The first week of school is a critical time to teach all your classroom procedures and expectations. I usually spend the first week of school going through my PowerPoint with all classroom procedures the students will need to know. I teach the students the procedure, model the procedure, and even have students practice the procedure. If you want to check out the PowerPoint I use, click here!

This can be a “boring” time for the students, so I usually like to break up the PowerPoint with some fun activities. I like to stick to get to know you activities, team building activities, and simple STEM activities. I want students to start developing a sense of classroom community. These activities are also a great way to get to know your students and add in some fun and learning.

Here are 10 activities that I use during those first few weeks of school to break up teaching all the classroom procedures.

1. Name Tent

This is a great idea for a quick filler on the first day of school and a great way to learn the names of all the students. If you are an elementary teacher, you may already know all your students names just because they were at the school the year before. If you are a middle school teacher, or have rotating classes, you may want to consider making name tents or even name tags to learn the names of all your students.

I like to have students make a quick name tent while they eat breakfast on the first day of school, since they aren’t ready to start morning procedures yet. Also, students tend to be nervous on the first day of school so this is something great to keep them busy, especially if they don’t have friends to talk to yet.

Basically, I give the students a piece of cardstock (it is more durable). I will either fold the paper in half or thirds, so it looks like a tent on their desk. On the front side, I ask them to write their name really big. I tell them they can decorate it or draw pictures of things they like if they have time. On the back, I ask them to write down three interesting things about themselves, what they did over the summer, or even what they are looking forward to learning.

Learning names quickly and building relationships is critical to classroom management. To learn more tips on how to build relationships in your classroom, click here.

2. 2 Truths and A Lie

This is a favorite activity in my classroom. I usually do this on the very first day of school after I teach a few procedures and introduce myself. I start this activity by picking three interesting facts about myself, but only two are true and one is a lie. I then ask each group of students to discuss which one they think is the lie. After each group guesses, I reveal the answers. I usually try to have pictures to go along with each one of my true facts so students can learn even more about me.

After this, I have each student come up with their own 2 Truths and a Lie. I then teach them a Round Robin and have them share with their group members. (I use Cooperative Learning structures in my classroom (click here to read more), so I like to start teaching structures right away.) After they share within their groups, I ask each group to pick the most challenging 2 Truths and a Lie to share with me and the class. This way, I only have 4 or 5 that share so it doesn’t take as long.

Some students may get upset that they cannot share their 2 Truths and a Lie with you, but I always tell them they can share it with me at recess. This way, all students know I care about them and want to hear about their lives from the very first day of school.

3. “Get to Know You” Morning Meeting Activity

I have a morning meeting every morning, even on the first day of school. It is a great procedure to have in the morning, so I start teaching how to do it on the first day. This morning meeting takes longer than normal, but as we go through it, I explain how we do it. During morning meeting, I do a couple get to know you activities. Even if you do not do a morning meeting, you could do a couple of these anytime during the day on the first few days of school.

First, we have a greeting. For this, I go around the circle and have each student say their name to me and the class. Then we all respond by saying, “Good Morning (Name).” After we say good morning, I ask the student to tell us something about themselves. I usually try to keep this to a minute and limit to one thing just to save some time. If you do not have Morning Meeting, you could do this with students at their desk.

Next, we have a sharing time. For this time, I just ask each student what they are looking forward to most for the school year. We go around the circle and everyone shares. You could also use this sharing time to ask the students to share one thing they did over the summer. I just like to keep the conversation centered around learning on the first day of school.

After sharing is the activity portion. I like to play a version of “quiet ball” where a student passes the ball to another student but they have to say their name. This way, students work on learning each other’s names, which is another great way to grow a sense of community in your classroom. Another activity I like to do is to pass a ball of yarn around the circle to create a web. I start with the end of the yarn and pass the yarn ball to a student across the circle. I will say their name and then they will pass the yarn ball to another student, but hold on the piece of the yarn. The last student to get the yarn ball, will pass the yarn ball back to me. Each student will have a piece of the yarn and it will look like a web.

If you want to learn more about Morning Meeting and how I use it in my classroom, read our article here!

4. Make Words as a Team

This is a great team building activity for your students. I give my students a bag filled with letters. I ask them to make as many words as they can out of the letters I gave them. One student will be the recorder and write down all the words the group comes up with. I will time the students, usually giving about five minutes. I collect the papers and count up the words they got right. The words only count if they are spelled correctly and are an actual word. I then give the total to the students and say which group won.

