As the summer blooms, the countdown to ‘back to school’ begins. Despite having a lovely break and enjoying the warmer weather, it’s always exciting to get back to the magic of the classroom! As it’s almost time to reopen textbooks, we thought we would share our tips with teachers on how to get ready for the return to school.
Classroom Layout and Seating Plan
If you are welcoming new students, you want to make a great first impression, and the way your classroom is set up will be a defining factor. Apart from decorating the walls with educational posters, try to also add a few affirmations that may encourage your students.
There are many websites and apps that provide graphics and affirmations – click here to discover our favourite!
Plan Activities for the First Day
Ice breakers and fun games are a great idea for you to get to know your students, and for your students to get to know each other. They can also help to make children feel more comfortable and set aside those first day nerves! Make a list of activities that you think would be fit to play in a classroom, and get children to vote on their favourites. Here are some suggestions to get you started:
- 20 Questions: a classic game for all ages. Call up one student at a time and ask them to think about a word, but keep it secret. The other students will have to ask questions to guess what the word is, for example, “is it an animal?”, “is it green?”. The student can only answer yes or no, and everyone must guess it in just 20 questions!
- Pictionary: Call up one student and ask them to draw a picture on your whiteboard, but not tell anyone what it is. The other students will have to guess what the picture is whilst it’s being drawn.
- Beach ball questions: blow up a beach ball and use a Sharpie to write down some questions on different sections, such as “do you have any siblings?”, or “what’s your favourite animal?”. Get your students to throw the ball at each other, and whoever catches it will have to answer the question their thumbs land on.
Choose EdTech
We know how crazy the first few weeks back get. Learning new names, getting processes in place, sorting teaching plans… it’s hectic! Luckily, there’s some great EdTech out there to help reduce your workload and get you back some much needed time. Here are just a few ways our Community Brands solutions can help, but there are so many other great products out there to help with things like security, assessments and student wellbeing.
Messages to Parents
With a handy school communications app, you have the option to send instant in-app messages to parents and guardians. Send them reminders about equipment their children should bring to school, forms to be completed, and booking your next parents’ evening.
Forms
If you need parents and guardians to sign consent forms, letters, or sign-up sheets, you can use our forms feature and send these to them via app messages or email. It is incredibly easy for them to fill them out and send them back; you no longer have to rely on students to deliver crumpled pieces of paper. Our Forms can now take payments too!
Payments
With a reliable solution, you can collect bookings and payments securely for school clubs, dinners, and trips. Significantly reduce time spent on paper registers and ad-hoc club booking through pre-booking and pre-paying.
Start Planning your Parents’ Evening
It is never too early to plan your next parents’ evening. As an event that takes a lot of planning and preparation, you should begin pencilling down dates as soon as possible, and give parents and guardians plenty of notice. Planning a parents’ evening through our booking systems is super easy: send your invitations to families and watch the bookings come in. If needed, you can send them reminder messages via the app.
What we offer
Community Brands can help your school improve parental engagement and reduce costs and admin time. Book a demo with our team today to find out what services we can offer your school, and start your new school year with confidence!