School supplies are on the store shelves, which can only mean one thing…it’s BACK TO SCHOOL season. Each year, I love finding new back to school resources to use in the classroom. 
Back to school season has always been one of the most joyous and nerve-inducing times of the year for teachers. Normally, teachers would be decorating their classrooms, buying manipulatives and color-coded bins for new supplies, and dusting off their handy-dandy label makers to prepare for all of the organizing they get to do.
This year, all of that excitement is dampened a bit by uncertainty. Classrooms are getting scrubbed, supplies that have always been essential are being removed for hygiene reasons, lessons on handwashing are taking precedence in the first days of school, and many students will not be coming to our rooms at all in those first several weeks.
Back to School Resources
It is easy to become a glass-half-empty kind of person during all this uncertainty; however, teachers still have control over the educational experience students will have, and instead of filling your time thinking of all you can’t do, I want to encourage you to start filling your teaching folders with back to school resources that can be used both in and out of the physical classroom.
To make this season a little easier for all of us, I have gone through my back to school resources and pulled four items that teachers can use in the first month of school, both in the digital learning space and the physical learning space.
Digital Assignment Slides
This free resource is simple but effective in organizing students and assignments on a day-to-day basis. Using a daily assignment slide provides consistency for students, so they always know what to expect and how the information will be presented.
Fully editable, you can project this slide on the board to support students in completing their daily assignments. If virtual learning is the name of the game for you, screenshot the daily slide to include in an email to students and parents, include them as part of a weekly newsletter, share the slide as part of your Google Hangout session or Zoom meeting, or you can easily assign it through Google Classroom for easy access to all your students.
School Break Flipbook (Now available in DIGITAL!)
Use this flipbook to have students write about what they did during any break from school. At the beginning of the year, this School Break Flipbook is great for getting to know your students through both writing and images. Since students have been on a VERY LONG break this spring and summer, students may have a lot to share about their time away from school.
In addition to the template for the physical flipbook, this resource also includes a digital version that can be used with Google Slides. Whether your students are learning at home or if you are 1:1 in the classroom, this Google Slides version provides a paper-free option for the same activity!
Classroom Procedures Gameshow
Learning about classroom procedures has never been so fun! This Classroom Procedures Gameshow adds a gamified component to the beginning of any school year. As students learn about your classroom or course expectations, test their knowledge with a little competition, Jeopardy-style game. For more ways to use this Classroom Procedures Gameshow, check out this blog post all about this resource and how to adapt it for different purposes!
What’s the Scoop? (A ‘Getting to Know You’ Activity)
Building community, making students feel loved, and creating a safe space for kids to learn are all part of this What’s the Scoop activity.
Start off the school year by getting to know your students with this fun and engaging (fully editable) activity available in both PowerPoint and Google Slides. Project it on your whiteboard or as part of a Zoom call or Google Hangout and discuss answers as a class or have students record their answers on the included recording sheet. This game is silly, carefree, and focuses on what is most important in your classroom…your students.
To make it easier for you to get these resources, I’ve put the free resources on this list into a single free download that you can get right now by clicking here!
For more resources to help you prepare for back to school, check out the *Back to School* section in my Tpt store!
