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On this page you will find back to school and beginning of school tips, bulletin boards and displays, borders and door decoration, songs and poems, coloring pages, puzzles, and teacher timesavers. Use the Quick Menu to find what you are looking for. Translate this page using Google® language tools Français Deutsch Italiano Portuguese Español
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*You will need the free Adobe Acrobat Reader to view and print PDF files. You can download it here
First Day and Beginning of Year Tips
How to Start
School Successfully by Harry and Rosemary Wong Smart Starts for the Best School Year Ever by Barbara and Sue Gruber
Top Six Keys to Being A Successful Teacher
Setting Up Your Classroom for Success
Beginning of the School Year (10 Tips)
Top 10 Things to Do Before School Starts First Day Checklist This checklist will help you to see if you are ready for that important first day Back to School Checklist from Scholastic This checklist from Scholastic is a great reminder of things that need to be done. It will help new teachers, and remind experienced teachers of things to think about before school begins Welcoming Students Back to School A Word template for a welcome letter and a Powerpoint template for class rules are included here along with other tips
Tips for Getting Organized Some excellent tips here that can save you some time later
Fabulous First Day Activities This is from Scholastic
Icebreakers These ideas from Education World help you get to know your students and helps them learn each others names. There are thirteen pages of ideas
First Day of School Writing Page (no lines)
Activities for the First Day 1 Getting to know you; ideas for that important first day Activities for the First Day 2 Fourteen great activities for the first days of school First Day of School Activities Class Opening Activities Most of these activities can be used for grades K -2. I also used my Counting Caterpillar during this time Printable Name Tags These name beautiful animal name tags are from Jan Brett Printable School Passes from Jan Brett Print these on card stock and laminate. I would print two of the same tags and glue together before laminating. Make an extra set in case one is lost. You might want to put your room number or teacher name on the bottom Creating a Seating Chart from Digital Photos Seating Chart Template for PowerPoint97 or later. This template from Microsoft can be used for many different kinds of room arrangements. You could include pictures of the students also Seating Chart from Microsoft for PowerPoint 2003 Printable Classroom Set-Up Tool Set up and print your classroom layout. This tool allows you to place desks in any formation and put student's names on a numbered list (requires Flash) Name Review An activity to help the teacher learn names quickly Parent Resources These are excellent handouts to give parents at open house or parent conferences. They contain ideas on how parents can help their children at home. (Scroll down to "Your First Grader", etc.) Classroom Job Ideas If you need a fresh idea for classroom jobs, check on these ideas at A to Z Teacher Stuff A
Classroom Job for Every Child Change jobs only eight times during
the year Classroom Job Chart (pdf)(8.5X11in.)Write their name on the left and the job title on the right Getting to Know Each Other Activity
Back to School Ideas A variety of useful back to school ideas from Hummingbird Educational Resources
Beginning of Year Ideas and Tips for Kindergarten Teachers These ideas are from Kinderthemes.com
Also check the Classroom Management and Teacher Timesaver pages
Back to School and Open House Bulletin Boards and Displays
Welcome Back to School Large, colorful banner (5 pages)
Welcome Sign - Large Individual Letters w e l c o m e ! in rainbow colors. Print and cut out each letter and attach to the wall or large bulletin board. It could look something like this
Leap Into ____ Grade All parts of this bulletin board can be downloaded. All you have to do is put up a background, print and cut out the parts, write names on lily pads and put everything on the board. Download the 5 files below. Grade Levels (1st - 4th) Water Lilies Small Frogs to add to lily pads (12 per sheet) Frog Incentive Charts (by Audrey Smith)
Spelling Stars
Banner Use this
banner with the stars above. Set spelling goals for the class or for
individual children to reach in their weekly spelling test. Put on blue
background
