The Ultimate Guide to Back to School for Teachers
Kate Baker —
Welcome to the ultimate resource for kicking off the new school year with confidence and creativity! Our Back to School Kit for Teachers is designed to provide you with everything you need to start strong and stay organized. Packed with engaging icebreakers, innovative lesson ideas, effective classroom management strategies, and ready-to-use lessons for the new school year, this guide is your one-stop-shop for back-to-school success. Keep reading to discover practical tools and inspiring ideas that will make your first days and beyond both smooth and exciting for you and your students!
In this blog post, we will share back to school tips and resources for…
- Ice Breakers and Team-Building Activities
- Classroom Management and Organization
- Tech Integration and Student Engagement
- Assessment and Feedback
If you are new to BookWidgets, BookWidgets is a content creation and evaluation tool for teachers. We save teachers time and energy by providing the tools to support your students’ learning process from beginning to end with 40+ customizable widgets for creating digital activities such as quizzes, crossword puzzles, word searches, webquests, memory games, and more, all designed to enhance student engagement, comprehension, and feedback. You can find our vast library of sample activities here in the BookWidgets Blog group. When you integrate BookWidgets into a Learning Management System like Google Classroom, Microsoft Teams, Moodle, Canvas –& more!–, you can use “Live Widgets” to keep an eye on your students’ progress in real time to give feedback and support when needed.
1. Ice Breakers and Team Building Activities
Ice breakers and team-building activities are not just for the first week of school; they are vital tools for fostering a dynamic and supportive classroom environment throughout the entire year. These activities go beyond mere introductions—they lay the groundwork for social-emotional learning (SEL) by helping students build trust, improve communication, and develop teamwork skills. Continuously integrating these exercises nurtures a resilient and adaptable classroom community, preparing students to navigate social dynamics and collaborative projects effectively. By regularly incorporating SEL activities, you can address evolving classroom dynamics, reduce conflicts, and maintain a positive, engaged learning atmosphere all year long.
The BookWidgets Team has developed numerous ready-made lessons for the first day of school, which are used by thousands of teachers worldwide. Be sure to check out these ready-made lesson plans for the start of the school year in the following blog posts:
📌 20+ ready-to-use digital lesson activities for the first day of school
📌 15 creative lesson ideas for the first day of school
📌 15 Fun Team Building Activities and Trust Games for the Classroom
This example icebreaker activity that uses a Pair Matching widget requires a little bit of set up on your part: ask all students to submit a single word to you that describes him/her/them, then add the pairs of descriptors and names/images to the widget. In class, let your students find the two matching pairs by guessing which word belongs to whom. Check out the example below.
This example team building activity for back to school uses a Bingo Card. The idea is to be able to mark 5 boxes in a row. The tasks are very varied so students can choose elements that match their interests.
2. Classroom Management and Organization
We all know that have a well-organized and efficiently managed classroom is essential for a successful school year. So whether you are a seasoned pro or new to the classroom, we have something for everyone. This next set of curated back to school resources will help you master classroom management and organization at the start and throughout the new school year. Let’s dive in!
Learn how to Build the Classroom of the Future with These 3 Key Pillars and embrace innovative teaching methods. We also have 20 Helpful Tips to Become an Organized and Focused Teacher. Keep scrolling down to take a look specifically at class expectations, seating arrangements, and reflection, growth mindset and self-regulated learning.👇
Class Expectations
Setting clear class expectations is vital for creating a structured and respectful learning environment where students understand their roles and responsibilities. This foundation promotes positive behavior, enhances classroom management, and fosters an atmosphere conducive to learning and growth. Creatively introducing classroom rules to students at the beginning of the new school year can make the process engaging and memorable, helping them better understand and internalize expectations. Utilizing interactive methods such as games, role-playing, and collaborative discussions can transform the introduction of rules into a fun and educational experience that encourages student participation and ownership.
📌 Discover 36 Creative Ways to Introduce and Explain Classroom Rules to Students to set clear expectations from day one.
BookWidgets Ambassador Ksenija Lekic, a primary school teacher in Croatia, introduces her classroom procedures and reinforces her students’ understanding of them through game based learning using a Hotspot Image widget with embedded jigsaw puzzles. When students solve the problem, a class expectation is revealed. She first conducts this activity in front of the whole class on the interactive whiteboard, and then she provides students with a link in Google Classroom or Microsoft Teams so that they can continue to play both in school and at home.
Instead of standing at the front of the class, reciting your rules and expectations, try a more digital approach and connect with students using a familiar medium. Check out this example I created to flip my class expectations using video.
Seating Arrangements
Seating arrangements are crucial in a classroom as they directly impact student engagement, interaction, and overall learning outcomes. A well-thought-out seating arrangement should align with the form and function of the learning activity, ensuring that students can collaborate effectively, participate actively, and focus on the tasks at hand.
📌 Explore 19 Classroom Seating Arrangements Fit for Your Teaching to optimize your classroom layout for engagement and collaboration.
