Another summer is drawing to a close, and we all know what that means… it’s Back to School time! Whether you are continuing with a remote or blended classroom, or are looking forward to welcoming back your students in person after the unique challenges of last year, it’s important to start the year off on the right foot, and set the tone for a fun, inclusive, and engaging classroom. Here are 10 ways you can use Buncee to make this year’s Back to School the best ever! You’ll also find Buncee Boards filled with ready to use templates to help you get started, from SEL activities, to posters, newsletters, and more!
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#1 Introduce Yourself to Parents and Students
A great year starts with a strong relationship between yourself, your students, and their families. Introduce yourself to your new students and their family members with a personalized Buncee! You can include your name and contact information, share some fun facts about yourself, and even include a video message welcoming everyone to your classroom!
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#2 Create a Welcoming Class Environment
Many educators are returning to the classroom this year, and after the challenges of the previous year, it’s more important than ever for students to enter a welcoming and supportive learning environment. Decorate and organize your classroom with signage and posters designed on Buncee! Print out materials straight from our template library, or customize and design your own to suit your classroom.
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#3 Have Students Share Their Voice and Introduce Themselves
Students can introduce themselves to you and their classmates in a fun and creative way with Buncee! Have students create an “All About Me” Buncee sharing their favorite things and some fun facts about themselves. Not only is this a great way for students to get to know each other and share their voice, but it also allows you to get to know your students better. These activities are also great if you are trying implement more of the CASEL competencies in your curriculum, including relationship building and self-awareness.
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#4 Encourage Students to Build Connections with Peers
When classrooms are full of students who can connect and positively engage with one another, students flourish personally and academically. Have students start to build connections with their classmates by playing “get to know you” games, having them work together on projects, and giving them the tools to resolve and deal with conflict peacefully and constructively. You can learn more about building connections with Buncee Boards in this blog.
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#5 Set Clear Classroom Expectations
The key to a productive and smooth classroom environment is setting clear expectations and establishing set routines for students. Create class agendas, schedules, and routines, to be shared on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis, based on you and your students needs. Go over class rules and expectations with students, and post anchor charts and posters so students can be reminded of these rules. You could also assign classroom jobs, and create a class contract with your students, so everyone can be actively involved in making the classroom a respectful and productive place.
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#6 Help Students Assess and Manage Emotions
The start of the school year can be overwhelming, even under normal circumstances. But this year, many students are returning full time to the classroom after a long period of remote learning. It is integral that educators give students the tools they need to assess and manage their emotions about all these changes. In addition to the Buncee Board above, there is a wealth of SEL resources available in our Buncee SEL Toolkit. You can also get more ideas and inspiration for implementing SEL in your curriculum in this blog post by Laura Steinbrink.
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#7 Inspire Students to Set Goals for the School Year
The start of the school year is the perfect time to set goals to work towards. Encourage students to evaluate what they would like to improve, and start planning out steps to achieve their goals. Students can visualize their goals in a digital vision board, track their progress in a goals journal, and review their achievements throughout the school year! These activities can also help as you integrate CASEL competencies like self-management.
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#8 Help Students Document Memories
The school year truly flies by, so why not take a moment to document this special time? Students can use Buncee to record some memories from the beginning of the school year. They could include photos or a video, record their goals, share their favorite things, and more! Then at the end of the year, they could recreate this activity, and see what has stayed the same, and what has changed throughout the year. Students and their families would love to have a digital memory book of their school year!
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#9 Keep Family Members Involved and Updated
Speaking of family members, it’s important to make sure they’re as involved and up to date as possible! Create social posts, newsletters, volunteer sign up lists, and so much more on Buncee, then share the push of a button. Or, create a Buncee Board, share the Board with your families, and add your newsletters and other resources to the Board, so they’re all in one place and easily accessible.
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#10 Have Students Start Their Own Learning Portfolio or Journal
Creating a digital portfolio of your work is a college and career ready skill that students are never too young to start learning. Have your students start off the school year by setting up a digital portfolio or journal they can use and add to throughout the year. They could create a Buncee and continually add new pages, or they can create their own Buncee Board and add their Buncee creations to the Board. Or, have students share their favorite pieces of work to a class Buncee Board, where everyone can see and respond to each other’s work!
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These are just some of the ways in which you can use Buncee to kick off the school year. Did we miss any? If you have an idea for Back to School using Buncee, be sure to tweet it at us @Buncee, and share it on our FB Educator’s Group page.
