Back to School Welcome Letters Meet the Teacher

Are you looking for the perfect Meet the Teacher Template to use when you create your Back to School Welcome Letters?

Simply type in your own text on the ready-made templates.

Headers can be edited.

A Meet the Teacher's Aide and a Meet the Student Teacher option are also included.

The best part about these Meet the Teacher templates is that they ALSO include editable newsletter templates that can be used throughout the year!

There are 3 different editable versions!

I hope this newsletter, and Back to School Meet the Teacher letter templates make your Back to School easier!

Welcome Back to School Word Search

Back-to-school word searches are one of my favorite activities to have students do during the first day or week of school. It's an easy activity that students can complete without needing new instruction, so it is a perfect way to help students get back into the groove with independent work.

This Back-to-School Word Search features hidden Back-to-School Words for your students to find.

Word searches are a great activity for building and developing problem-solving and analytical skills. These puzzles are perfect for 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders.

These word search puzzles are perfect for the first day of school soft start, fast finishers, time filler, morning work, and so much more!

Not only does this resource have a word search for Back to School, but, it also has word searches for the entire year! 

The resource currently has 20 holidays and 4 seasons included, and I will be adding more for each month!  Grab it now to save money!

Just print and go! Copy the puzzles and have activities for students to complete during the whole year!

Grab this Amazing Word Search Bundle Here.

Other Back-to-School Activities

Back to School Math Facts Color by Number

Back to School Read Alouds   

5 Fun Back to School Activities, Icebreakers, and Community Building Games   

Do you use word search puzzles in your classroom?

First Day of School Bracelets and Poem

I saw these adorable First Day of School Bracelets on Facebook, and I knew I had to share this great idea for helping your younger students feel less nervous about the first day of school!

This post contains affiliate links. I earn a small commission each time someone makes a purchase using one of my links, which helps to support the blog.  All opinions are my own and I only promote brands and products that I have used myself and truly love. 

If you teach younger students, this would be a great gift to send home before the first day of school, or to pass out at Meet the Teacher Night!

You could also use this with your own child if they are getting ready for their own first day of school!

Although I didn't find the exact one pictured, I did find this great freebie version of the First Day Jitters Bracelet poem on Teachers pay Teachers!

You can find the bracelets on Amazon here.

This activity would also pair great with one of my favorite back to school read alouds, First Day Jitters.

If you use this activity with your students, I would love to hear about it!

And, before you go, don't forget to enter our weekly giveaway for teachers!

Back to School Read Alouds

Are you looking for some new ideas for Back to School Read Alouds for the first week of school?  I love First Day Jitters just like most of us, but sometimes it gets old hearing your students say, "We read this last year!" It kind of ruins the whole surprise ending.  Hopefully, this list will give you a few new ideas to read to your students on those first few days of school!

This post contains affiliate links. I earn a small commission each time someone makes a purchase using one of my links, which helps to support the blog.  All opinions are my own and I only promote brands and products that I have used myself and truly love.

#1 A Letter From Your Teacher On the First Day of School

This book is my new favorite book for Back to School!  A Letter from Your Teacher on the First Day of School is written as a welcome note from a teacher to her students on the first day of school.  She tells them that she can't wait to get to know all of the things that make each of them who they are. She promises to greet them every morning with a smile (and high-fives, hugs, and fist bumps if that's their style).

There is also a letter at the end from the author to teachers where she talks about reading aloud as one of the most powerful love languages - and I can't agree more!

Teaching Idea: 

A great follow-up activity to this book would be to ask your students to write you their own letter where they introduce themselves to you.  Ask them to include the things they love, the people in their family that are important to them, and what their goals are for the school year.

#2 A Letter to My Teacher

A great follow up to the first book is this book which is written in the form of a letter from a former student to a teacher who had a lasting impact on her life (including inspiring her to become a teacher herself)!

The narrator of A Letter to My Teacher says that she "was the one who marched to school that first day, splashing through every puddle I could find..." she says that for her "school meant sitting still and listening, two things I wasn't much good at."

