The first day of school is one of the most important days of the year for kids of every grade. Every student has mixed feelings and emotions that day; students are excited and nervous simultaneously. Even the smartest and the most confident student is anxious about it.
However, students can make it the most exciting and memorable by planning and arranging fun classroom activities. These activities, on the first hand, not only create amusement and excitement among them. But also allow them to connect with fellow students and build healthy, essential relationships.
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You can arrange several first-day-of-school activities like fun introductions, class decoration, show-and-tell, role play, art sessions, educational games, etc. Below are some that students can arrange on the first day of school.
Students are scared and confused about new fellow students and even new schools on the first day. So, introductory activities are a must and the first to start the day from. Through this activity, students get to know each other; they can also share some exciting facts among themselves.
Students can also arrange some art activities and start the school with some interesting art sessions. They enjoy openly expressing themselves through their art and creativity, which gives them a not-so-easy-to-forget classroom experience.
This classroom activity is the one that every student cherishes and enjoys the most. It includes planning to celebrate every student's birthday and making it memorable for him and exciting for all other students.
This first day of school activity will help students to make new friends and also understand some of the math terms. Students pair up and find similar interests and likings among themselves, which they put on the Friendship Venn diagram. It also gives them a chance to better understand their fellow students.
Students can design crests representing their classroom’s motto, vision, and mission on the first day of school. They can draw several designs along with different signs and symbols that represent several aspects and have some meaningful, powerful meaning.
Book reading activity is also among the most common first-day-of-school activities. Teachers can start the new year at school by reading some good books to pupils. This not only engages them but also develops the habit of reading among them.
In this activity, students give compliments to each other anonymously. They can either do it by writing on the sticky notes attached to their back, or by writing it on the board. It creates the most fun and thrill among them and also enhances their self-confidence.
Teachers can make their students draw self-portraits in which students will add whatever they like and want. This activity is the best way to support a kid’s self-image and identity, fine motor skills, and creativity.
Students can enjoy another activity on their first day where teachers assign them various roles and they act according to them. These roles can be of different professions or jobs like doctor, professor, lawyer, nurse, scientist, etc.
In this activity, students will show their snapshots from their last vacations. Through this activity, they will get to share their experiences, memories, adventures, and other things they learned from it.
The students will make and stick customized name tags for everyone on certain things. This activity is one of the ways where students get to know each other better, making it the most exciting.
In this, students can make posters where they write about themselves for everyone to read. This activity builds self-esteem and self-awareness among students and helps them develop friendships.
Teachers create a promising chart that tells how they want their students to be, feel, look, and sound. They, then make everyone in the classroom to sign their names on it; students hang it on the wall where they can read it throughout the whole academic year. This is the best way to set behavior goals for all students and create discipline in the classroom.
The teacher will provide students with a list of classroom items to search for in the school. Through it, students will get to know each other and also their new institute. Moreover, this activity develops problem-solving skills in the students as they learn to reinforce and act-out methods.
Teachers can make students write a few things about themselves, with one of the statements being false. Then, every student will read them out loud one by one, and all other fellow students will guess which statement is the wrong one. This activity creates the most fun and students enjoy it the most.
Students create individualized time capsules on the first day of school. They fill them with their goals and aim they want to achieve for the whole academic year. The teachers will take pictures of their students on the first day, print them out, and put them inside the time capsules.
On the last day of school, teachers will return back each student's time capsule and allow them to see how much they have learned, grown, and achieved throughout the school year.
The first day of school is the greatest way for students to know each other. And also for the teachers to know who they are going to teach. Through all those fun first-day-of-school activities, not only do teachers get to understand their students better. But also students get a chance to demonstrate their capabilities and skills.
Therefore, the first day of school should be full of excitement for the students so that they find it easy to learn about their fellow students and the teacher. You can choose any or multiple activities from the above-discussed ones to start the school and make it the most memorable one.
