20+ classroom essentials for back to school. These teacher must-haves include supplies and activities, books, class management ideas, and more!
Classroom Essentials for Back-to-School
Are you ready for the first day back to school? The students’ smiling faces after a summer of fun and their anticipation about their new classroom, friends, and, of course, their new teacher is always an exciting time.
Here is a list of 20+ back-to-school classroom essentials to add to your summer prep!
Table of Contents
- Classroom Essentials for Back-to-School
- Back to School Social-Emotional Learning Resource
- More Classroom Essentials You Will LOVE
Supplies and Resources for the First Week
Your school may have basic things like pencils, paper, sticky notes, and even bulletin board decorating supplies. But do you have the extras? You know, the things that make teaching FUN! These things are certainly classroom essentials for any teacher. Find classroom must haves on Amazon, your best bet for great teacher deals!
It’s the Little Things: Before you think about things to make learning fun for your kids, do something for YOURSELF. Collect fun colored Flair pens and markers, highlighters, sticky notes, astrobrights paper and cardstock, and some pretty things for your desk and window. You know, the little things that make your teacher’s heart happy. Don’t forget those items that make teaching easier, like a personal laminator, dry-erase boards, electric pencil sharpeners, and binders, which will be well worth the purchase. As you go throughout the day, having these things will help ease your classroom setup anxiety!
Classroom Provisions: The kids will love unique things to make their day bright and cheerful. For example, extra things like storage bins for organizing, cheerful desk labels, anchor charts for decorations and writing on, pocket charts, and fresh new scissors, markers, and crayons will make their first week back memorable. Think about what you would have enjoyed in your classroom as a kid – and provide that for your students if you could. They’ll thank you with smiles on the first day as they start a new school year.
A Handy Checklist: Print out my free beginning of the year teacher checklist to help you organize your must-dos and classroom supplies list and save time!
Classroom Essentials: Books for Back-to-School
Here are some books I recommend that are classroom essentials that new and seasoned teachers will enjoy. Some are for you; some are for your students. Here are a few suggestions for stocking your classroom or personal shelves.
Get Inspired: Treat yourself to some inspiration, focus, and motivation with Teaching with Intention: Defining Beliefs, Aligning Practice, Taking Action K-5, by Debbie Miller. This book will help you define your purpose at the beginning of the year and motivate you to stick to it year-round.
Tools for Success: Create an environment in which all children can succeed, no matter their needs, differences, or circumstances. Helping Children Succeed: What Works and Why by Paul Tough is a great book that gives you the necessary knowledge.
Build Your Classroom Library: Gather the necessary books for your classroom bookshelf and teaching reference. I highly suggest having many books that help teach alphabet recognition, such as these.
Classroom Essentials: Classroom Management Ideas
Classroom management is the foremost important thing to make sure you’ve planned well. It may be the most important of all classroom essentials. Without a solid structure of rules and consequences, methods for managing behavior and routines, and motivational strategies, you may struggle to be productive and meet your goals for the year. Try out some of these ideas.
Top Ten: My top ten ideas for classroom management can be found here. I’ve found these ideas very effective, and I would recommend them to anyone!
Classroom Jobs: Consider assigning classroom jobs to your students to keep your classroom running efficiently and giving everyone a sense of responsibility.
Creative Rewards: Reward your students for their positive efforts daily with these 5 creative and cost-effective solutions. They are kid and teacher-approved!
Establish your Classroom: Check out these ten teacher tips for the first week back to school. They include recommendations for establishing routines and procedures, decorating the classroom, ideas for initial assessments, and more! Use this list as a checklist to help you!
Early Finishers: Keep those fast finishers busy by preparing these activity cards in advance and teaching your students how to reference them and keep themselves busy while others finish their work.
For First-Year Teachers: Are you a new teacher? Read my tips for new teachers to be encouraged and inspired. You’re going to have a great first year!
Inspiring Ideas to Start the Year Right
There are so many new ideas and opportunities in the world of teaching. There are many ways to do it right, yet it can be overwhelming. Here are some innovative and inspiring ideas you can try out this year. They are proving to be great methods with which other teachers are finding success.
Building Community: Making a conscious effort to build community in your classroom will get your class off to a great start!
Flexible Seating: Have you heard or seen classroom teachers find success with flexible seating? It could be a positive new change for your classroom, too!
Working with Parents: Begin to foster positive relationships with your student’s parents. Make a plan to communicate consistently and show that you care.
STEM and STEAM: Don’t forget to incorporate STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) or STEAM (add Art to the mix) activities into your lesson plans and themes. Highly favored in the school system, STEM and STEAM allow kids to practice skills they will need in their careers one day. It’s up to us to develop those skills. For more information on STEM and STEAM, check out this post.
First Week Back Activities to Plan
Get to know your students by having them create a self-portrait. Provide them with various art and drawing supplies, and let them be creative. Encourage them to write a description of themselves for you to read. This is a fun self-awareness project for them and an ice-breaker for you to learn a little about each child.
The Rules: Remember to review rules and expectations, procedures, and schedules with your students starting on the first day. In fact, it should probably be one of the first things you cover. Think of what rules you will enforce in your room, and go ahead and put them up on your wall for an easy introduction on the first day.
Engaging Activity: This school bus directed drawing is an engaging art activity that grabs students’ attention and begins instructing them on following directions.
Establish New Routines: Classroom meetings are a great thing to place within your routine and play a massive role in building community within the classroom. Here are tips for how to hold effective classroom meetings. End the day with another routine: the “end-the-day box.” Write conversation starter questions on small pieces of paper and place them into an empty decorated tissue box. Bring the kids together and have a quick, 5-minute group discussion about a question or thought drawn from the jar. Waiting for the dismissal bell will be a community-building culmination of the day.
Back to School Social-Emotional Learning Resource
This back to school social emotional learning resource is the perfect companion to your start-of-school lesson plans. It includes mini-lesson ideas and engaging activities that build connections in the classroom and teach children important social and emotional skills during the most critical time of the year!
The mind+heart SEL back to school resource and activities will support kids as they learn to be positive members of the classroom community, develop self-awareness, build new relationships, and act with kindness and empathy.
More Classroom Essentials You Will LOVE
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