Back-to-School Headquarters

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Go back to school with ease and enthusiasm, and with all your questions answered! Our lesson plans, printables, activities, and advice range from assisting students in learning the school's layout and taking attendance to learning names. Find icebreakers for getting to know your students' personalities, advice on seating charts and arranging the classroom, teacher time-savers, behavior management tips from veteran teachers, advice for communicating with parents, and much more.

Back to School Resources

Professional Development

Editor's picks

Here are Julie’s favorite BTS resources that she highly recommends for your classroom.

Professional Development

Whether you are a first year teacher or a veteran, the TeacherVision Advisory Board shares their expert tips and advice for BTS in these e-books.

A New Teacher Toolkit
Your first year of teaching is both exciting and overwhelming at the same time. Veteran teacher, and TeacherVision Advisory board member, Tina, created this e-book to provide new teachers with the strategies, resources, and tips you need to start off strong.

Six Classroom Routines For An Organized Classroom E-Book
TeacherVision advisory board member, Lisa, shares six of her classroom routines so you can get organized for the school year.

Activities

We designed these back-to-school activities for the first day and the first week. They will support you to get to know your students, and also help your students get to know you and each other.

First Day Activities For High School Students Themed Packet
Teacher Vision advisory board member, Sara, shares her favorite activities for the first week of teaching high school students. From an icebreaker to a student survey, she has provided everything you need to set your students up for success.
First Day Activities For Middle School Students Themed Packet
This is a packet of back to school activities for middle school students. Students will be able to get to know one another better throughout the various activities.
First Day Activities For Elementary School Students Themed Packet
The activities in this packet are designed to help you get to know your students, and to support your students to get to know you and each other.
Back To School Goal Setting Activities Themed Packet
This goal setting themed packet is designed by TeacherVision Advisory board member and veteran high school teacher, Sara. The beginning of the year is the perfect time to support students to set goals for their learning.
Back To School: Find Someone Who
This activity is designed to support your students to get up out of their seats, move around the classroom, and learn more about their classmates.
Getting To Know Your Classmates Scoot
In this scoot, students move around the room asking each other get-to-know-you questions. To promote listening skills, student record their partners' answers, not their own. A great first day activity that is designed for students in middle and high school.
Get To Know You Turn and Talk Cards
This is a fun Back To School take on a Turn and Talk. You can print out these cards, put your students into pairs, and have them share their responses to the questions. This is a great way for students to get to know each other, and also learn how Turn and Talks will work.
We All Fit Together
Use this activity to build a strong classroom community. The resource is a puzzle made up of pieces that fit together.

My First Day Of School
Use this resource to support students to draw pictures that describe what happened their first day of school.
My First Day of School Poetry Assignment
Use this creative writing activity to support your students to reflect on their first day of school.
First Day Of School Thoughts
Use this First Day of School activity to get to know your students and learn more about what they are excited about and what they are wondering about.
My First Day Of Kindergarten
This handout is designed for our youngest students in order to support them to reflect and identify how they are feeling after the first day of school.
My Summer Break
Use this activity to support your students to think about and share what they did this summer. There is space for students to draw, and then space for them to trace and write. This activity is designed for younger students, but can be modified for older students.
All About Me Mini-Unit
This is the perfect starter unit for the beginning of the year as it meets the needs of all learners and allows for quick and easy differentiation. Students are able to ease back into school by talking about themselves using objects that represent them, and working through the writing process to produce a full written piece. It is designed for elementary students.

Tips and Tools

There are so many details to keep track of as we go back to school. Every resource in this section is designed to help you check the boxes off of your to do list, and support your students to learn your routines and procedures.

How Will I Ask For Help?
Use this resource to support your students to learn how they will ask for help in your classroom.
Name Tents
Use this resource to learn your students names. Print out the name tent, and have students complete it. Students then fold it in half and place it on their desk. There are places for them to list their favorite things, their learning goals, and to draw a "selfie" of themselves.
Meet The Teacher
Use this handout to introduce yourself to your students at the beginning of a new school year. There are places for you to write about your favorite things, and to share why you became a teacher. There are also places to record how to contact you, and to share a welcome message.

