First Week of School Activities Middle School First Week Activities High School

Perfect for the first week of school, this EDITABLE, NO PREP, GOOGLE SLIDES activity bundle is the perfect way to start back to school season with your middle and high school students and to get your year off to a smooth start! This activity bundle will help you set clear rules and expectations while getting to know your students and building a positive classroom community and culture. This back to school bundle works for any subject area and includes fun, simple first day (or any day) icebreakers and activities, a syllabus template and scavenger hunt, and an expectations powerpoint.

If you're interested in more than just the first week of school, you might be interested in my Back to School MEGA Bundle which includes over 3 weeks of content!

This activity bundle includes resources designed to be used in both digital AND printable formats.

What is included in this resource?

✅ One week STANDARDS-ALIGNED pacing guide so you can save time and stay organized (follows Common Core State Standards for ELA)

✅ Detailed lesson plans with step-by-step directions

✅ Editable done-for-you materials that are ready to go

✅ Engaging activities your students will love

✅ Templates, scaffolds, & graphic organizers PLUS differentiated options to support all learners

✅ 4 engaging icebreaker activities, syllabus template, & syllabus scavenger hunt to introduce the course

✅ Syllabus template & syllabus scavenger hunt to introduce the course

✅ Rules & Expectations presentation to set clear expectations & boundaries

What's included the curriculum?

• Day 1: First Day Name Game - learn EVERY name on the first day! (...no matter how many students you have!)
• Day 2: Rules & expectations - a done-for-you presentation to help you set clear expectations and boundaries from the start
• Day 3: Gather Round (4 corners) or Speed Dating activities to get your students talking & engaging
• Day 4: Syllabus template & scavenger hunt - keep students engaged with an active reading activity disguised as a scavenger hunt game
• Day 5: All About Me one pager activity - get in touch with students' creative side while building community and critical thinking

Detailed description of what's included:

Teacher Guide: Step by step directions for teachers facilitating the activities.

Student-Friendly Directions: Step-by-Step directions to guide students through each activity. The directions are formatted to be printable as well as digital.

First Week Pacing Guide: An editable pacing guide organizes the activities into a 1-week planner for teachers. The pacing guide includes Common Core State Standards for the week and links to each activity for easy access and teachers can edit the link to connect to their copy of each activity for easy organization.

First Day of School Icebreaker Game: Play this fun memory game and learn every students name (plus a few facts) by the end of the first day (...YES, even if you teach middle or high school!!) This game also helps students' personalities shine, so you'll know a ton about students' interests and ability levels by the end of the first day!

Speed Dating Icebreaker: The activity includes 22 engaging, open-ended questions that are sure to get students talking! These questions strike the balance between meaningful questions that actually help students get to know each other without forcing students to get too personal on their first day or week together. At the end of each mini-date, students use the Speed Dating Partner Note page to record their partner's name and a few details from their conversation, before finding a new partner and starting again! The activity ends with a reflection on the ice breaker activity.

Postcard Icebreaker Activity: Students choose a postcard (printable postcard templates provided), then write a letter to a fictional person. After trading, classmates respond to the postcard and "mail" it back. Students *LOVE* the creative aspect of this activity while still getting to know each other. My students have often told me this postcard activity was the most memorable and fun of the year! *Directions/templates included for using with virtual learning AND in-person formats!

Gather Round 4 Corners Icebreaker Activity: A fun variation of 4 corners - Includes 18 engaging, low-stakes prompts that are sure to get your students talking! Students move around the room to find students with similar opinions or experiences with the prompt. Students answer follow up questions to highlight their common ground before starting the next round.

EDITABLE Syllabus Template: A professional-looking template for creating your own syllabus. Use the template for any secondary subject area. Topics addressed include:

• Course overview
• Course objectives and student learning outcomes
• Class expectations and behaviors
• Academic honesty policy
• Grade categories and weights
• Cell phone policy
• and more!

EDITABLE Sample Syllabus: A 3-page sample syllabus for secondary English is included - teachers of secondary English can make minor edits (teacher name, email, etc) and be ready to go. Teachers of other subjects can use the syllabus as a guide for completing the template (described above).

EDITABLE AI Policy Statement Bank: SIX different AI policy statements to choose from, ranging from strictly prohibited & completely off limits to embraced, encouraged, and even required for teaching AI literacy. Designed to growth with you as attitudes & beliefs around AI use grow and change over the years.

EDITABLE Syllabus Scavenger Hunt Activity: THREE different versions that engage students as they read the syllabus - 1) A look-and-find style scavenger hunt that guides students to important policies, 2) a syllabus-in-action activity that provides various scenarios to help students see your policies in action, and 3) an annotation activity guiding students to reflect, question, connect, and react to the information in the syllabus.

All 3 versions include comprehension questions to ensure understanding as well as discussion questions that allow students to express ideas and opinions, such as what texts they're most interested in reading and their opinion about various class policies. These can provide a guide for a fun class discussion after the activity.

Rules & Expectations Presentation and Note Sheet: A presentation to help students learn your expectations - topics covered include: general expectations for behavior, participation and collaboration, a tour of important areas in the classroom, academic honesty, turning in work, bathroom & cell phone use, and more! "Partner Chat" slides and an editable Note Sheet are included to keep students engaged during the presentation

Activity Duration:

The activities in this bundle will take about 5-6 hours total, depending on how teachers choose to conduct each activity or project.

Final Notes and Details:

Please note, this activity is created in GOOGLE SLIDES and is EDITABLE so you can meet the unique needs of your students.

**This resource is a PDF with links to Google Slides documents. However, the documents can also be downloaded from Google Slides as POWERPOINT files or PDF files if you prefer (file, download as, choose your format)

Other Products You May be Interested In:

• Back to School Activity Bundle
• End of the Year MEGA Bundle
• Introduction to Shakespeare Resource Bundle
• Amanda Gorman: The Hill we Climb (and other poems) Poetry Unit

Terms of Use:

This work is copyright. Your single-user license which allows you to use this resource with YOUR students only. If you'd like to share this resource with a teacher-friend, please provide them with a link to my store, so they can download their own. Thank you for being part of the Teachers Pay Teachers community and for supporting a fellow teacher!

Cover Credit: Thank you to Aneta Designs for the watercolor strokes in the product cover!