Engaging Back-To-School Activities for Every Subject

Don’t you just love returning to school in the fall? Does it make you want to buy classroom supplies? “You’ve Got Mail” humor aside, going back to school is a pretty exciting time for you and your students. 

To help make the transition smooth, fun, and engaging this year, we’ve collected some easy-to-use back-to-school activities to help you start the new year off the right way!

• Focus on growth and change with ELA back-to-school activities
• Introduce the basics with social studies back-to-school activities
• Start the year with back-to-school science experiments
• Focus on cross-curricular writing for back-to-school season
• Review key skills with Formative starter lessons

[Focus on growth and change with ELA back-to-school activities](id-ela)

Kick off the new school year with a collection of ELA resources to get your students reading, learning, and practicing literacy skills right away!

Dive into ELA back-to-school units for every grade level

Start the year strong with focused, yet flexible, ELA units designed around life skills and themes. Each three-part unit contains engaging texts, activities, reflections, and discussion questions to facilitate learning and promote critical thinking. Check out some of the available units:

• Power of play (Grade 2)
• What creativity means (Grade 4)
• Goals and growing (Grade 6)
• Reestablishing routines (Grade 10)

Assign engaging poems for the first day of school

Start the year with poetry that’s perfect for the first day of school and covers topics like growing up, making friends, and working hard to meet your goals. Share poems like: 

• “As I Grew Older” by Langston Hughes
• “If” by Rudyard Kipling
• “On Friendship” by Kahlil Gibran
• “Instructions on Not Giving Up” by Ada Limón
• “Hope” by Alice Dunbar-Nelson

Encourage independent reading with back-to-school fiction and poetry

Whether your students spent all summer reading their favorite stories or took a little brain break, start the year by encouraging them to read independently with themed fiction and poetry collections:

Fiction and poetry about belonging and fitting in

A new school year often means new teachers, new classrooms, and even new classmates. Encourage students to explore the themes of belonging and fitting in through fiction and poetry with selections like: 

• “The Little Mermaid” by Hans Christian Andersen
• “The Ugly Duckling” by Hans Christian Andersen
• “Frankenstein”: Chapter 11 by Mary Shelley
• “Good Hours” by Robert Frost
• “Our Blanket” by Lelila Lakhal

Fiction about choices

Growing up includes encountering new situations and learning how to make wise choices about the paths we take. Students can read fiction that follows this theme with selections like:

• “Her Hands That Held the Stars” by Rebecca Birch
• “The Enchanted Pool” by Naomi Wakan
• “The Scarlet Letter”: Chapter 2 by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Fiction and poetry about growing up

Each passing school year signifies another year of students growing up and learning more about themselves and their world. Share fiction and poetry that focuses on the theme of growing up with selections like:

• “The Ingredients” by Jason Reynolds
• “The Retake” by Chris Low
• “Treasure Island”: Chapter 1 by Robert Lewis Stevenson
• “Nothing Gold Can Stay” by Robert Frost
• “Aspiration” by Henrietta Cordelia Ray

Fiction and poetry about identity

Learning new things and meeting new friends can help students discover more about themselves, their interests, and who they aspire to be. Share fiction and poetry about identity with selections like:

• “The Peacock and Juno” by Aesop
• “The Savoy” by Scott C. Mikula
• “Désirée’s Baby” by Kate Chopin
• “My People” by Langston Hughes
• “Grace” by Joy Harjo

Fiction and poetry about journeys

From the first day of school to the last day of school, it's an almost 180-day journey that teaches new skills and life lessons. Share fiction and poetry that focuses on the theme of journeys with selections like:

• “The Hare and the Tortoise” by Aesop
• “A Spectacular Ride” by Drollene P. Brown
• “Around the World in Eighty Days”: Chapter 1 by Jules Verne
• “blessing the boats” by Lucille Clifton
• “Up-Hill” by Christina Rossetti

Share videos about popular back-to-school topics

Take learning beyond articles, fiction, and poetry and share videos with back-to-school themes, such as:

• Growth mindset
• Taking notes
• How will AI change the world?

Hold an in-class discussion about back-to-school topics

Kick students' critical thinking and argument skills into high gear with a back-to-school debate or discussion lesson. Have them ponder and defend their positions on hot-button school-related topics like:

• Should teachers assign homework?
• When is the best time for school to start?
• Should schools have dress codes or uniforms?

Find high-quality back-to-school text sets created by fellow ELA teachers

Do you need a quick, fun, and engaging lesson to get your new students talking and learning? Your fellow teachers have your back! Explore some of these lessons created by teachers like you:

• Beginning of the year scavenger hunt
• We don’t talk about “homework”
• Back-to-school opinion writing

[Introduce the basics with social studies back-to-school activities](id-ss)

Dive into new social studies topics and skill review with a collection of relevant, engaging resources that get your students thinking, asking questions, and exploring new knowledge.

