The beginning of the school year is always a little chaotic! During the first few weeks, there’s a lot of shifting and change — new students arriving, schedules getting adjusted, and everyone finding their footing.
On top of that, we need to get our students back into the swing of things and dust off those cobwebs from summer vacation!
In last week’s post, I shared 10 tips to help make your first day of school as smooth as possible. Check it out!
Why I Wait to Start the Curriculum
When it comes to the first few days of school, I always like to start with fun games, activities, and even French projects rather than diving straight into new material. I typically don’t start the curriculum until the second week — that way, if I get new students during week one, everyone is still on the same page once we dive in.
At the schools I’ve worked in, students could change their schedules within the first 10 days, which made things a little hectic — students being added, dropped, or switching class periods. To save myself (and my students) a headache, I use the first two weeks to cover class procedures, routines, and review material, and then start the curriculum once things settle.
My Favorite Back-to-School Activities
Here are some of my favorite activities for easing students back into French:
Choice Board
A flexible activity for practicing vocabulary, with both a lower-level and upper-level version included.
- As homework: Assign it for students to complete outside of class and turn in later.
- As a lesson: Plan for about 2–3 days, depending on your class level, how many activities you assign, and how much class time you dedicate to it.
Stations Activity
A great way to review key topics — verbs, subject pronouns, sentence structure, days of the week, months, and more — either individually or in groups. Perfect for kicking off the school year, coming back from a long break, or just getting students back in the groove with their French.
Takes about 1 day to complete, depending on your class level.
Les Régions de la France Project
Students research a region of France individually, then present their project to the class. A great way to start the year and ease students back into French.
Takes about 5–6 days to complete, depending on your class level.
French Games Bundle
Your go-to collection of French games and fun activities! This four-pack bundle includes Avalanche, BRAVO (BINGO), Chair Game, and Roll 6.
Check out my TPT Store for more resources to start the year off right, including my newly released Back to School Bundle!
As always, I hope you found this useful. Bonne rentrée!
Merci,
Amanda