If you are anything like me, you spend the weeks before school goes back buying classroom resources, books, and supplies for your back to school activities. When you aren’t spending money, you are searching Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook and the World Wide Web for lesson ideas and activities for the first week back. That is why I am posting all of my favourite back to school activities right here, all in the one place!
Photo Magnets
I love to make these photo magnets every year as a special ‘something’ to take home on the first day! Here is what I do:
- Take a photo of each student, print, and laminate. I like to get them to hold a frame or light box. The black frame is from Kmart and I printed the letters out from Microsoft Word. The light box slides are available here.
- Ask students to decorate a peg with rhinestones, sequins, glitter, etc. Sometimes, we even paint them with Edicol dye first.
- Attach a magnet to the back of the peg. I use the magnetic strips that have the adhesive on the back.
- Print out the FREE poem and place inside the peg. Find the First Day Magnet Poem here for FREE.
Here is an example of the first day of school photos I take using these cute Light Box slides.
Find the Light Box Slides here.
Mosaic Name Craft
This is one of those simple back to school activities that you can do every year. It is perfect for the first week of school and is great for fine motor skill practise. Follow the steps below:
- Cut black A3 card in half into a long strip.
- Write each student’s name on the black card with a lead pencil. Print large and firmly so your students can see their name easily.
- Now students use PVA to ‘paint’ each letter of their name (one at a time so that it doesn’t dry).
- Students place mosaic squares onto each letter. TIP: For younger students, we sprinkle glitter onto the PVA.
Name Activity
These back to school activities are super fun! Not only do the students practise making their name, but they also practise some basic counting skills too. You will need some alphabet paper pieces (available from Modern Teaching Aids and Educational Experience) or alphabet stamps.
- Students find the letters of their name and glue them into order on the name craft worksheet.
- Students write how many letters in their name.
- Students then write the number, glue that number of items, stamp the number, and draw that many objects.
First Day Name and Self-Portrait
There is nothing more rewarding than being able to SEE the progress our students have made throughout the year. This name writing and self-portrait activity allows us to see the transformation in our students’ name writing and drawing skills throughout the year.
- On the first day or first week of school get all students to write their name in the space provided on the worksheet.
- On the first day or first week of school get all students to draw a self-portrait in the space provided on the worksheet.
- Make sure you remember to repeat this activity on the last day or last week of school to see the students’ progress.
Find the Name Writing and Self Portrait Printables here.
First Week Assessment – For Year 1 to Year 4
This worksheet is a great activity for the first day or first week of school to give teachers a brief insight into their students abilities. Designed to be completed independently so that teachers can identify areas of need in a quick, easy and non-threatening first day assessment.
Find these First Week Assessment Worksheets for Year 1 to Year 4 here.
I hope that you can find some of these back to school activities helpful during your first week back at school!
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Need help with planning? Then check out this blog post all about planning for the Australian classroom:
Curriculum Planning For the Australian Classroom
