Back-to-School Tips from the Pros

It’s that time of the year again! For school staff and students alike, each new school year is a whirlwind of emotions. While it’s undeniably a time of excitement and hope, with the spine-tingling sense of great potential, it can also be daunting and hectic. We’ve gathered tips, support, resources, and inspiration from educators throughout the country to help you make your school year a success. 

CONNECT AND COLLABORATE.

It takes a village to educate a student. Work with teachers, coaches, school staff, and parents to make your classroom or library a dynamic learning environment!

Shannon McClintock Miller

Teacher Librarian, Van Meter Community School, Iowa and Spokesperson of Future Ready Librarians^® 

“To kick off every year with our teachers, I put something together to give them as we plan for another awesome year of collaboration, co-teaching, and innovation, while growing our culture of reading and learning within our school community. It's the perfect way to start the year.” 

GET EXCITED ABOUT READING!

Celebrate reading from the start and make your school a book lover’s paradise. 

Blake Hopper 

Librarian, Tazewell-New Tazewell Primary School, Tennessee

“Starting the year can be overwhelming, but I like to remind myself that my main goal is to spread book joy. I start off by figuring out what book displays I want to do. I make a list, create a sign, and curate a book list. I focus on themes for the month, current events, and random fun books. Don't forget to add in some nonfiction with the fiction books. This year I am planning to start off with kindness, sharks, back-to-school, and Barbie books. Your kids and staff will love them!”

Janice Mattheis

Director of Innovation, Community Consolidated School District 15, Illinois

“My advice to teachers is to celebrate their classroom libraries. Make books a focal point in the classroom, weed outdated/worn texts, and identify areas of need – focusing on texts that engage students in real-world themes and their interests.”

SET EXPECTATIONS.

Starting on day one, make your school a culture of kindness and respect.

Kasey Short

Curriculum Director, Charlotte Country Day Middle School, North Carolina

“Before school starts, I send an email to the parents and students who will be in my class for the upcoming year. I introduce myself, give a brief idea of what they can anticipate for the first day, and invite them to respond to a few questions and ask me anything they may be wondering about the year. This establishes a line of communication and allows me to begin getting to know students before the first day.”

John Arthur

Grade 6 Teacher, Meadowlark Elementary, Utah and 2021 Utah Teacher of the Year, 2021 National Teacher of the Year Finalist

“When students walk in on the first day of school, the first thing they see are these sentence frames taped to their desks. Watching the news in the last few years, it’s clear that many adults never learned how to respectfully agree and disagree with one another. Thankfully, by using these sentence frames to explicitly teach our kids how to disagree better, our classrooms become the positive and productive spaces our society ought to be!” 

EXPAND THE CLASSROOM.

Go beyond the walls of your school with curated book lists, Makerspaces, reading challenges, and other exceptional online content that supports learning. 

Jillian Heise

Library Media Specialist, Jefferson Elementary School, Wisconsin

“One of the things I put the most thought into for back to school is which picture book will be the first read-aloud I share as we start getting to know each other and build our classroom community. I want it to be something that is explicitly welcoming to all, encouraging, supportive, and loving to set the stage for the rest of our school year. In previous years I have used My First Day, Strictly No Elephants, Your Name Is a Song, All Are Welcome, The King of Kindergarten, Becoming Vanessa, This Is a School, A Small Kindness, We Don't Eat Our Classmates, My Name is Saajin Singh, and A Case of the Zaps. This year I think I’ll be using Bitsy Bat, School Star, which I hope will set the tone for a great school year!”

When it comes to practical advice and tools to inspire your first day of school and beyond, we’ve got you covered. Explore our educator resources to learn more.