The following example widget activities are for you to envision your perfect learning space and design the layout of your classroom.
This whiteboard activity is aligned with United Nations Sustainable Development Goal #4 which focuses on ensuring inclusive and equitable education and promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all by providing a space for educators and students to visualize their ideal classroom, school, or individual learning space.
📌 For even MORE lessons aligned to the UN SDGs, check out this post: Understanding and Teaching the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
And this worksheet widget is specifically for figuring out the seating configuration in your classroom. Use this at the beginning of the school year or any time you need to shake things up.
Reflection, Growth Mindset, and Self-Regulated Learning
Reflection is essential for you as a teacher as it fosters continuous improvement and professional growth by allowing you to critically assess and adjust your teaching methods. Being reflective directly connects to fostering a growth mindset and self-regulated learning in your students by modeling the behavior you wish to instill in them. When you reflect on your practices, embrace challenges, and learn from mistakes, you demonstrate the value of perseverance and continuous improvement. This, in turn, encourages your students to view their own learning experiences as opportunities for growth, helping them develop resilience, a positive attitude towards overcoming obstacles, and the ability to manage their own learning.
Ultimately, reflective practices lead to more effective teaching and improved student outcomes. So, enhance your teaching practice with How to Become a Reflective Teacher: The Complete Guide for Reflection in Teaching and foster a growth mindset in your students with How to Encourage Self-Regulated Learning in School: An SRL Blueprint for Teachers.
The following checklist introduces several reasons to start with Self-Regulated Learning (SRL), even if you just check one, SRL might be a good fit for you and your students.
And this WebQuest for Self-Regulated Learning is sure to WOW you with a complete blueprint for designing lessons for SLR.
3. Tech Integration and Student Engagement
Integrating technology into your classroom can significantly boost student engagement and enhance learning outcomes, as well as promote inclusivity and diversity. Utilizing digital tools like BookWidgets enables you to create interactive and personalized learning experiences that captivate students’ interests. From interactive quizzes to engaging multimedia presentations, technology offers innovative ways to keep students actively involved in their learning process. By seamlessly incorporating tech into your teaching strategies, you can foster a dynamic and interactive classroom environment that encourages participation, collaboration, and critical thinking.
Why and How to Integrate Technology in the Classroom
Whether integrating new technology tools or reviewing the purpose of tools that have already been integrated, it is important to consider factors like ease of use, alignment with learning objectives, accessibility, and data privacy. Here we outline 17 Important Considerations When Choosing New Edtech Tools to help you make informed descisions that will enhance teaching and learning in your classroom.
Understanding key pedagogical concepts like differentiated instruction, formative assessment, and student-centered, self-regulated learning is crucial for effective technology integration because they provide a foundation for using digital tools in ways that enhance learning.
📌 The 10 Essential Pedagogical Concepts and How to Apply Them with EdTech Tools blog post explains in more detail how aligning these principles with technology integration can create more personalized, effective, and engaging educational experiences for your students.
The SAMR Model of Technology Integration provides a framework for teachers to enhance their use of technology in the classroom, moving from simple substitution to transformative practices that redefine learning experiences and increase student engagement. Understanding and applying the SAMR model can help you make more effective and impactful use of digital tools in your teaching.
Explore the SAMR model and sample BookWidgets activities in this Hotspot widget.
Student Engagement
Integrating technology into your classroom can revolutionize student engagement by offering diverse and innovative ways to learn whether it be on the first day of school, throughout the school year, or the last day of school. With features like interactive simulations, gamified learning activities, and multimedia content, technology helps capture students’ attention and keep them actively involved in their learning process.
Using game widgets at various points within the learning cycle and class period can significantly enhance student engagement and reinforce key concepts. Integrating these game-based activities with BookWidgets keeps learning dynamic and interactive, fostering a more engaging and effective classroom experience. For example, a word search activity can serve as an effective bellringer at the beginning of class: while the teacher takes attendance, students can solve the word search to reveal the topic of the day’s lesson. This digital word search for a history class combines the word search with a picture background that also gives the students a hint of the topic. If they look closer at the picture, they will see that the bridges and many buildings are destroyed. This visual aid helps them realize the topic is some war. But what war? To find that out, they’ll have to search for the words.
💡 Pro tip! With BookWidgets, teachers can display the words that need to be searched or hide them. Also, you can decide if you want the words also to be written backwards (from right to left) or diagonally so you can make it more challenging for your students. Want to make your word search more interesting? Take a look at this blog post and be inspired.
A digital jigsaw puzzle made from a diagram can be used to encourage active learning: upon solving the puzzle, students recreate the diagram in their notebooks and listen to the accompanying audio notes that provide further explanation. This type of activity can be used as a bellringer or anytime students need to acquire new information. In this example, I’ve turned a sketchnote I created about the structure of Homer’s Odyssey into a jigsaw puzzle. After solving the puzzle, students recreate the notes in their notebooks, copying down information from the sketchnote and the audio that is revealed.