Small balloons in black and white for students to color Click on the thumbnail to see a larger picture of the bulletin board Hot Air Balloon Nametags These can be printed on shipping labels (from A. Smith)
Run the Race with Perseverence
Bulletin Board-
View finished board Welcome To Our School Door Decoration or Bulletin Board - Banner Fish1 Fish2 The fish can also be used as nametags. Cover door or bulletin board with blue paper. Print, trim, and assemble banner. Print fish on various colored sheets - as many as you need for your class or print on white and have children decorate them. Cut them out. Write students names on fish and attach to blue paper on the door or bulletin board. Add tan package wrapping paper on the bottom of board for sand, and then add other sea creatures (Board design from A. Smith) Welcome To Our Hive Door Decoration or Bulletin Board Print out the large bees, nameplates and banner . Enlarge hive pattern (use an overhead projector) If using for a bulletin board, keep hive in one piece. If using for a door, cut as in example here. Words to add to door Bee Nametags These can be printed on shipping labels
Sharp Students in Room An easy to make back to school board. Here is a large pencil (new banner - 3 sheets) to use on a board like this. Instead of Room, I would put the grade level. You can use these. In Gr.1 - 5 black In Gr.1 - 4 blue or Gr.1-3 Gr.4-5 Keys To A Great Year Bulletin Board The banner for this board is here. The keys are her - Keys 1 Keys 2 Keys 3 (There are 2 keys to a sheet - Listen, Work Hard, Respect Others, Follow Directions, and Do Your Best)
Large Gold Medal This is for a bulletin board
Small medals Gold Silver Bronze Ribbons for the medals
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, Look Who Is In Our Room
Some Welcome Back Board Ideas (with photos)
Make a Counting Caterpillar Instructions and downloadable files to make a Counting Caterpillar. Count by 1's, 2's, 5's, and 10's. Use to teach evenand odd numerals
A Great Line-Up A large one page t-shirt pattern Two Back to School Boards from edumart.com " I've got a hunch this is a bright bunch" (with sunglasses pattern) and "My new class suits me to a "T" . A larger T-shirt pattern is here
Bulletin Board, Halls, Walls, and Door Decorating Ideas from Garden of Praise (with photos)
We All Fit Together Banner Use with the above bulletin board
What a "Grape" Bunch of Kids Templates are included on this DLTK page as well as a printout of John 15:5
Let's Get Acquainted (Crossword Puzzle Board) You could have a clue for each name. You might use a crossword puzzle maker to make a small puzzle first. You can find one here. Choose Criss-cross puzzle. Lay out large squares in the shape of your puzzle. Number them, tape together and attach to the board. Tell something about each person in the clues.
Classroom Jobs Bulletin Boards Two boards are pictured here. "Keep Our Class Afloat" could also be used with the balloons listed above with the job and students' names on each one
Ode to Fifth Grade This is a clever and nice looking board with the students' names on the beginning notes of "Ode to Joy"
Sail With Success (includes patterns)
Start Your __ Grade Engines (includes patterns)
We had a T- riffic Summer A t-shirt pattern is here
Bulletin Board Ideas for Back to School
Hop Into ___ Grade (includes patterns)
Bulletin Board Ideas These bulletin board ideas are on the Teaching Heart site
Back to School Bulleten Board Ideas These are from The Teacher's Corner
Preschool Back to School Bulletin Boards
I am Special Each child tells something about themselves an decorates a shape. This could be a board for Open House. A shape pattern is here
Guess Who This would be a great board for Open House. The parents could try to guess who is their child. Instead of cutting pictures from magazines, the children could write four or five words that describe things like favorite food, activity, musical instrument they play, favorite color, etc. and then look up those words on a safe internet site like Microsoft Design gallery, and download the clipart or graphic. This is rather time consuming to cut the silhouettes, but perhaps an older student or parent could help with that.
Who Am I Lesson This is from Scholastic and could be used with the bulletin board above or with a bulletin board entitled "Who Am I"
*More Fall bulletin boards are here
Your pictures as posters. Overnight. - PosterBrain.com
Birthday Balloons Use these balloons with the happy birthday banner above for a birthday board. Run off a balloon for each child in your class. Write their name on it and attach a piece of yarn.
