Tip #4 for Making Your Next School Year Easier

It doesn’t seem to matter how many years I’ve been doing this. I still get the jitters leading up to the first day of school! For me, the best antidote for back-to-school anxiety is to plan, plan, plan. That way, you can be sure your new students will be happily engaged in constructive activities – and you won’t be stuck just reading classroom policies and procedures.

Summer is the perfect time to brainstorm fun, engaging ideas for that first day and week. Before you know it, you’ll be busy with setting up your classroom and attending meetings! That's why Tip #4 is to

I've found that the perfect formula for an awesome first day of school is:

1.  Something for students to do the second they walk into class

2.  An engaging get-to-know-you activity

3.  A creative way to go over basic classroom procedures

4.  A writing sample so that I can begin to learn about my students

I've compiled all of my favorite First Day of School activities into this resource:

You'll find a student survey, teacher interview activity, writing prompt, and fun icebreakers.  They're all designed to keep students engaged and actively involved in their learning from the first minute they arrive. Filled with the perfect combination of fun and community building, this resource will have your students excited about learning and becoming a part of your classroom.

For something a bit more comprehensive, here’s my Back-To-School Toolkit, with more than 80 pages of kid-tested and teacher-approved resources for classroom organization, first week of school activities, classroom management, and other materials you can use all year long.

You’ll get:

- Tracking Logs and Forms
- First Week Activities

- Management Resources

- Sample School-Start Documents

- PLUS, 12 pages of BONUS MATERIALS and links to freebies!

As you can tell, planning brings me a lot of comfort during the long days of summer! In fact, I'll be going into detail about planning entire units in the next part of the 10 Things To Do This Summer To Make Next Year Easier series.

Until then, thanks for stopping by!

Mary Beth 

There's more tips where this came from!  Check out Tip 1, Tip 2, Tip 3, Tip 4, Tip 5, Tip 6, Tip 7, Tip 8, Tip 9, and Tip 10!