So many students can see themselves in the narrator, and it is a great way to show them that as their teacher, you will help them to grow and love all those things that make them unique!

Teaching Idea: 

In the book, the teacher reads to the children about the explorer, Mary Kingsley, and the student says that she is just like her when she causes havoc on a field trip.  Have your students research and learn about Mary Kingsley themselves.

#3 Mrs. Spitzer's Garden

Mrs. Spitzer is a wise teacher who knows many things.  She knows about gardens, and she knows about children.  She knows how similar they are, and how both will flourish if tended with love.

Mrs. Spitzer also knows that each plant (and each child) has their own shape.  Each grow differently, some "...grow quickly, pushing upward, eager, impatient. Some grow more slowly, unfolding themselves bit by bit."

You and your students will love the comparisons between students and flowers in Mrs. Spitzer's Garden!

Teaching Idea: 

After reading the book, investigate how seeds grow.  What things are needed to help them to grow?  What differences do some seeds have? (i.e. some need more light, others need support as they grow).  Perhaps start a small garden with your students.

#4 Miss Maple's Seeds

Miss Maple's Seeds is another story that compares students to flowers, but in a slightly more subtle way. The book never shows Miss Maple in a classroom, but the author leaves hints that it is a metaphor for being a teacher.

In the book Miss Maple "... learns each seed by heart, all similar yet none the same." She takes them on field trips where they learn about being a seed and how they must "..take care to stay clear of weedy characters."

In May, it is time for Miss Maple to send her seeds off to find roots of their own.  She reminds them that "...even the grandest of trees once had to grow up from the smallest of seeds."

Teaching Idea: 

Since this book is a metaphor for students and teaching, comparing them to seeds and Miss Maple, have your students compare the two and show how they are similar.

#5 Ish

Ramon is a little boy who loves to draw. But one day, his older brother makes fun of his picture because it doesn't look "right". He finally gives up drawing until he sees his sister's room.  She has created a gallery of all of his drawings.  She points to one of the pictures and says that it is her favorite.  Ramon says that it was supposed to be a vase of flowers, but it doesn't look like one.

His sister replies that it looks "vase-ISH!" He realizes that all of his drawings are "ish" and that is ok. This is a great way to introduce your students to the fact that it is ok to make mistakes as we are learning, and that not everything needs to be picture perfect.

Teaching Idea: 

In the book, Ramon's brother breaks down his confidence by laughing at his picture.  In order for students to feel comfortable living "ishly", the classroom needs to be a comfortable and safe place.  Ask students to describe a classroom where all students feel safe living ishly.  Remind them to include:

• How students should treat each other.
• How they can support one another.
• How they can react when other students make a mistake.

#6 How I Spent My Summer Vacation

Wallace Bleff has an overactive imagination and his parents tell him that his imagination is "getting to wild" as whey send him out West to visit his Aunt Fern.  That's how his essay about how he spends his summer vacation begins.

But,  he becomes captured by cowboys who carry him off to their Cow Camp. His story becomes wilder and wilder until he tells his teacher that he can't wait for show and tell (as a bull appears in the illustration). Your students will love How I Spent My Summer Vacation!

Teaching Idea: 

Have your students write their own versions of "How I Spent My Summer Vacation" by using their imaginations to come up with crazy ways that they could have spent their summer vacation.

This is a great way to help students write about their summer vacation without anyone feeling bad if they didn't get to do anything exciting over the break. 

#7 Calvin Can't Fly

Calvin Can't Fly is the story of a bookworm birdie who LOVES to read!  While all of his sterling brothers, sisters, and cousins are learning to fly, Calvin is in the library learning to read. In the end, it is Calvin's love of learning that helps him and the other starlings to survive a hurricane. He also finally learns to fly!

This book is a great starting point for a conversation about respecting and appreciating individual differences.

Teaching Idea: 

Have your students write about the things that make them unique.

