to add some bright, starry cheer! There are three different templates included. Each template has a banner with a photo option and one without so that you can choose what fits best for your classroom.

Bus Watches
It never fails; every first day of school gets me in a panic of how my students go home. These watches will help. They’re big for a reason- to be noticed! I print them by color. For example, all the bus rider watches are pink, all the car rider watches are green, and so forth. That way, I can easily look at a child’s wrist and see visually what their dismissal procedure is. The watches included are: bus, walker, car rider, daycare van, cafeteria, and after school care.

Extra printables are included as well!

Happy first week back to school!

You may also like:
First Week Of First Grade Printables