Student Writing Inventory
This resource is a worksheet for students to fill out so that you as the teacher can get some insight into how they feel about writing.

Pre-Assessments

We designed these pre-assessments to support you with resources that will help you gather data about your students. This data can help you decide where to start in the curriculum, how to strategically group your students, and what interventions students need.

Elementary Reading Pre-Assessment
This is the perfect tool for the beginning of the year scramble trying to get baseline reading/phonics data on all of your students grades Kindergarten through 2nd grade.
Elementary Division Pre-Assessment
This division pre-assessment is a great way to check your students' division skills at the beginning of the year.
Elementary Multiplication Pre-Assessment
This multiplication pre-assessment is a great way to check your students' multiplication skills at the beginning of the year.
Elementary Addition Pre-Assessment
This addition pre-assessment is a great way to check your students' addition skills at the beginning of the year.
Elementary Subtraction Pre-Assessment
This subtraction pre-assessment is a great way to check your students' subtraction skills at the beginning of the year.

Planning

The beginning of the school year is the perfect time to develop systems for planning. The TeacherVision team designed these resources to help you get organized and ready to teach.

Unit Planning Template
Use this unit planning template to map out your first two units. Designed by a veteran teacher, there are places to record the skills you plan to teach, learning objectives, and assessments.
Weekly Lesson Planning Template
Get organized with this template, which helps you map out your lesson plans each week. TeacherVision Advisory Board member, Jeanne, recommends printing out multiple pages and creating a binder. There are places to track your subjects, learning objectives, and step-by-step plan.

Daily Lesson Planning Template
If you write daily lesson plans, this template will save you time, and help you be consistent in your planning process. It breaks up your lesson into three parts, and gets you thinking about your teaching goals, and how you plan to differentiate your instruction. This is an especially great resource for new teachers.

Icebreakers

These fun games will support your students to get to know each other, and begin to establish a community in your classroom. They are an interactive and fun way to start the school year.

Figure Me Out
In this icebreaker activity, students create a math equation for each category. This is not only a fun way for students to get to know each other, but also provides you with valuable information about students' math skills.
Getting To Know You Fortune Teller
Use this Get To Know You Fortune Teller to provide your students with a fun activity to learn more about each other during the first weeks of school.
Dicebreaker
Use this icebreaker activity to support your students to get to know each other at the beginning of the school year. All you need is a dice! Students work in pairs and take turns rolling the dice. Each number they land on corresponds to a different question. As students answer the questions, they will learn more about each other.
Skit-Tell-Us!
Use this icebreaker activity to support your students to get to know each other. All you will need are small bags of Skittles. Students work in pairs, and take turns pulling Skittles out of the bag. They respond to the prompt that matches the color of the Skittle they pull out.

Two Truths And A Lie
Use this icebreaker to support your students to learn more about each other in the beginning of the school year. Students are asked to write down three things about themselves. Two of these things are true, and one is a lie. They then share what they wrote down with their students, and the class has to guess which statement is the lie.
Marvelous Me
Use this icebreaker activity to support your students to get to know each other. Put students into pairs, and give each student a small bag of M&M's. Students take turns pulling a M&M out of their bag. On this printable handout there is a prompt that corresponds with each color. You can have students work with multiple partners until they have finished their sweet treat.

Bulletin Boards

Find ways to encourage students' involvement in learning with these Bulletin Board activities.

Customizable Permission Slips and Forms

A selection of the most common and useful permission slips to save you the time and effort of creating your own.

Classroom Management

Your classroom atmosphere directly affects learning. Our Classroom Management resources have helpful tips, printable forms such as bubble sheets and awards, as well as suggested methods of teaching.