Washington Education Association
Preparing a More Useful Sub Plan for Your Substitute Teacher
Make your substitute's life easier by using the prompts on a one-page resource to a craft a profile of your classes and your daily routines. A great-first page for a substitute teacher folder.
Other
Cape Breton Victoria: First Day of School Activities
Are you looking for some creative activities to get to know your students on the first day of class? This site has compiled a list of great activities, icebreakers, and team-building games to get your classes off on the right foot.
Scholastic
Scholastic: Welcome to the First Day of School!
Prepare for your students first day of school with these inviting activities. This site features several great ideas for teachers to incorporate in their beginning of school lessons.
Other
Kim's Korner: First Day of School Activities
Are you looking for some great activities to use in your classroom on the first day? Here are some activities you can do with students on the first day back to school. Some are fun, some are valuable as learning tools, and some are both.
Scholastic
Scholastic Instructor: Fabulous First Day Ideas
This site offers suggestions for first-day of school activities for primary and intermediate level teachers.
A to Z Teacher Stuff
First Days of School Activities
Several tips for teachers to try during the beginning days of the school year to get things off to a smooth start.
Scholastic
Scholastic: Back to School Planning Guide
Multiple back to school resources. Includes icebreakers, quick first day ideas, and unit plans.
Better Lesson
Better Lesson: First Week of School, Day 1
Sixth graders will learn about each other from a toilet paper activity.
Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments: The First Twelve Days of School
Students learn to organize data, look for patterns, and solve problems. They will count the number of "coins" in a variation of The Twelve Days of Christmas song. They will also generalize the patterns through symbolic expressions.
Illustrative Mathematics
Illustrative Mathematics: Number of the Day
Repeatable, daily activities are one of the best ways to instill the counting sequence for children. This activity requires a 100 chart which can be made or purchased. Students will count the "Number of the Day" beginning with 1 on the...
ReadWriteThink
Read Write Think: A Getting Acquainted Activity Using My Teacher's Secret Life
Contains plans for two lessons that use "My Teacher's Secret Life" by Stephen Krensky as a getting-acquainted activity. In addition to objectives and standards, this instructional plan contains links to sites used in the lessons as well...
Other
Teachers first.com: 50 Ideas for the 100th Day of School
Great ideas for "100th Day" activities. Most of these would be a good challenge for upper elementary school students if you want to include them in your 100th Day celebration. Activities include counting, measuring, weighing, sorting,...
Better Lesson
Better Lesson: Listening Game
Students will practice their ability to acknowledge new information expressed by classmates. A good lesson for the first day of school!
ReadWriteThink
Read Write Think: Playing Name Bingo With
Contains plans for two lessons of get-to-know-you activities that use a Name Bingo Game to help learners break the ice with each other. In addition to objectives and standards, this instructional plan contains links to sites used in the...
ABCya
Ab Cya: All About Me
All About Me is a great first day of school activity! Kids will answer different questions about themselves through a step-by-step process. When completed the answers will be displayed in a fun layout. The final product can be saved or...
Other
Multicultural Awareness Respect Activity
A brief article suggesting a "getting to know you" activity. Discusses the different aspects of respect and learning from our differences. SL.9-10.1d Possitive Communication Stratagies
Other
Primera Escuela: First School
A diverse variety of fun activities for toddlers, preschoolers and kindergarteners. Among other subjects you'll find: alphabet, animals, holidays and events, coloring pages (for fairy tales, holidays, vocabulary, etc.) crafts and more....
Alabama Learning Exchange
Alex: Greeting Exchange Auf Deutsch
This is a great "first day of first-year German" activity. Using the melody to "Are You Sleeping" introduce students to a typical exchange of greetings. If taught on the first day of school, students will be able to "speak German"...
Other
Building Community in the Classroom (Lesson Plan)
Exercise in which participants introduce themselves by sharing information about their ethnicities and backgrounds, highlighting the similarity and diversity among members of the class.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Students as Scientists
This curricular unit contains two lessons that let students actually do the work of scientists as they design their own experiments to answer questions they generate. In the first lesson and its associated activity, students conduct a...