Birthday Chart August - January (4 sheets) February - July (4 sheets) Trim sheets and glue or tape together. Borders for Names (10 to a sheet) Write names in borders and attach for each month. Write the date of the birthday in the date column. Assembling Directions
Birthday Bear and Balloons Downloadable Display The names of the months are on the balloons
Birthday Cakes for Each Month of the Year Print out a birthday cake for each month and put the children's names on the candles. This is from Enchanted Learning
Some months to use on your birthday board are here These are from Jan Brett's web site
Birthday Chart from Jan Brett A printable birthday chart for each season. There is room for thirty names on each chart
Kick Off the New Year in Music Scroll down to board. There are printable files here for the board.
Up, Up, and Away Giraffe Growth Chart This wall or bulletin board chart could be used for a variety of purposes such as "Growing Tall With Books." Jan Brett's Numbers Beautiful numbers to put up in your classroom. Just download and print Jan Brett's Alphabet to download and print in Cursive, Manuscript, or Modern Manuscript Jan Brett's Alphabet Poster (4 sheets) Jan Brett's Alphabet with Manual Signs Bookworm Pattern This cute pattern from DLTK can be printed in black and white or color Numbers to Print These numbers are for those large bulletin board calendars that you purchase. These are from preschoolprintables.com Bible Calendar Numbers Bible Calendar Numbers for the whole year from preschoolprintables.com Free "I Can't - Yet" Poster to download and print Jan Brett's High Frequency Word Lists Back to School Word Wall Cards with Pictures from abcteach.com
Colorful Schedule Cards from abcteach.com
Check Your Work Posters Colorful posters to remind students to check for certain things before handing in work. This is from instantdisplay.co.uk. (You will need Microsoft Word)
Pledge of Allegiance to the American Flag Poster
Pledge to the Christian Flag Poster
Bulletin Board Borders to Print I put these in a graphic program and resize them. These are from preschoolprintables.com Borders to Print Three pages of borders to print. You will probably need to resize them Some printable borders (or trimmers) I made:
Scalloped Border Template
(pdf)
Print or copy on any color paper or card stock Backgrounds and Borders Ideas for using things other than paper for backgrounds and borders
Songs and Poems
Songs and Poems for Back to School
Welcome to our Classroom Back to school song Preschool and Kindergarten Songs, Rhymes, and Activities There are 16 pages of ideas and activities in this pdf file from KidSparkz.com School, Welcome Back to School Songs and Poems Back to School Songs, Poems, and Chants I used the following song to teach the days of the
week There are Seven Days There are seven days, ©Audrey Smith 2007
The Months Song January, February, March, and
April, There are 12 months in all. ©2009Audrey Smith
ColoringBack to School Coloring Choose from twelve pictures at primarygames.com Back to School Coloring from Billy Bear Back to School Coloring Pictures to color showing the teacher with children, children raising their hand, etc. Preschool Back to School Coloring Welcome Back to School Coloring Page from Jan Brett also Hedgie Gets a Star Back to School Picture Find 11 things wrong in this picture from Crayola Primary Games Back to School Coloring Girl Reading Book Click on Full Page Print
Boy Practicing Handwriting Click on Full Page Print
Back to School Crafts Backpack Buddies This craft idea is from Kaboose. Children will enjoy hanging these from their backpacks or lunchboxes Make a Back to School Book Have students make this book near the beginning of school. In this book the students write about themselves, their families, and their favorite things. If you want students to make the book later in the year, have them make their own cover
Make a Name
Mobile If I were doing this, I would cut card stock into four
pieces, and hand out the appropriate number to each child for their first
name. Encourage the students to make each letter large and color in the
rest of the card Fall Friends Paperdolls to dress in their new school clothes from Makingfriends.com. This site also includes other school related crafts Back to School Craft Ideas from DLTK Back to School Craft Ideas from Familyfun Preschool Activities and Crafts Back to School Bus Craft A cut and paste activity
Custom Search
Nametags, Center Signs, Sticker Charts, Calendars, Calendar Numbers, and other Teacher TimesaversName Tags These name tags were created for Sunday School use, but they can be used in the classroom as well Back to School Desk Nametags Just print these desk tags and write the names Back to School Nametags or Tent Cards A Welcome Note Put these welcome notes on your students desks the first day of school (two to a page) Welcome to ________ Sign A sign for your door. You write the grade level A Welcome to Kindergarten Sign 1st Grade 2nd Grade 3rd Grade 4th Grade 5th Grade (2 pages)
