In this activity, students solve puzzles and riddles with information about your classroom and procedures to “escape” the virtual room, fostering critical thinking and collaboration. Explore this on-demand OK2Ask workshop, \u201cEngage & Inspire: Digital Escapes with Google<\/a>,\u201d to learn how to use platforms like Google Forms (reviewed here<\/a>) to create a back-to-school-themed escape room activity. You can also use Genially (reviewed here<\/a>) to create a digital escape room\u2014this on-demand OK2Ask workshop<\/a> will help you learn the basics of the tool.<\/p>\n\n\n Trivia Games<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Create a fun and interactive trivia game with questions about classroom expectations and fun facts about the school or the curriculum using Gimkit (reviewed here<\/a>), Blooket (reviewed here<\/a>), or Quizizz (reviewed here<\/a>). The game-like interfaces keep students engaged while reviewing information they need to know to have a successful school year.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Virtual Scavenger Hunt<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Students can complete missions and challenges around the classroom or school, capturing their progress with photos or videos. Organize a virtual scavenger hunt using Goosechase (reviewed here<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Collaborative Whiteboard<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Set up collaborative whiteboard brainstorming sessions. Students can add sticky notes, drawings, and text to contribute ideas for classroom rules, projects, or icebreaker activities. Check out this blog post about FigJam<\/a>, a tool that can help you organize this experience. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Goal Setting and Vision Boards <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Discuss the importance of goal setting. Have students create vision boards using magazines, drawings, and words representing their goals and aspirations for the school year. You could also try Marcus Luther\u2019s Learning Student Values<\/a> activity, which includes a link to a Google Slides (reviewed here<\/a>) deck template.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hexagonal Thinking Activity<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Hexagonal thinking is a dynamic back-to-school activity where students write personal interests, experiences, and goals on hexagonal paper cutouts, share them in pairs, and find connections between their ideas. This collaborative process culminates in a large hexagonal map, fostering communication, community, and a visually engaging understanding of each other’s backgrounds and aspirations. Check out this blog post, \u201cGetting to Know You Hexagons for Back to School<\/a>,\u201d for a template and instructions. Canva (reviewed here<\/a>) has templates you can use to make it a digital activity.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n STEM Challenges<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n STEM challenges are an excellent way to kick off the new school year. Activities like building spaghetti and marshmallow towers, designing egg-drop contraptions, or creating balloon-powered rockets make learning fun and help students bond and develop teamwork. Explore this blog post<\/a> for ten back-to-school STEM activities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Starting the school year with engaging activities like these is essential for establishing a positive classroom environment and getting student. Do you have a favorite engaging back-to-school activity? We’d love for you to share your ideas and resources in the comments below!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" With the end of summer approaching, teachers across the country are busy preparing to greet their new students. The start of a new school year is an amazing opportunity to lay the groundwork for a thriving classroom community. Building solid relationships is essential for a successful school year, and first impressions can set the tone … read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[14,50,54,22],"class_list":["post-9928","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-classroom-application","tag-edtech","tag-instructional-strategies","tag-resources","tag-stem"],"modified_by":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/teachersfirst.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9928","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/teachersfirst.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/teachersfirst.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teachersfirst.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teachersfirst.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9928"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/teachersfirst.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9928\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10121,"href":"https:\/\/teachersfirst.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9928\/revisions\/10121"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/teachersfirst.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9928"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teachersfirst.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9928"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teachersfirst.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9928"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/teachersfirst.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/2024_JUL_30ran-31_Start_School_Year_Right_Bower-200x300.png\")
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