First Day of School Activity Ideas

The first day of school has all kinds of emotions… excitement, joy, nervous, happy, overwhelmed… Each student and teacher experiences differently. For kindergartners, it may be their first time being away from home for an extended amount of time. To make students feel welcome, comfortable and part of a community it is a good idea to plan a tour to meet the staff and get familiar with the school building.

A fun and effective way of organizing a school tour is to have it be lead by a storybook character who had the same feelings your student was nervous about. A character that is experiencing their first day with a positive outcome. There are many first day read-alouds, particularly books that translate well into a tour.

The resource included in this blog post is a generic tour scavenger hunt activity.

SCHOOL TOUR CARDS

This resource is intended to help you introduce the school and school community to in coming students. The scavenger hunt is generic so that you can use it with the book of your choice. I would recommend that the book you choose has the theme of going to school, perhaps some anxiety about starting school.

You will read the story, then the character you choose will have left the cards around the school. The first card will be found at the end of the book, just fill in the blanks with the names of your staff and with the term you use to call each class.

The first class you will visit is art, the second is gym, then the music room, school nurse, cafeteria, library, main office, and back to your classroom to have a snack. Remember to put your class card on your door as you are leaving! It is also fun to coordinate your snack with the book of your choice.

Llama Llama Misses Mama

Kissing Hand

Wemberly Worried

First Day Jitters

If you take a mouse to school