Featured Articles:

Tips & Strategies:

• Starting School Welcome to Kindergarten: Tips for the Kindergarten-bound
• Tips and Strategies for the Elementary School Years
• Tips and Strategies for the Middle School Years
• Tips and Strategies for the High School Years
• A New School Year and a New School: Tips for the New Kid in Class
• A New School Year: Let’s Talk About It - Conquering Back-to-School Anxiety with Conversation
• Getting Ready for School: Line Up Homework Help in Advance

Getting Ready for School:

• Getting Ready for School in a Tight Economy
• HotChalk's Back to School Tips Column

More Back to School Lessons and Teacher Resources:

General:

• This is an idea for creating a funny "Classroom Do's and Don'ts" book
  
• Using a video to introduce the rules and the teacher wards off first day laryngitis
  
• This lesson idea organizes first day of school activities around the rules "be kind, be safe, and be your best"
  
• This "Meet the Teacher Day" scavenger hunt and self-portrait activity results in a class quilt.
  
• "Getting to Know You with Toilet Paper" is a really cute idea
  
• This clever first day of school idea makes it easy to send student birthday cards
  
• "Three Truths and a Fib" is a funny get-acquainted activity
  
• This first day of school "quiz" is a fun "getting to know you" and your expectations activity
  
• Here is an excellent classroom mapping lesson that is tailored for students with different abilities
  
• This lesson answers the question "What are we going to be studying this year?" with props and a game
  
  
• "Me Bags" is the name of this first day of school getting acquainted idea
  
• Here's an idea for a first day of school "Class Puzzle" that shows each student's importance
  
• This first day lesson focuses on boosting self-esteem
  
• This is a "Getting To Know You" activity idea
  
• Here's another version of the "Me Bags" idea
  
• This is a brief "Welcome To School" activity idea
  
• Here is a fun first-day journal activity
  
• This is a great kindergarten back to school puzzle idea
  
• This idea is to help students learn their way around the school on their first day
  
• Here are 10 educational ownership discussion topics to insure a student's new school year success
  
  

• This mystery box activity gets kids excited about learning new things
  
• Always a good back to school idea - Me Bags (an alternate version)
  
• This end of the year idea involves creating a "Words of Wisdom" poster for next year's students
  
• Try this great activity for first-of-year introductions
  
• Here is an idea for an open-house display
  
• Students become familiar with the special characteristics of their classmates in this idea
  
• This great beginning-of-school idea lets students introduce themselves with a "Box of Me"
  
• This yummy back-to-school Ice Breaker involves M&Ms
  
• Here is a fun true/false introduction activity for the first day of school
  
• This kindness exercise promotes acceptance and cooperation throughout the year
  
  
• This is another version of the "Summer in a Can" vacation show-and-tell activity
  
• This "Personality Crown" idea helps children get to know you and each other
  
• This "All About ME" box idea comes with a secret note inside
  
• This "Personality Sack" idea presents the student to his classmates
  
• This All-About-Me homework project is due on the first day of school
  
• Here students introduce themselves via a 9-square construction
• This All-About-Me Scrapbook contains pictures, symbols, journal entry, interests, and expectations
  
• This Welcome Sack idea warmly presents back-to-school expectations to your students
  
• Here jujubes are the get-acquainted incentive
  
• This idea connects you with your students before school even starts
  
  
• Students create long-term "Goal Clocks" in this lesson
  
• Here are "Ten Rules for Back-to-School Success"
  
• This idea involves taking "then and now" student pictures for a beginning of school name learning aid and end of year gift
  
• This "Getting to Know You" guessing game will leave you humming the song by the same name
  
  

The following lessons are grouped by subject, but most can be used in any class

Art:

• This is an excellent art lesson for the first day of school called "My Favorite Things"
  
• Start the first week of school off right with this fun art idea
  
• These "Me" collages are great for getting to know classmates
  
• In this get-to-know-you idea, students create a self-portrait collage with their favorite things
  
• This "All About Me" scrapbook idea yields a bulletin board, a classroom book and a teacher's keepsake
  
• In this lesson, students create a weaving using materials that describe them as a person
  
• In this fun get-acquainted lesson, students draw a classmate's portrait with chalk
  
• This "Guess What I did on my Summer Vacation" drawing idea is a great first-day icebreaker
  
• Students use self-describing words as a structure in this "Art about Me" drawing idea
  
• This helpful "Note to Art Teaching Assistants" contains a great clean-up song
  
• This is an idea for a first day of middle school art class questionnaire
  

Computers & Internet:

• Start collecting pictures now for this totally awesome end-of-year "PowerPoint Party for Parents" idea
  
