First Day Activities

I know that many school years have just ended or are about to end, but it's never too early to start thinking about the next school year.

Coming up with interesting first day activities can be a challenge.

Over the next few days, I'll be listing some that I have collected while teaching and while in grad school - including any pros and cons that I'm aware of.

1. Friendly Letter

Have students write you a friendly letter introducing themselves. You may want to ask them to include answers to specific questions.

Pros: Nice way to get to know more about students, see their writing skills, and review friendly letter writing form. Students also really enjoy receiving replies to their letters. I actually had a real mailbox in my room to hold our correspondence back and forth.

Cons: Keeping up with writing reply letters to students is time consuming - especially if you have a lot of students. Some students may not express very much in their first day letter.

Variation: Have students pretend that they are a friend or a family member. Have them write a letter to you as that friend or family member. He or she should tell you what that student’s strengths and weaknesses are, how he or she feels about the subject, how he or she feels about school, what kind of student he or she is, etc. (This might make it easier for students to share information about themselves.)