Back to School BUNDLE, Middle and High School English

Back to School is one of the busiest times of a teacher's year. Make yours simpler than ever by using this bundle designed to save you time and money!

I use all of these resources in my own class. You can look closer in my Back to School Section for individual products.

Here’s the order that I like to go in. For ease, I numbered them in the file, too.

Getting to Know Your Students – I like to do this icebreaker in the first day or two to learn about my new students and what they enjoy.

Wanted : Stellar Students – This is my first writing assignment that I give on day 2. I want them to write without any review from me, so I can assess exactly where each student is starting.

Paragraph Practice Using ICE-T – I go over this relatively early, usually day 3 or 4. I want my students to have a quick review of paragraph structure before I give any writing assessments that count for grades.

Class Expectations using Popular Memes – This gets done on day 4 or 5. I don’t like to start too early with the giggles, in order to set the right tone, but I do want them to learn early that I have a sense of humor and that we will have fun in class.

Find Your Focus! – This writing assignment gives students a focus word for the year. The assignment is personal and relevant to their lives and they do a great job on it.

Introduction to Close Reading – This is a week-long intensive study of Close Reading strategies, using many models and genres of writing. Doing this early sets a high expectation for the rest of the year.

Personal Response Prompt – I use journal topics as bell work once a week. These four topics are great for back to school and give me lots of information about my students.

Classroom Management for Secondary Students – This is a strategy that I’ve used for over 10 years, delegating many of the paperwork tasks to my class row leaders. Student buy in, and I have more time to focus on good teaching!

Independent Reading Forms for Reading Notebooks – I conduct independent reading, or SSR in my classes twice a week. These forms are glued into the students’ reading notebooks and used throughout the year.

Hope this starts you on your way! Have a great year, and look at these other time savers, too!

Reading Response Task Cards
Sassy Sentences: Using Mentor Sentences to Improve Student Writing
Punctuation Power: Comma Rules Using Mentor Sentences to Improve Student Writing