Back to School- The First Six Days (Day 2)

Updated: Aug 4

Day 2: First Week Stations

After months of freedom to move around as they please and go to the restroom without asking, it's a hard ask to require students to happily adjust to 7 hours of stillness when the school year starts up again. That's why I've learned that stations provide the movement my students need while offering multiple opportunities for them to access important information about the class, express themselves, and get to know their classmates.

There are so many possibilities for this activity that you can easily choose the stations that will be most meaningful for your students and useful for setting expectations at the start of the year.

I have found that during a typical 50 minute period, my students typically only have time to move between about 4 stations (after I give instructions), but there are many options for what these stations could be.

My favorite stations are:

Book Tasting
- I set out copies of some of the books we will be reading, and students preview them and record their first impressions.
6 Word Memoirs
- After reading some examples, students practice writing concisely and creatively to express one of their own stories. Great for a bulletin board/ display of student work!
About-Me Blackout Poetry
- Another excellent way to take student-created work and add to your classroom decor, I like to cut bunting shapes out of old book pages for this. Then, students pick a book page and circle at least 5 words that describe them or create a phrase that they can relate to. They then color in or decorate the "background" of the book page so their selected words stand out! I punch holes in these and string them along my classroom ceiling. It's my favorite decoration!
Syllabus Station
- Rather than passively listening to me read the syllabus to them, my students work with a small group to read through the course syllabus, find/record certain pieces of information, and write questions about the course.
Icebreaker Jenga
- A fun, easy activity that helps students loosen up and get to know each other, all you need is a game of Jenga and these icebreaker questions!
Photo Metaphor Writing
- You'll learn a lot about your students when they choose a photo that represents their feelings about school/your class, and write about how those two seemingly unrelated ideas are connected in their minds. For instance, is school more like walking into a deep, dark forest or climbing to the top of a mountain?