Each year, I usually give the students letters that spell out “FOURTH GRADE” or whatever grade I am teaching. I have never had a group of students figure out that the letters spell the grade they are in. When I reveal this after they are finished, they always laugh and can’t believe they couldn’t figure that out. This activity is great to get students working together!

5. Longest Paper Chain

This is another activity that is great for team building and it is also a simple STEM activity. I give each group of students ONE piece of paper. I tell them they need to make the longest chain they can out of this one piece of paper. I give them scissors and tape or a glue stick. After each group makes the chain, I will line them up against a wall to measure which chain is the longest. After this, we usually have a discussion about what the best strategy was and what they could have done differently. This is a great activity to get students thinking, but it is also fun!

If you want more ideas on simple paper STEM activities that you can do during the first weeks of school, click here to read our article!

6. Kahoot on Classroom Procedures

During the first days of school, I teach a lot of classroom procedures, rules, and expectations. At the end of the week or when I am finished teaching the most important procedures, I like to make a review game. I will put my procedures in question form into Kahoot. Kahoot is a great way to review information and students LOVE it. This also lets me know if students know exactly what is expected of them in my classroom.

If you want to learn how to use Kahoot and some tips on management, click here to read our article!

7. What do you like? Survey

I like to do this activity as a way to get to know my students better. You can give different surveys based on what you want to know. Normally, I give a survey on learning types, so I can see what way the majority of my class likes to learn (auditory, visual, or kinesthetic). I also like to give a survey on types of books they like to read or even what is their favorite subject.

This is a great quiet activity for students to do that leaves you with a lot of information you can use for the rest of the year. You can find many surveys on TPT and Pinterest to give to your students, or even create your own!

8. Classroom Tour

You may not consider this an “activity,” but I always do this during the first few days of school and my students actually really enjoy it. Basically, I walk them around my classroom and tell them what is in the different areas. I also point out what they are allowed to use and what they are not allowed to use. This is really helpful so students know where everything they may possibly need is. It is also helpful so they know where they are not allowed to go during any free time or read to self time (for example, behind the teacher’s desk).

This activity is a great way to get students up and moving. I also find that my students enjoy this and ask a lot of questions.

9. Brain Breaks

Brain Breaks are short little activities you can use anytime throughout the day. I usually like to do one after I teach a few procedures, or after teaching a long procedure. Also, I use this time to teach and model my expectations of brain breaks, which is nice so I can use them throughout the year without any problems.

I keep a cup of my favorite brain breaks written on sticks. I try to go through each brain break to teach it, so I won’t have to take the time when I start teaching curriculum and not procedures.

If you want to learn more about my brain breaks and read my favorite brain break activities, click here!

10. Art Project

During the first week of school, I only focus on teaching procedures. I start teaching the curriculum only after I have set up how my classroom should run. This saves a lot of time throughout the year, because students know exactly how to behave and I can actually teach.

During this first week, I do have some extra time. I usually fill the time with a long art project. Students love art and this is also a time I can set up art expectations, so I don’t have to waste the time doing this during the year when I have less time to teach art. I change the first art project I do each year, but I do try to keep it as something fun that takes a little longer to complete.

One of my favorite art projects I did at the beginning of the year was a sea creature drawing. Our school has a school wide theme and this year it was oceans. I let the students pick their favorite sea animal and draw it on a piece of black construction paper. I let them look up the animal online and some even found step by step tutorials on the animal they chose. After they drew it with pencil on the black paper, I had them trace their pencil lines with white liquid glue. Once the glue dried, I had the students color their animal with dry pastels (kind of like chalk). Using dry pastels, the students were able to blend colors, but also keep a nice black outline around the animal where the glue was. You could recreate this art project using any type of animal or drawing you want to do, but keep the same technique for a great looking art project.

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I hope this list of 10 activities to do at the beginning of the year is helpful! Remember, the most important thing you can do at the beginning of the year is teach classroom procedures.

If you want to learn more about my first days of school routine, click here. Also, if you want a list of my favorite classroom procedures, click here.

During the first week of school, I use a PowerPoint to teach my classroom procedures. Click here to check it out on our TPT store!

Thank you for Continually Learning with us!

Kyle and Sarah