Share icebreaker activities with your social studies students

The first day of school is usually a time for introductions and icebreakers. Take the traditional activities a step further and give them a social studies twist with activities on topics like:

• Creating a map of your school
• Guess the historical figure
• Create a classroom time capsule

Start with the primary source basics

Whether your students are familiar with primary sources or are learning about them for the first time this year, you can share ones that they’ll find interesting and engaging. This collection includes a variety of primary source types—like letters, documents, and speeches—at five reading levels. Some of the resources include the:

• Declaration of Independence
• Articles of Confederation
• Bill of Rights

Review social studies concepts for back-to-school season

Brushing up on skills and knowledge after summer break can help refocus students and get them ready to learn new things. Try a skills and concept review in areas like:

• Social studies skills
• Core knowledge reviews for civics, U.S. history, ancient civilizations, world history, geography, and economics.

Grab students’ attention with back-to-school videos

Take learning beyond icebreakers and primary sources and introduce video into your back-to-school social studies lessons. Try videos on topics like:

• How can governments represent people?
• How does geography shape a culture?
• How can you use technology to become a more active global citizen?

Find high-quality back-to-school text sets created by fellow social studies teachers

Do you need a quick, fun, and engaging lesson to get your new students talking and learning? Your fellow teachers have your back! Explore some of these lessons created by teachers like you:

• Explorers: Past, present, future
• The role of voting in American democracy
• Media’s impact on creating our own identity

[Start the year with back-to-school science experiments](id-sci)

Get students thinking like scientists and practicing hands-on learning from the beginning of the school year with these fun STEM lessons:

Ponder the science behind school-time meditation

Science topics are constantly making headlines. Have students explore the concept of in-school meditation and its potential benefits for learning and mental health. 

• First, have students read an article about how and why more U.S. schools are adding meditation breaks to their day.
• Next, have students read an explainer article that explores ways to meditate and reap the mental health benefits of the activity.
• Extend the lesson by using our sensory writing worksheet to have students write a letter to their principal explaining why a meditation program at your school would be a good idea.

Share a seasonal STEM project

Our Seasonal STEM collection combines science, technology, engineering, and math concepts with engaging holiday-related projects. For back-to-school season, try a hands-on project all about changing fall leaves! Students can use the following resources to build background knowledge on the topic and complete the experiment:

• First, have students watch a video about why leaves change colors in the fall.
• Next, have them read an article about how trees losing their leaves prepare them for survival through the winter.
• Finally, do a hands-on activity that uncovers the hidden colors of leaves using rubbing alcohol and paper towels.

[Focus on cross-curricular writing for back-to-school season](id-writing)

Writing is a key cross-curricular skill that helps students further their learning and improve their communication skills. With the Newsela Writing activity library, you can help students practice writing in a variety of genres throughout the school year. Try one of these activities to start the year, and customize the prompts, rubrics, and in-product labels to reflect your classroom needs:

• Argumentative and persuasive writing: Should Schools Include Nap Breaks?
• Literary analysis: Symbolism in Emily Dickinson’s Hope Poem
• Narrative writing: Learning from Failure: My Experience and Response
• Expository writing: Why do dogs wag their tails?
• Informational writing: Space Tech for World’s Energy Crisis
• Main/Central idea writing: Why Lincoln Uses “We” in Gettysburg Address
• Opinion writing: Should robots referee sports?
• Inference/Conclusion writing: Hamilton’s Support for the Electoral College

[Review key skills with Formative starter lessons](id-formative)

Want students to brush up on essential skills, incorporate more formative assessments into your lessons, and have fun doing it all? Formative’s starter lessons are a great way to make it happen. These expert-created lesson templates for multiple subjects provide easy-to-use resources for K-12 classrooms and help introduce you to Formative’s lesson features to start the year right! Here’s a sampling of the lessons you’ll find:

• ELA: Phonics lessons, writing practice, and literary analysis

• Math: Basic computations, probability, equations, functions, and word problems

• Science: Biology, astronomy, and chemistry

• Social studies: Civics, economics, and map skills

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Start the school year right with a Newsela premium free trial

Use Newsela’s knowledge and skill-building products to create timely, engaging lessons for every holiday, event, and season change. If you’re not a Newsela customer yet, sign up for Newsela Lite and get a 45-day free trial of all our premium and differentiated content and activities to help you plan more exciting activities for back-to-school season and beyond.

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