These are things we do in our classroom, during the first week of school. It is not comprehensive, but everything is free and helps build community.
| Activity | Description | link |
| Matriculation Form | Learn more about the students who are moving into your classroom with the following guiding questions. Adapted from Solution Tree. | here |
| Find Someone Who | Students move around the room, asking their peers questions, and finding matches to the grid on their paper. | 16 sq. here |
| Find Someone Who | Students move around the room, asking their peers questions, and finding matches to the grid on their paper. | 25 sq. here |
| Interest Inventories | Learn more about your students, as you begin the school year, with Interest Inventories. Three versions are available, primary, Grades 3-5 and MS. | Primary 3rd-5th MS |
| All About Me | An All About Me activity, but science edition. Learn about a child’s favorite inherited trait or favorite source of calories. | here |
| Check-In Inventory | Use this “Welcome Back: Check-In Inventory” to touch base with your students and identify goals, interests, and ways they want support. Thanks Michelle Levitt for sharing it! (4 colors available in the file.) | here |
| Measuring Me | Students measure their height, wingspan, and foot size during the first week of school. They do the same the last week of school, to literally show how much they have grown. | here |
| Would you Rather: 1st Week Edition | 40 “Would You Rather” questions specifically created for the fist days of school. | here |
| Would You Rather | 80 “Would You Rather” questions to help build classroom culture. | here |
| 4 Corners | Use the statement prompts as a way of getting to know your students and/or introducing and reinforcing the 4 Corners Strategy. The old version can be found here. | 2025 Edition |
| 4 Corners Posters | Mount these posters to help with the activity, 4 Corners. | 11 x 8.5 Ibiza Blue Capri Pink Laurel Very Peri Green |
| Walk, Talk, Swap | 40 Question to help students learn more about each other, build relationships, and elevate community outcomes. | here |
| Art Lesson | I use this lesson on the first day of school to explain perspective, talk about a growth mindset, and give all students a chance to work in the arts. Moreover, students return to this technique throughout the school year. | Updated here |
| Saving Sam | Team building activity and introduction to cooperative learning | here |
| The Wright Family | This fun activity involves students passing objects to the right or left whenever they hear those words in a story, helping them practice teamwork, communication, and handling mistakes with patience and humor. | here |
| Parent Communication | This is the Welcome Packet Aaron shared with his families. Updated for the 2025-2026 school year. | here |
| Math | Janda Lannigan created this assessment to gauge student understand in math. The assessment includes the student version, interpretation guide, and scoring sheet. Thanks Janda! | |
| Riddle | The Fox, Chicken and Grain activity is as old an activity as they get. The YouTube video (here) walks students through the question and I have created a pdf with pictorial representations. | here |
| Riddle | The 9 Dots riddle (video here), in which students connect 9 dots using four line segments | Lesson & Template |
| Riddle: The River Crossing | Three lions and three wildebeest must use a single raft to cross a crocodile-infested river to escape a wildfire, ensuring no animals are lost in the process. (video here) | here |
| Riddle: Passcode | In a dystopian coliseum, your captured resistance group must solve a passcode riddle to escape. | here |
| Back from Summer Break Bingo | Students learn about what their classmates did during the summer with Back from Summer Break Bingo. | here |
| Management | Get to know you wheel. Spin wheel to have kids answer questions to learn more about each other. | here |
justtwoteachers.com 