"Go fo the Gold" Olympic theme incentive chart. Use with Go for the Gold Banner or Hebrews 12:1b banner (NIV) or Hebrews 12:1b (KJV)
All Purpose Sticker Charts These incentive charts can be used for a variety of purposes. Print these on cardstock and use stars or other small chart stickers (pdf) Two charts to a page
More All Purpose Sticker Charts
Homework Sticker Charts Sticker charts with "Be Sharp and Do Your Homework" on them. These are from Unique Teaching Resources
Back to School Sticker Charts (two to a page)
Back to School Sticker Charts These printable sticker charts are colorful and can be used for a variety of motivational activities. They are from Preschool Printables
Stickers and Sticker Charts A large collection of free, printable stickers and sticker charts Sticker Charts Choose from blank or with a picture. These are from Activity Village
Full Page Sticker Charts Use these charts from DLTK for various
purposes. Choose from an Ocean or Outer Space Theme. There are 14 spaces
for stickers
Editable Notes from Alenka's Printables Edit these notes on
your computer and print. These could be printed on magnet sheets as well
as paper or cardstock and used for a variety of purposes
Back to School Bookmarks from Jan Brett Just print and cut apart these "Welcome Back to School" bookmarks Printable Chore Charts Choose the editable charts to use for classroom jobs, behavior charts, or sticker charts for other purposes. These are from Alenka's Printables Printable Lesson Plan Form This is from abcteach.com DLTK Back to School Printables DLTk has a large number of back to school printables, such as coloring pages, doorknob hangers, treat bags, and worksheets. Black and White Calendar(month) from Carson Dellosa. Print the same calendar in color Printable School - Year Calendar
Printable Calendars There are a variety of calendars that you can print at this site.
Free 2009 Printable Calendars Just select a month and print Editable Calendar Grid Use this grid for any month. Type a title, day numbers, and any other information Back to School Numbers for the Calendar These are from play2learnprintables.com Apple Calendar Numbers These are from play2learnprintables.com Printable Page of Apples, Ladybugs and Pears from Alenka's Printables. These could be used for a variety of purposes such as nametags, calendar numbers, magnets, and more Gradebook Based on Averages A Microsoft template. It requires Excel 97 or later Gradebook Based on Percentages A Microsoft template. It requires Excel 97 or later Gradebook Based on Points A Microsoft template. It requires Excel 97 or later Check the Teacher Timesaver Page for more Center Signs, Templates, Forms Printables, and other Timesavers
Word Searches and Puzzles and things to do when work is completedBack to School Excitement Jigsaw Puzzle (20 pieces) Back to School Excitement Jigsaw Puzzle (56 pieces) A Basket of Apples Jigsaw Puzzle (80 pieces) What's wrong in the Picture? Find 11 things wrong in the picture (requires registration) Brain Binders These are challenging activities involving folding a sheet of paper to match a finished picture. Choose two, three, four, or five folds School Daze An online word search puzzle (requires flash) Printable Fact-filled Bookmarks Choose from reading, math, science or social studies. These are for upper elementary or middle school students Also check my Puzzles and Games page for many more ideas for printable board games and more Miscellaneous Back to School ActivitiesWhen Does School Start Where You Live? Students will read a chart and answer questions about it. This is from abcteach.com Jeffrey Can't Wait A back to school reading comprehension activity. This is from abcteach.com Ugh! Back to School A back to school reading assignment for upper elementary or middle school. From abcteach.com Back to School Activities (look for the yellow free samples sign) Time for School Mini-Book This mini-book is from DLTK and is for K-2 Make a Back to School Book Have students make this book near the beginning of school. In this book the students write about themselves, their families, and their favorite things. If you want students to make the book later in the year, have them make their own cover Make Class Yearbooks (elementary)Use this template for Microsoft Publisher to make and assemble class yearbooks at the beginning of the year. Students can add pictures and information as the year progresses EdGrowth This website is a place where educators can share their experiences and their education resources. When Does School Start Where You Live? A beginning of year activity for grades 3-6 that involves reading a table, answering questions, and writing. This is from abcteach.com Back to School Ideas These