Back to school
Printables for the First Week of School
The opening days of a school year are not really about teaching. They are about names, seats, routines, where the bathroom is, and who cries at drop-off. Printables have a specific and limited role in that week, and choosing them well makes the difference between a useful resource and a stack of paper nobody touches.
5 min read Updated
The test: can it start without instructions?
In the first week you will be interrupted constantly. Any activity that needs a five-minute explanation before it can begin will not survive contact with the morning.
The pages worth printing are the ones a child can start the moment they sit down, from looking at them. A coloring page passes this test. A worksheet with a new format does not, however good it is.
Icebreakers that do not require speaking
Being asked to introduce yourself to a room of strangers is a genuinely hard thing to do at five. Activities that produce something to talk about, rather than requiring talk up front, work far better.
A backpack page where the child colors the bag and then draws the three things they would actually put inside gives every child a concrete answer to a question, which is much easier than an open invitation to share something about themselves. The lunchbox page does the same thing around food.
Settling work while you take the register
This is the most honest use of a printable in week one. You need a few minutes where thirty children are occupied and quiet, and you need it every morning.
Keep a stack of simple, familiar pages by the door. The point is that no child needs your attention to begin, which is precisely what makes it valuable at that moment.
The early-finisher tray
Some children complete everything in half the expected time and then need something immediately. A tray of spare pages solves this without any planning.
Vary the difficulty in the tray. A fast finisher who is bored needs something harder, not another copy of what they just did.
Something for the wall
Classrooms in the first week are usually bare, and a display made from finished work does more for a child's sense of belonging than a bought poster.
Pages that share a drawing style are worth choosing here, because a wall of them reads as a deliberate set rather than a jumble. Mounting everything on the same background color has a similar effect for very little effort.
What to skip in week one
Assessment. You will learn more about a child's level from watching them handle a coloring page than from a diagnostic sheet administered to an unsettled class.
Anything with a lot of written instruction, since reading levels are unknown and unevenly distributed at this point in the year.
Anything you would be disappointed to see abandoned halfway. Week one is not the week for that.
Common questions
What should I print for the first day of school?
Simple coloring pages on a school theme are the safest choice, because a child can start them without instructions while you handle the register, name labels, and the inevitable interruptions.
Are coloring pages a waste of class time?
In week one they do a specific job: they occupy a whole class with something harmless and self-explanatory while the adult handles logistics. That is a legitimate use. Beyond the first fortnight it is worth asking what else the time could do.
How many copies should I print?
More than your class size. Some children will want to restart, and a spare stack costs almost nothing compared with the disruption of running out mid-morning.