Back to School: Gearing Up for the First Week

We know that the first week of back to school is a crucial time for teachers to get to know their students, and to establish welcoming and inclusive classroom communities. To support teachers as they lay the foundation for a reflective and courageous community, we are pleased to launch the “Back-to-School Toolkit: Building a Student-Centered Learning Community for the First Days of School.”

About the Back to School Toolkit

The Toolkit contains five lessons for the first week school, centered around the essential question: “How can we work together to create an open, supportive, and reflective learning community?”  

Although designed for an 8th - 10th grade US History classroom, the lessons and their handouts can be easily modified to support any middle school, high school social studies, or ELA classroom. 

Back to School: First Week Lessons Feature:

• Detailed plans with activities and assessments

• A “SEL Competencies and Pedagogical Moves” section that offers a rationale for classroom routines, strategies, and activities 

• “Teacher Reflection Questions” to help you reflect on the lesson and assessment data, and to plan for the next class

• Editable handouts and PowerPoint slide decks

• Editable “Plan on a Page” - an abridged version of each detailed lesson plan - for teachers to refer to in class as needed

Free Back to School Webinar

There is also a free on-demand webinar, Beyond Day One: The Importance of the First Week of School, where we explore the social-emotional learning competencies and pedagogical moves that are the foundation of the lessons in the Facing History Back-to-School Toolkit. 

Get the Toolkit here

Topics: Teachers, Lesson Plans

Written by Jen Langley, Director of Marketing at Facing History and Ourselves.

This post was originally published on the Facing History and Ourselves siteand can be found here.