#8 Dear Teacher 

Dear Teacher is written in the form of letters from a little boy named Michael who has his own first day Jitters and is explaining why he can't go to school.

Teaching Idea: 

Have your students write about the wildest reasons why they can't go to school.

Bonus Teaching Idea: 

I know that I said at the beginning of this blog post that these books were different than First Day Jitters, but if you are anything like me, you still LOVE this book and want to share it with your students anyway!  Here is an idea for that inevitable moment when your students blurt out, "We've already read this!"

Before I read the book, I tell students "I know you may have read this book before, and if you have, I don't want you to spoil the ending!  But, I have a big job for you. I want you to pay attention to how the author and the illustrator worked to make it a surprise ending."

The students then look for clues such as the character saying, "I'm not going! or "I hate my new school!"  They might also notice how the illustrator doesn't show the whole character, so you can't tell that she's not a kid.

I hope you found this list helpful with new ideas for Back to School Read Alouds!  What is your favorite Back to School Read Aloud?  Let me know in the comments!

Are you looking for more ideas for Back to School? 

Back to School Activities, Ice-Breakers, and Community Builders

Back to School Multiplication Color by Number

Back to School Door Decoration

Back to School Word Search

What's In a Name? Celebrating Your Students' Names

Let's talk names! Our names are an important part of our identity and as any teacher knows on the first few weeks of school, it is so important to learn our students' names and get to know them as we build relationships!

This post contains affiliate links. I earn a small commission each time someone makes a purchase using one of my links, which helps to support the blog.  All opinions are my own and I only promote brands and products that I have used myself and truly love.  

Learn Their Names Before You Meet Them

I love freaking my students out by knowing their names ahead of time.  You should see their faces when I greet them by name at the Meet the Teacher night!  I tell them it's because I know everything, but really it is the result of studying!

I use the pictures of my students on our Power School program to create flash cards with their pictures on one side and their names on the other.  I spend a few hours before school starts learning all of their names.

I know I have been guilty of butchering a name or two, so I always ask any student whose name I know I can't pronounce, "How do you say your name?  Names are important, and I want to make sure that I get yours right!"

I also make sure to ask them if they have a nickname they prefer to be called.  One year I had two Elizabeths, but they went by Lizzy and Ellie, so it made life easier!  

Another year I had a little girl who was named after her mom, and went by her middle name.  She was shocked when I said that was the name I would call her.  "My teacher last year said I had to use my given name."  

Teachers, pick your battles!  

My brother was named after my father who left our family shortly after he was born. My mom used his middle name instead.  Every teacher he ever had was ok using his preferred name, and it meant the world to him!  When he was 18 he legally changed his name.  We don't know all of our children's stories, and we should honor their choices.

Start With Some Stories

In many cultures, the names given to children hold significant meaning.  They may be named after a family member or a trait that their parents hoped that the child would embody. I love reading books with my students about names and then having them write stories about how they got their own names.  Two books that I love to read are Alma and How She Got Her Name and The Name Jar.

In this story, Alma struggles with her name (in particular the length of it - Alma .....)and asks her father why her name is so long.  He begins to tell her the story of her name and where each part has been taken from.  

The Name Jar is about a little girl named Unhei who has just moved to the United States from Korea.  She is nervous about her name and if her new friends will think of her name, especially if they can't pronounce it. She tells the class that she will choose a name by the following week.  Trying to be helpful, the class creates a name jar filled with suggestions of names for her.  With the help of a friend, Unhei chooses her own name and helps her new friends to pronounce it.  It is a beautiful story of acceptance!

My students are always fascinated by these stories about names and are anxious to learn and share about their own names.  It is one of the first writing assignments I have them complete, and is a great introduction to doing reasearch!

As students research their own names, you may want to give them this graphic organizer to help them guide their research.

Create Teach Share has a great freebie for having your students write about their names.  You can download it here.

Do you have any questions or comments?  I'm happy to answer any questions you may have or hear your ideas for celebrating your students' names! Leave a comment below.

And before you go, head on over to enter one of our giveaways!