• This is the same idea with a twist -- students make their own presentations
  
• This is a self-introductory PowerPoint presentation idea
  
• WordArt and ClipArt are used in this get-acquainted filler activity idea
  
• A "Special Me" class book is created here with Kid Pix self-portraits and written personal summaries
  

Language Arts:

• This first day of school idea uses "Miss Nelson is Missing" to teach classroom rules
  
• Here is a "Mighty Mike, Brilliant Brianna, Talented Tamika" name learning game with adjectives idea
  
• This is a good beginning-of-the-year lesson for introducing essay structure
  
• Use this back-to-school art activity to review writing paragraphs
  
• Here is an "All About the Teacher" bilingual poster idea
  
• ESL students learn to form questions here while learning information about their teacher
  
• This idea starts as a beginning-of-the-year bulletin board and ends as a memory book compilation of student writing assignments
  
• Here students share their special "gifts" after reading Shel Silverstein's "The Giving Tree"
  
• Buddy Bags and Venn diagrams are used here as get-acquainted tools to compare and contrast students with each other
  
• This is a fun group "Things we have in Common" activity for learning about your classmates
  
  
• This classmate interview template is an interactive language arts activity and an ice-breaker
  
• In this interview idea, students learn about classmates while working on writing and oral presentation skills
  
• "Talk Time" is a good 1st Day of School activity to get students talking
  
• This back to school lesson involves the evaluation of poems
  
• In this idea students write letters to themselves at the beginning of the year and read them at the end
  
• Students interview each other in this First Day of School idea
  
• This "Cubicle Reading and Writing" lesson is appropriate for back to school time
  
• In this great end/beginning of the year lesson, kids write letters to next year's students at the end of the year
  
• This is another beginning/end of the year activity called "Memory Book"
  
• In this get-acquainted game, students look up creative adjectives to describe themselves
  
  
• Here students create a booklet about their vacation or summer event
  
• This beginning-of-the-year "ME Box" idea helps students focus their writing
  
• This is an "All About Me" memories and goals book idea
  
• After each student creates a self-descriptive bubble map, the class graphs the popular adjectives in this first day of school idea
  

Music:

• "Rules Rap" is a new way to present first-day music class instructions
  
• Here's a Back To School activity to learn each others' names to Music
  
• Here are some songs appropriate for Back To School time
  
• This is a musical idea for introducing school staff to students
  
• A beginning of school musical name plate activity can help students learn each others' names
  
• After this activity, students will be able to recite the names of their classmates in rhythm
  
• This scavenger hunt can help you form cooperative groups based on learning styles and interests
  
• Here is an instrument activity with a fall apple theme
  
• This taking roll song idea helps students learn their classmate's names
  
• Here is a little musical introduction song game idea
  
  
• Learn each others' names to music with this first day idea
  
• "Name Game with a Beat" is another musical name learning activity
  
• These acrostic classroom M-U-S-I-C-I-A-N rules, clap-pat-snap to a rap beat
  
• "Scribble Music" is a great early year, break time or substitute plan
  
• This get-acquainted rhythm game illustrates the difference between rhythm and beat
  

Math:

• Here is a clever numerical way to introduce yourself to your students on the first day of school
  
• This is a good first day of school idea for gathering students' birthdays and teaching bar graphs too
  
• Students make a classroom graph showing how many letters are in each student's name in this first-day math lesson
  

Multidisciplinary:

• This multidisciplinary "Rainbow Fish" activity idea is perfect for the first day of school
  
• Here are some ideas for teaching a good multidisciplinary apple unit
  
• This is a good idea for a beginning of the school year review in any subject
  
• This is a great idea for a beginning and end of school lesson - using a time capsule to demonstrate students' learning
  

PE:

• This PE lesson introduces the freeze-melt-go protocols and the students as well
  
• Students write their names with their feet in this name-learning activity
  

Science:

• Making a birthday bar graph is an engaging beginning of the year math or science idea
  
• Here are great high school chemistry writing prompts for the start of school and throughout the year
  

Social Studies:

• In this idea, social studies is introduced on the first day by taking a census
  
• This back to school ice breaker idea looks at classroom diversity
  
• This school life lesson idea is called "Gremlins go to School"
  
• This German "Schultuete" idea gives a cultural upgrade to the first day of school "Me Bag" idea
  
• This heart-warming first day of school idea builds classroom community
  
• Stellaluna teaches school citizenship in this lesson
  
• Creating a family or personal crest is a good way to discuss family values or to learn about classmates
  
• A classroom map hunt is an ideal idea to acquaint students with the classroom and its procedures