ideas are from other teachers Back to School Spelling (primary) There are seven pages for this back to school theme with word scramble, story writing, cloze, and more (from abcteach.com) Back to School Spelling (upper elementary)There are seven pages in this theme with word scramble, word search, and dictionary skills (from abcteach.com) Make a Name Mobile If I were doing this, I would cut card stock into four pieces, and hand out the appropriate number to each child for their first name. Encourage the students to make each letter large and color in the rest of the card Back to School Theme from Kinderkorner Back to School Writing Paper (elementary) Back to School Resources for Teachers A collection of articles, ideas, and activities for the start of school Back to School Activities A large selection of back to school activities from abcteach.com Back to School Safety Four pages on bus and bike safety for grades 3-5 (this file is in PDF format so you need the free Adobe Acrobat to read and print it Fall Friends Paperdolls to dress in their new school clothes from Makingfriends.com. This site also includes other school related crafts Tools and Templates from Education World Award certificates, back to school templates, and forms, assignment sheets, and more Make Your Own Whiteboard Make individual whiteboards for students. I used individual chalkboards for guided practice in math. These could be used for small group activities for a nice change of pace. You will need window cleaner for cleaning them and old socks or pieces of felt for erasing. There are links to whiteboard activities here as well Write On, Rub Off Boards With Foam Frame Parent Involvement If you want to get parents involved, check out this page for all kinds of ideas "Back to School" from the electronic library classroom. A series of instructional sessions designed specifically for librarians and library staff who have had little or no experience with the Internet. Back to School Templates and PowerPoint PresentationsBack to School PowerPoint Presentation A colorful presentation with 17 possible slides. You will need PowerPoint 97 or later Back to School PowerPoint Presentation This is an editable, colorful, PowerPoint presentation that can be used at Parent Night, or edited for other purposes. The only way I could get this to work was to scroll down to the presentation, right click the link and "save target as" and save to a folder on my computer. Then when you click on the file on your computer it will come up in PowerPoint. It is a great presentation. K-3 Class Rules A PowerPoint presentation. Requires PowerPoint 2000 or later An Editable PowerPoint Presentaion You will need PowerPoint 97 or later Classroom Newsletter Template You need Word 97 or later True or False Test Template You need Word 97 or later Brochure Template This brochure template could be used for a variety of reasons. You could hand it out at Open House with classroom rules and procedures in it. Change the graphics and insert your own text. You need Word 97 or later
Open House and Other Communication with Parents
Welcome Letter Template This welcome letter template from Education World will save you some time. Edit sections and add information where needed (Word document)
Countdown to Open House There's some good information here as well as some open house activities
Suggestions for Preparing for Open House
Planning a Successful Open House All the tools you need to make your open house a success. This is from Microsoft
Open House Invitation Just write in the date, time, and room number
Back to School Night Invitation Write in the date, time, and room number
Colorful Open House Invitations (four to a page)
Open House Invitation (editable) (pdf) This is from Education World
Welcome Parents A Microsoft template. Requires PowerPoint 97 or later
Parent Volunteer Sign-Up Sheet
Classroom Newsletter Template Requires Word 97 or later
Conference Record Use this template from Microsoft to record parent conferences. Requires Word 2003
Open House Tips (bottom of page)
Open House: When First Impressions Matter
Parent Night Ideas from Other Teachers
Parent Resources The "How to Help Your Child...." series are excellent handouts to give parents at open house or parent conferences. They contain ideas on how parents can help their children at home
Homework Notification Note For missing or incomplete homework
Make-up Assignments for a student who was absent
Reward Charts for Parents to use at Home Help reinforce positive behaviors by having parents use these at home
Also check Teacher Timesavers
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© 1997-2009 Audrey Smith. All rights reserved. |
I have
added larger popcorn nameplates and a popcorn machine to this bulletin
board.
We All Fit Together -
Each child decorates a piece of the puzzle.
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