ceciliafelsenstein It’s time to start planning the back to school activities for the first week! Your middle and high school students are also anxious about the new year ahead and about meeting you and other classmates! They need some kind of warm-up…Don’t fret about it! Here you will find everything you need! Check out below the back to school activties for middle and high school and start off the year with a positive image as a teacher 😉!
Activity #1: All about me
This is an all about me one-pager for students to complete about themselves. They have to describe their personal, academic and social life. Pupils are asked to refer to who their friends are, their hobbies, their likes and dislikes and many other aspects of their lives. Very useful PSE or SEL activity.
Activity #2: Stand on the line if…
This is a super fun activity to use with students of all ages!! The teacher should draw a line with chalk on the floor and will then read some prompts to his/her students who will “stand on the line if…”. This is a great icebreaker and also PSE activity in which students start paying attention to and empathizing with others. Click on the link to access the prompts.
Activity #3: This or that?
This is the classic Instagram or TikTok game in which you have to choose among two options. Click here for the slides showing BTS options and have students move from one side of the classroom to the other according to their choices.
Activity #5: Getting to the Core
This is a simple and reflective written icebreaker for high school students to think about themselves, their skills, strenghts and weaknesses.
Activity #6: One-pager
This editable Back to School one pager will help your students reflect on what they did during the holidays and their plans, goals and projects for this coming school year!
Back to school is not only games and icebreakers… the classroom needs to be decorated somehow…. Below you will find two sets of 20 posters with quotes by Taylor Swift. You might like them for your bulletin board!!
And if you want to work with the quotes… check out this resource which includes 5 different activities to get your students to reflect and analyze quotes!
Even if most of these activities seem to have icebreaking as an aim, they do have other deeper objectives. They all work with different social skills encouraging students to share, empathize, connect, listen actively, and more… If you need specific PSE activities for high school, you can click here.
With these back to school activities for middle and high school you are now ready to embark on this new year! Wish you all the best!
