Back to School Booklet | The Literacy Loft

Ah…back to school! A time filled with nervousness, excitement, and the hustle bustle of a brand new year with brand new students. And paperwork, let’s not forget alllll the paperwork. And if you’re a parent, then even more paperwork fun!

While all the logistical stuff is happening with preparing your classroom, meet the teacher, curriculum planning, etc. etc. – you know in the back of your mind that you want to build relationships with your students because that’s the foundation for anything and everything else you might want to teach this year. And not just building relationships between you and your students, but also helping your students build relationships with each other. No, this is not an icebreaker post.

You know all those fun first week of school activities like Find Someone Who or a Classroom Scavenger Hunt or surveys to get to know your students? What if those were all in one place? What if you had one nice little booklet for your students to work on throughout the first week of school in between all the paperwork gathering, read aloud sharing, and building classroom routines? I had the same thought. I wanted something like that. I didn’t want random papers that would add even more paperwork to the endless mountain on my desk. I wanted something that I could display for a bit and maybe even keep until the end of the year so that students could reflect at the end of the year. You know, like a time capsule of sorts. And that’s where the Back to School Booklet came from!

This printable booklet is a wonderful way to get to know your student as well as build culture and classroom community throughout the first week of school. There are 6 total pages for the booklet. of the following activities are on a half sheet of paper. The booklet-style format may help you save paper and also provide a final small project for display at Open House. The activities included in the booklet are:

✔️ Me, the ___ Grader!- There are 4 of these pages for each grade level 2-5. Students can draw a photo of themselves, or a favorite book in the box, or any other creative illustration.

✔️ The Basics of Me – An “all about me” page, with another spot for a selfie!

✔️ My Family – Students draw and write about their family.

✔️ Interest Inventory- This is a useful tool to find out more about what your students care about!

✔️ The Way I Work- This is a tool for students to reflect on the way they learn best, which will also help you identify students’ learning styles.

✔️ Classroom Scavenger Hunt- Students identify the basics of the classroom and where to find things like tissues and the pencil sharpener.

✔️ Class Birthdays- Students list who has birthdays each month. You can use this information to create a class chart or bar graph.

✔️ The Reader in Me – A Reading Inventory/Survey

✔️ The Mathematician in Me – A Math Inventory/Survey

✔️ A Good Classmate (Is, Says, Does, Thinks)- This 4 Square chart can help you and your students generate a class chart and open the doors for discussions of what it takes to be a good classmate.

✔️ A Good Teacher (Is, Says, Does, Thinks)- This 4 Square chart can help you and your students generate a class chart and open the doors for discussions of what it takes to be a good teacher.

✔️ My Class – (Back Cover) A reflection 3-2-1 Style – Students draw a picture and/or write the name of 3 New Classmates, 2 Questions I Still Have, and 1 Thing I am Really Excited About

And the booklet now comes in Google Slides so that you have the flexibility 🤸‍♀️ you need whether it be a printable pdf or in digital form.

The first week of school is a busy one! Hopefully, this booklet will keep your students engaged, provide opportunities for you to get to know your students, and help build the classroom community that is oh so important at the beginning of the year!

You can grab this booklet in the following places: