Back to School ELA Activities Bundle - Icebreakers - New Semester

Are you ready to start your new semester with a bang? These back to school activities for ELA build collaboration, critical thinking, and classroom community. Students get to know your classroom, share about themselves, and interview peers. (optimized for grades 7-10)

What You Get:

1. Back to School Escape Room (paper + digital) - 45-60 minutes

Students work in teams to learn about your classroom, read your syllabus, and get to know the supplies and technology they'll need.

2. Peer Interview Project (paper + digital) - 2 45-minute classes

Students create questions to interview a peer, conduct the interview, and present what they've learned.

3. Personal Shield Project (paper + digital) - 45-60 minutes

Students create a shield to represent themselves and write an analysis of the symbols they use. (Presentations in small groups or whole-class could make this two class periods)

4. Round Robin Creative Writing (paper + digital) - 45-60 minutes

Students write very short stories as a team, passing around a paper to continue the story. (Possibility to extend by sharing or revising)

5. Asset-Based Profile (paper only) - 45-60 minutes

Students analyze the soft skills demonstrated by three gamers in a fictional story. Then, they reflect on their own soft skills and complete a word cloud illustration.

6. Planning Tool: Inclusive Short Stories

This curated list will help you choose contemporary, inclusive short stories to share this school year. This growing list includes summaries, potential discussion questions, and standards alignment.

BONUS: Free Week of Collaborative Team Trivia Bell Ringers

BONUS: Free Week of 5-Minute Journal Prompts

About Your Resource:

Your download is a .zip file containing the individual resources. All of the resources except for the Asset-Based Profile are paper + digital. Feel free to email me at nouvelle.ela@gmail.com if you have any questions. :)

This resource includes an editable BtS Escape Room. If you're ready to make (and sell!) your own fabulous escape rooms, check out this Escape Room Template Kit. Happy creating!

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If you have any questions, I’d love to hear from you!

-Danielle @ Nouvelle ELA

nouvelle.ela@gmail.com

Blog: Danielle @ Nouvelle ELA