Speed Read (tldr) of 9 Ways to Make the Best First Day of School:
Establish Routines: Start early to establish school routines, including sleep schedules, homework times, and morning preparations. Consistency helps maximize productivity and minimize stress for everyone involved.
Engage in Meaningful Communication: Encourage open communication with children about their school day by asking specific questions beyond the usual “How was school?” This approach helps parents get more detailed insights and fosters meaningful conversations.
Celebrate and Connect: Plan activities to celebrate the first day and maintain positivity throughout the week. Whether it’s through small gifts, mid-week activities, or sending postcards, these gestures help build a supportive and engaging school community.
Read below for resources, tips, and the why!
This article was originally posted August 2022. We’ve updated the content and provided a few additional ideas for first day of school!
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- Families: Consider a “nice to meet you” teacher gift.
- Teachers: Embrace plain wall space.
- Everyone: Establish your "in school" routine.
- Everyone: Practice routine before school starts.
- Parents: Plan a Boo Hoo / Whoo Hoo breakfast or coffee date.
- Everyone: Have a first day of school celebration! (maybe donuts).
- Parents: Try new ways to get your kids get talking. (7 tips for you!)
- Everyone: Plan a mid-week activity.
- Teachers: Send postcards to your new class.
1. Families: Consider a “nice to meet you” first day of school teacher gift.
We don’t have to wait until May to celebrate the hard work teachers do. Help your child pick out or create a simple gift for their new teacher. For ideas, check out this article: Gift Ideas for Teachers!
2. Teachers: Embrace plain wall space.
Teachers, less “busy” walls are actually supported by research to help students focus in class, so don’t fret about decorating every space before the kids show up! For more tips for teachers for this first day, check out this article: Pre-First Day Pro Tips for Teachers.
3. Everyone: Establish your ‘in school” routine.
As soon as you can, establish a routine. Figure out sleep and homework schedules. Sticking to a routine will help you maximize your time.
4. Everyone: Practice routine before the first day of school starts.
Have your kids wake up at the right time a few days before school starts. In addition, have them practice opening lunch items, raising their hands and asking for help.
5. Parents: Plan a Boo Hoo / Whoo Hoo breakfast or coffee date.
Parents, after you snap those pics and drop off your adorable kiddos, head to a friend’s house or local coffee shop and meet up with all your parent buddies who also made it through summer and first day jitters. You did it! The kids are in great hands.
6. Everyone: Have a first day of school celebration! (maybe donuts).
Let yourself have fun and mark the start of a new school year with some celebrating (and donuts).
7. Parents: Try new ways to get your kids talking. (7 tips for you!)
We know the feeling. You want to get your kids talking and know about every minute of your children’s days of school (What did you learn? What did you have for your lunch? Did you make friends? How is your teacher?). Yet the conversation in the car after pick up, or during dinner, or dropping off at basketball is, “It was fine.”
Before your mind gets to racing that your child is suffering through bullying or boredom, rest easy. You may just need to ask a slightly different question. Here are some tips to avoid the dreaded “fine,” and get your kids sharing about their days of school.
If you want to read more, we recommend “How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen so Kids Will Talk,” to get sentence stems to get kids talking and cues adults for how to listen and respond in a way that encourages children to share.
7 Tips To Get Kids Talking!
Ask a different question.
Instead of “How was school?” ask a different question – or at least expect that “how was school” is the beginning, softball question. Your kid just spent eight hours in a busy place and it’s hard for children (and adults) to isolate what happened. Let’s be real – what is your default answer to “how was your day?”
Instead, ask about a specific part of the day.
- Tell me about recess today. Who did you play with? What game did you play?
- Did anything embarrass you at school (or work :)) today? What happened? Say more.
- Did you feel prepared for your test today? Why or why not?
- What did you have for lunch? Was it good?
- Did you make anyone laugh today?
- What was your high (or low) today?
- Who did you sit with at lunch?
- Who were you most excited to see today?
- Which teacher do you think will be your favorite this year? What did they do?
- Did you get lost or have trouble finding any of your classes?
- Did you laugh today? What made you laugh?
Fear not: Ask.
If there’s something specific you want to know- ask that! Our kids know when we’re trying to get “at” something and therefore, are more likely to respond to specific questions. Are you worried about their math class? A student they struggled with last year being in their class again? Ask specifically about that and be ready to listen. While it can be hard to not respond, simply sharing an assuring “oh really!” or “say more!” can get kids talking even more.
Create a sharing routine!
While activities like “Rose and Thorn” or “High and Low” may be habit from summer camp or closing circle at school, it’s also a great addition to the car ride home or dinner conversation. You can use these bits of conversation to follow up on later. When kids know they are going to have a question to answer over the day their brain gets more primed it. And while answers can be generic – and honestly not that interesting – when they are younger, as they age their answers get more interesting and revealing. And make sure you are sharing too – both to model for them and remind them that highs and lows are part of life.
Share something yourself.
Back to school is a transition time for you, too, and sharing what’s new or hard or especially fun for you helps create a shared discussion, rather than Q&A. Your kids love knowing that you too feel the emotions they do – fear, joy, excitement, embarrassment. And, make sure to tell them why you want to know about their day, and how happy it makes you when they share.
Steal classroom practices!
An emotion chart doesn’t need to be constrained to the classroom. It can help your younger children communicate their emotions more precisely and build their emotional vocabulary at the same time. Are they happy with the school, or are they excited about their new friend? Did they have a bad day or are they frustrated with how hard reading is this year?
Multi-task/take the pressure off the conversation!
Do something else while chatting: take a walk, make a snack together, play a card game, run a mysterious errand that includes a long car ride, and let the conversation come from there. Kids are asked a whole lot of things during the day, so having a few minutes to shift their brain and attention to something else will help them open up.
Getting kids to talk isn’t easy – but it is doable. Just be specific, be consistent, be authentic, and have fun! And then you can share back some of what you’re learning back with your school if you are a Possip parent :).
8. Everyone: Plan a mid-week activity.
- Parents: Plan a mid week after school activity to give your child(ren) a fresh change of atmosphere.
- Students: Set aside a mid week check-in with a classmate or friend to share how returning to school was.
- Teachers: Choose a teacher buddy & order lunch ahead together from your favorite place.
9. Teachers: Send postcards to your new class.
Send your new class postcards about anything you want! This can be a great way to build community and get to know each other.
