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Ten Fabulous Resources for Back to School

The new school year is almost here! This week, we are sharing several tools for back to school—seating charts, icebreakers, homework organizers, and so much more. Find tools you and your students can use to get off to a great start this year!

Grades K-12

TeachersFirst's First Day of School Icebreakers

No matter what level you teach, establishing rapport with a new group of students is key to knowing how to help them learn. Check out this list of reviewed resources to find the perfect opportunities to help your students get to know one another.

Grades 5-12

myHomework

myHomework is a digital student planner for tracking homework, assignments, tests, and more. Help your students add class information (including start and end times, classroom number, teacher information, and notes) and homework.

Grades K-6

Class123

Use this tool to organize your classroom and communicate with students and parents. There are many tools included: a timer, seating chart, attendance manager, random name picker, and more. This is a great tool to use to share feedback with families.

Grades K-8

Classroom Freebies

What teacher doesn’t search for freebies? This gem includes thousands of free materials, including task cards, classroom management charts, coloring sheets, worksheets, and posters. There’s also a search option to help you find exactly what you need!

Grades K-12

Keith Hughes Teaching Stuff YouTube Playlist

Sit back and enjoy 30+ videos geared toward new teachers that present practical advice and tips in an entertaining way. All teachers can benefit from videos about topics like setting up a flipped classroom and making tests less stressful.

Grades K-12

Mega Seating Plan

Plan your seating chart for the new year! Import student names from a spreadsheet and set up the layout of your classroom. Choose to create a random seating arrangement or boy/girl setup, then drag and drop student names to adjust as you like.

Grades K-12

101 Things You Can Do in the First Three Weeks of Class

Explore this extensive list that provides many suggestions for getting off to a great start. Scroll through each section to find ideas for transitioning to a new grade level, keeping students' attention, providing support, building community, and more.

Grades K-12

Future Me - Write a Letter to the Future

This nifty tool allows you to write an email and deliver it in the future (up to 50 years later). Insert your email address and subject, write your email, and choose a future date for delivery. Have students write letters during the first week of school.

Grades 1-12

Blabberize

Have students upload an image and make it talk using Blabberize! Students can use this engaging tool to introduce themselves to the class at the start of the year. Upload an image, select an area to become the talking "mouth," and record the words.

Grades K-12

Icebreakers, Games, and Fun Group Activities

Discover various categories of icebreakers, including team-building, active, get-to-know-you, and classroom icebreakers. The classroom icebreakers have subtopics ranging from sharing/opinion games to spelling/word games.

This Week at TeachersFirst

Join us for another week of summer professional learning opportunities! Participate in workshops on Tuesday and Wednesday and our bimonthly Twitter chat on Thursday. We are also sharing our blog and kindly ask for your input on our weekly poll.