Top 10 Back to School Activities
Building Community in the Classroom Starts at Back-to-School
1. Low-stakes introductions to the creative process
In case you missed it, my previous post provides a detailed outline of how I introduce kids to the creative process at the beginning of the year.
But even if you don’t use the whole process, I strongly recommend including some kind of “speed dating for feedback” activity early in the year. Provide specific tasks for students to accomplish with their partners, and keep it moving fairly quickly. This lets your students get to know each other just a little, within the neutral ground of academic tasks.
2. Student-led classroom expectations
No one likes to be given a list of rules and told they must obey them “or else.” It’s demeaning, and middle schoolers are as insulted by it as we would be. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t have expectations. So how do we establish them in a way that builds community and our own positive relationships with our students?
I start by asking students to describe the best year of school they’ve had so far, or - if they’re new to our “normal” school setting - the best one they can imagine. Then I ask them to think about what made (or could make) that year good, and how we get there. The list of how we get there becomes our list of classroom expectations.
The process
STEP 1: Begin by asking students to think about their favorite year of school so far. Ask them to write down 5-10 things that make that year stand out.
Ask them to meet with someone new to share, and to see if they can find anything in common between their lists. Repeat this at least a couple more times.
STEP 2: Invite sharing as a whole group. What did students find that their lists had in common?
Usually, the common ground here is relationships. Students identify their favorite years as the ones in which they had the most supportive friend groups and felt like they really belonged and were valued in their classes. Relationships with caring teachers may come up too. If they don’t come to this conclusion themselves, you can help them along. I’ve never had a group of kids disagree with the conclusion that friendships (and minimal social drama) are what make a good year.
STEP 3: Ask, “If the best years of school are the ones with the best friends, how do we make sure that’s what actually happens here?”
Small group discussions - Ask groups to create a list of rules for the classroom to help make sure you prioritize friendships. At first, you might ask for ten classroom norms or expectations. Once they have them, tell them they are only allowed THREE. Give them a few minutes to adjust. Often, kids come up with very specific rules that can be covered by the simple expectation of Be Kind, for example.
Sharing. See if you can find three norms or expectations as a class, but don’t get stuck on the number - if they need four and they’re meaningful, they should keep them all.
STEP 4: When you have your list of agreed-upon expectations, post them somewhere visible. Whenever your class needs a tune-up, you can remind them that they made the rules, and for good reason!
3. Discussions about courage & bravery
Throughout the first few weeks (and the whole school year, really), I work to teach and remind students what courage looks like in the classroom and encourage them to practice being brave.
For me this is an impromptu and ongoing conversation, repeated whenever opportunities present themselves. If this is new for you, you may want to plan an initial conversation, perhaps in connection with a student expectations discussion or activity like the one I’ve shared above.
Often, when students think of courage they have huge, heroic or highly risky behaviours in mind. In reality, courage is often demonstrated in small but significant ways throughout one’s life.
It’s helpful to share a few examples of bravery in middle school:
Demonstrating kindness by helping another student or saying hello even if you don’t know them very well
Deflecting gossip - changing the subject or directly saying it’s not very kind before quickly changing the subject
Focusing on your work when your friends are distracted
Trying something brand new or persevering when an assignment seems difficult
Asking the teacher for help when you’re feeling stuck
4. Assigned seating that changes daily
This is one of my favorites. I create name cards (or have students create their own) that I put on the desks to seat students randomly for the first couple of weeks.
I collect the name tags at the end of each class and move students to new seats each day. This allows students to make new connections and get to know many of their classmates, and avoids anyone feeling stranded as they try to decide where they should sit. It’s a good idea to count them before your students leave in case any “disappear.”
Tip: it’s nice to choose one day a week to let students choose their seats within this ever-changing assignment. Students will appreciate the opportunity to build on the new connections they’ve made and/or sit with old friends, and you’ll get a chance to see how wise their choices are.
