It’s back-to-school time, and that means it is time to start thinking about the ideal back-to-school activities for your secondary ELA classroom. I’ve compiled the best back to school activities for secondary ELA, middle school, and high school for you!

Throughout the years, I’ve tested several different back-to-school strategies and styles. Through years of experience, I’ve learned that I have the most success in the classroom when I spend dedicated time with my students at the beginning of the year building relationships, establishing trust, reviewing classroom policies and procedures, and teaching key concepts. This blog post a plethora of back-to-school activities for secondary ELA that will be the perfect fit for your classroom.

From there, I like to teach and review content areas that I focus on throughout the year. Here are some of my favorite lessons and back to school activities for secondary ELA.

Back to School Activities for The First Day

When it comes to the day one of a new school year in the middle school and high school ELA classroom, the last thing you want to do to celebrate a new school year is read and spend extra minutes on your syllabus and go over the policies on day one. While it is important for students to know the syllabus, it can wait. Here are some great first day of school back to school activities for secondary ELA that are perfect both middle and high school.

1. Back-to-School Stations

Get to know your new students with an engaging first week of school activity: Back to School Stations! This back-to-school station activity will help you and your students get to know one another for the new school year.

Plus, these stations, which are great for the start of a new school year, also help students get organized! The digital option is also included!

STATION 1 – Back to School Student Survey

In this first back-to-school station, students complete a survey that will help you get to know them more. There is also a link to a digital Google Forms survey as well!

STATION 2 – Class Tech Accounts

This station is all about helping you and your students organize all of your tech accounts. In this station, students will copy down the required tech accounts and their sign-up codes for your class.

STATION 3 – Course Syllabus Scavenger Hunt

In this station, your students will read through your course syllabus in small groups and then find and record important information on a course syllabus one-pager.

STATION 4 – Book Recommendations

As an English teacher, I am always trying to encourage a love of reading in my classroom. In this station, students complete a book spine and recommend a book to their peers. l.

2. Back to School Activities for Secondary ELA

Engage your new students from day one with these 11 back-to-school activities that are ideal for the first day and first week of school!

This Back-to-School Activities Packet is ideal for middle and high school students, and it is filled with beginning-of-the-year ice breakers and activities you and your students will love! It is one of my favorite back to school activities for secondary ELA.

You and your students will get to know each other, your students will get to know the class, and it will help start the school year on the right foot with these beginning-of-the-year activities.

These 11 first-week-of-school activities are designed to help students get to know each other and become more familiar with the class. Now includes print and digital activities!

3. Writing a Personal Statement

Within the first few weeks of the school year, I like to have my students write a personal statement. Since I teach juniors, this is a paper in which they can use later in the school year as they apply for colleges, jobs, scholarships, and internships.

One reason why I love assigning a personal statement within the first few weeks of school is that it allows me to get to know my students more.

Relationship Building Activities 

4. Growth Mindset and SEL Activities

As I work my way into the school year, I like to incorporate growth mindset and SEL into my classroom. This Growth Mindset Activities resource includes goal-setting activities, information about growth vs. fixed mindset, and activities to get your students thinking.

It is another one of my favorite back to school activities for secondary ELA, but it can also be used throughout the entire year!

5. Growth Mindset Escape Room

Escape rooms are always a hit with my students, and this Growth Mindset Escape Room is a great challenge to get your new students working together, trusting one another, and learning to collaborate with new students.

One of the best things about setting up an escape room toward the beginning of the year is that it provides you with critical information about your students; you can see who the leaders are, and you’ll also be able to spot some of the students who might need a little extra assistance.

Plus, students enjoy working together to solve the challenges.

Content-Based Lessons and Back to School Activities for Secondary ELA

6. Back to School Lesson: Teaching Email Etiquette

My lesson on email etiquette is one of my very first content-based back to school activities for secondary ELA for the entire school year.

Teaching students about email etiquette and how to correctly write an email to adults is such an essential skill that they’ll take with them even after they leave the four walls of your classroom.

Even more so, there is a big push to teach students skills for college and career readiness, and teaching email etiquette hits that mark.

7. Annotating Text Made Easy

Another one of my favorite lessons to teach at the beginning of the year is how to annotate text. Since I teach in a common core state, everything that I do is based on the standards.

And since I teach a grade-level that takes standardized state assessments, teaching annotating skills at the beginning of the year helps prepare students for state testing because it helps to lay the foundation for text-based evidence. These are just a few of my favorite lessons and back to school activities for secondary ELA.

8: Sticky Note Literary Analysis

After all of the back to school activities for secondary ELA are over, the very first unit I teach is a short stories unit. I take this time to teach, review, and reteach important literary elements, closely read short stories, and begin literary analysis.

This sticky note literary analysis unit comes with PowerPoint that reviews the main elements of fiction as well as literary elements, which is perfect for the beginning of the school year.

This unit also comes with hands-on, engaging organizers that use sticky notes to help students begin to unwrap the literary analysis process.

9. Writing Spotlight: Writing About Quotes

Alongside reading short stores, I have my students write in the beginning of the year and I refine their writing skills with my writing spotlight lessons.

I have my students write a literary analysis response each week with each short story that we read.

At the very beginning of the year, I am solely focused on building skills. I want students to write a three-sentence response: a topic sentence that answers the prompt, properly embedded quote, and a sentence explaining the connection between the quote and the prompt.

Even though it is just three sentences, these quick writing prompts, content-wise, ask kids to do a lot of hard work. My Writing Spotlight mini-unit helps students write more analytical commentary sentences.

10. Embedding Quotes in Writing

Embedding Quotes in Writing

One of the final lessons that I teach my students at the beginning of the year is how to embed quotations in their writing properly. Since we’ll be doing this all year long, it is so important that my students learn and master this skill early on in the year. The significant benefit of teaching this skill at the beginning of the year is that by the time you get to your first formal essay, most of the students will know what to do.

These lessons and back to school activities for secondary ELA are absolutely perfect for the first month of class.