Are you ready for back to school time? What should be the most exciting time of year can sometimes be the most stressful! As teachers, we are required to get back into the swing of things, decorate and unpack our classrooms, plan exciting back to school lessons that engage as well as help us get to know how students. Honestly, I could go on and on. Let’s face it, back to school time is tough! Here are some activities and ideas to make things run a little more smoothly in your classroom.
Practice Rules & Procedures
It is not going to do much good just talking about the rules at the beginning of the year. Students need to practice what following the rules will look like. I also have the students give non examples of following the rules. At the beginning of the year, the students create their own rules booklet! They love writing about why each rule is important, and they also get to draw what following the rule looks like to them. Their favorite part is sharing their illustrations with the class! This rules booklet, as well as rules posters and a corresponding think sheet, can be found in my teacher store. Oh, and they are all editable! Click here to download!
Set Expectations
During the first few days of school, I set expectations on almost everything! Now, this doesn’t mean the students can learn it all at once. We practice all throughout the year. I do however, expect them to learn the expectations of voice levels very quickly because I am not about trying to talk over a group of 30 fourth graders! Established voice level expectations is not only beneficial to you, it is good for all of the students to have boundaries to follow. I have created voice level posters, as well as a back to school activity that requires students to think about when they should use the voice levels and why it is important. You can download this back to school activity here.
Getting To Know Your Students
As I am teaching rules and procedures, I like to work some fun, getting to know you activities in the mix. Nobody wants to spend 7 hours listening to a teacher preach about rules and expectations, right? These 12 activities are fun activities that allow students to share information about themselves. It also allows the students to get to know one another. It helps them get to know their teacher, too! These are all FREE. Yes.. FREE! To download these activities, please click HERE!
More Free Things
Each month, I send a newsletter to my awesome subscribers. I usually try to include a freebie in there for you! These are sometimes things that are from my teacher store that can’t be found free anywhere else! I only send 1 – 2 emails per month, and it will always be something that can help you in your classroom!! To subscribe, enter your email below.
Yes..coffee cans. One of the first things I made was the little bins to store supplies in there on my shelf behind my desk. I took some good old fashioned Folger’s cans, spray painted them, and made some really cute, shiplap shabby chic labels to add to them. Viola! Matching storage containers for anything from clothes pins to cap erasers.
One of my favorite things in my classroom is my birthday display. I remember being a kid and seeing my birthday on the birthday chart. I wanted to tie in something cute with my shiplap shabby chic theme, so I came up with an idea to use mason jars and fireflies! Each month has its own mason jar, and each student has their own firefly. 