Additionally, a digital crossword puzzle can be a fun and interactive way to review terminology from the day’s lesson, ensuring that students retain and understand the material. Check students’ understanding of symbols and their names in Science class, quiz students on the names of geographical locations, and have students translate vocabulary from one language to another in a world language class. You can even use crosswords in Math class for solving problems as in the example beow. In this Crossword widget, students are typing in numbers rather than words to solve arithmetic problems. You can also embed crosswords for every subject areas using the crossword question-type in a Worksheet, Split Worksheet, Quiz, or Video Quiz widget activity.
💡 Pro tip: Duplicate this widget numerous times and remove/add/change the problems to make it harder or easier for your students and so that you have a set of ready-to-use practice math activites that you can quickly share with students when you need to fill time during a class period. Looking for even more math activities for student engagement? Check out this blog post: The Ultimate Classroom Collection of 30+ Free Interactive Math Activities.
Explore More Resources for Student Engagement
This is just the tip of the iceberg for student engagement with BookWidgets. The following curated resources take a deeper dive into specific subject areas and pedagogical techniques for back to school and year-long student engagement:
4. Assessment and Feedback
Assessment and feedback are crucial components of the learning process, providing both students and teachers with valuable insights into progress and areas for improvement. Regular assessments help identify students’ strengths and weaknesses, enabling targeted instruction and support. Effective feedback, on the other hand, guides students in their learning journey by offering constructive insights that motivate and encourage growth. By integrating continuous assessment and timely feedback, teachers can create a responsive and supportive learning environment that promotes student achievement and fosters a culture of continuous improvement. The trick is to assess student learning and deliver feedback to students in such a way as not to make more work for you, their teacher.
This reading comprehension test is created using the Split Worksheet widget in BookWidgets. It features an embedded PDF on one side and questions on the other. This setup is convenient for both teachers and students: teachers don’t need to print the text, spending hours at the copier, and students can read the text and answer questions simultaneously without downloading the PDF or opening it in a new tab.
Effective Assessment and Feedback
Effective assessment and feedback are pivotal to student success, and there are numerous strategies teachers can use to enhance these processes. This video guide on adding automatically graded questions in BookWidgets shows how to efficiently include these in digital assignments.
📌The Ultimate Formative Assessment Guide offers comprehensive tools, tips, and examples for conducting formative assessments that provide real-time insights into student learning.
For a strong start to the school year, these 5 Ready-to-Use ELL Pre-Assessment Activities are perfect for gauging the initial language proficiency of English Language Learners (ELL). This diagnostic listening comprehension test for English Language Learners starts with an instruction (a “text question” in BookWidgets) and has a variety of different question types. In this example, students can rewind and listen several times to the audio fragment before answering (an option you the teacher can enable or disable as appropriate).
To foster student reflection and self-awareness, these 10 Creative Self-Assessment Ideas stimulate critical thinking and personal growth. Conduct a quick self-assessment with this emoji worksheet:
📌 This Ultimate Exit Ticket Guide offers 60 innovative digital exit ticket ideas to help teachers gauge student understanding and gather feedback efficiently.
Exit tickets provide a quick and effective way to assess learning outcomes and inform future instruction. By utilizing these varied approaches, you can create a robust and responsive assessment system that supports continuous improvement and student achievement.
LMS Assessment and Feedback
Effective assessment and feedback are greatly enhanced when using a learning management system (LMS) like Google Classroom, Microsoft Teams, Moodle, Canvas, or ItsLearning. These platforms streamline the process of creating, distributing, and grading assignments, making it easier for teachers to provide timely and constructive feedback. LMS tools enable the integration of formative and summative assessments, allowing for a variety of question types and multimedia elements that engage students. Additionally, features like automated grading and detailed analytics via Live Mode in BookWidgets offer insights into student performance, helping teachers tailor instruction to meet individual needs. By leveraging the capabilities of an LMS, educators can ensure a more organized, efficient, and responsive assessment process that supports student learning and growth.
Whether you are using the BookWidgets Add-on or Chrome Extension to connect your Google Classroom to BookWidgets, we have 30+ Ready-to-use Lesson Activities that will Spice Up Your Google Classroom
If you are using Microsoft Teams as your learning management system, learn how to streamling your workflow by creating automatically graded assignments in Microsoft Teams for Education with Microsoft’s Apps in Assignments feature.
Wrap up
As you gear up for another exciting school year, remember that you have a wealth of resources at your fingertips to ensure both you and your students thrive. From mastering classroom management and integrating innovative tech tools to engaging students with interactive games and providing effective assessment and feedback, our Back to School Kit and collection of widget activities are here to support you every step of the way. Embrace the opportunity to create a dynamic and inclusive learning environment where every student feels valued and motivated.
Here’s to a fantastic year ahead, filled with growth, creativity, and successful learning adventures! If you have any questions or need further support, don’t hesitate to reach out. Happy teaching!
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