*I learned this trick years ago when I was earning my BEd, from one of my very favorite professors. I’ve done it ever since. Though her area of expertise is K-5, I can’t say enough good things about Dr. Lori Friesen. If you’ve never checked out her website, you should! Even if you teach older students like I do.
6. Exit slips/letters to the teacher
If you teach English, it makes sense to ask your students to write you a letter as a formative writing assessment. But this information is invaluable for all teachers. If you teach another subject, you might want to ask students to share this information in daily exit slips or even in a Google form. When I do this assignment, I don’t mark it formally. It’s a helpful benchmark for English Language Learners, and gives me a sense of where all of students are at as writers. There’s plenty of time for formal marks once students are properly warmed up!
Possible Prompts: mix and match and add your own!
What do you care about most? How do you spend your time and what do you like to do?
Who do you care about most? Family members, friends, pets, etc.
What’s an accomplishment that you’re proud of? It could be something from the summer or something from the past couple of years.
What are you looking forward to in grade ___?
What are you nervous or worried about in grade ___?
Do you have any questions about the year?
When people talk about you, what do you want them to say?
What actions can you take to make this happen?
What do you think teachers tend to misunderstand about you?
Do you have someone in your life who you can go to when you encounter challenges with friends or schoolwork?
Is there anything you’d like me to know about? Is there anything I can help you with?
7. Whole-class multiple intelligences inventory
It’s helpful for students to know how they learn best so they can advocate for themselves. It’s also helpful for them to know that there are other kinds of learners in their class, so they can be patient when the learning styles targeted within a given lesson are outside of their own comfort zone.
After students have completed the quiz, write the categories on the board and ask students to put a check mark beside their strongest two intelligences and a dash beside their weakest one. This quick visual is very helpful for guiding your own planning (take a photo for later!) and can also lead to some great classroom conversation! Ask students what patterns they see to help them engage with the data.
There are lots of free quizzes online. This one, from Mental Up, is a good place to start.
5. Food!
It’s true: people relax when they eat together.
Whether you bring a tiny treat yourself, or allow the opportunity for students to bring something to share, it will go a long way in helping your students settle in. Stick to school policies and be careful about allergies, but this one is worth the extra effort.
Tip: mid-year, when everyone is tired and grumpy, return to this little trick. I always serve hot chocolate to my classes each winter. I pick a bitterly cold morning when everyone looks a little worse-for-wear, and surprise my students. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been told I’m “the best teacher ever” for this little act of kindness.
8. Team challenges - with prizes!
I haven’t included specific challenges here because there are so many of them online already. But We Are Teachers has a good list to get you started. Keep a stash of tiny candies on hand for prizes. It helps to have at least two kinds to accommodate kids with allergies.
9. Quiet, independent activities
All of your students will feel some level of overwhelm during the first weeks of school. But your introverted students can find these weeks incredibly demanding. Give them (and yourself!) a little break by planning quiet moments within the frenzy of the first few days.
You can keep this simple with a bit of time to read or work on something independent before returning to community-building activities. Don’t count assessments - even formative ones - as quiet time. The performative nature of any kind of assessment negates the soothing power of quiet.
10. Community walks & time outdoors
Where I live, the weather does its best to spite us for much of the year. But fall is usually beautiful, and being outside in gorgeous weather seems similar to edible treats in terms of helping everyone relax.
If you take kids on a community walk or head outside for social time very early in the year, provide a prompt or discussion task to help break the ice.
Challenge students to talk to at least ten different people
Ask them to find out the best movie their classmates saw over the summer
Do a paper and pencil class scavenger hunt (find someone who…) while you’re all outside
Do some sketching that you can tie into curriculum such as land acknowledgments, poetry or ecosystem studies
Like what you see here?
I post every other week, so stay tuned for more! In the meantime, please check out the free guides to teaching Art and integrating the Arts & SEL into core subjects! You can find them here.
