Looking for first day of school writing prompts? The free back to school writing prompts in this blog post is a great addition to your back-to-school occupational therapy ideas. Grab the printables below and let’s head into the new school year with tools to support students!
First Day of School Writing Prompts
It’s that time of year! Getting back into the classroom means switching from summer fun mode to handwriting, reading, writing, and learning. These Back to School Writing Prompts are a fun way to get to know new students and get those pencils moving.
Handwriting can be an overwhelming topic to dive into at the start of the school year, so let’s make it easy and low-stress. Print off these free back to school writing ideas and start the school year off right (or write)!
Back to School Writing Prompts
Sometimes you need some back to school activities and specifically, ideas for back to school writing that are “no brainer” for the student. In other words, kids can struggle with getting back into routines of the classroom. They might not have picked up a pencil all summer long, in some cases! That’s where these back to school writing activities come into play.
There are several ways you can use these free writing prompts with kids this school year:
First day of school writing Prompts
The first day of school is all about learning the classroom, setting up expectations, getting to know the building, the schedule, and getting to know the teacher and peers. But what about easing into handwriting and writing tasks?
Setting up a first day of school writing activity that is low-key, fun, and all about the student is the way to go. Use these first day of school writing prompts to get kids back into the routine of a daily writing prompt.
First day of school writing prompts may include:
- Favorite things
- All about me info (Use these All About Me PDFs)
- Things done over the summer months
- Favorite vacation
- Goals for the new school year
Another resource for first day of school writing are these middle school journal prompts for older kids.
Writing prompt of the day
Continuing with the thought that returning to school after a summer break means a few days of getting used to classroom rules and schedules, you can use these writing cards for the first week or more.
Print off the cards and randomly select a card each day of the first week of school. This is a great way to get to know students and incorporate handwriting into each day of the first week of school.
Give the student a choice
Handwriting can be like pulling teeth for some kids. It’s just hard. Whether their hand hurts when they hold the pencil, or handwriting is hard to read, it can be a real challenge for some kids. Offering a choice can give the student some say in the matter. Allow them to select a card randomly and then they can write out their response to the writing prompt. Or, give them a choice between two writing prompts.
Play a writing game
Use these printable writing prompts in a game! Print off the writing prompt cards and then allow the students to pick one card. They can use that card as their back to school writing topic. It’s a great way to get to know the students in the classroom or on your therapy caseload while getting an idea of their current handwriting levels and abilities.
So, how will you use these back to school writing prompts?
To grab your copy of this free resource, just enter your email address into the form below. Print them off and get ready to start the school year off on the right foot!
More Back to School Writing ideas
Add these writing prompt cards to your back-to-school line up of activities:
First, be sure to check out our back to school sensory activities for meeting self-regulation needs in the classroom.
- Free Meet the Therapist Templates
- Back to School Memory Game
- Back to School Activities
- Back to School Visual Perception Slide Deck
- Back to School Toolkit
Colleen Beck, OTR/L has been an occupational therapist since 2000, working in school-based, hand therapy, outpatient peds, EI, and SNF. Colleen created The OT Toolbox to inspire therapists, teachers, and parents with easy and fun tools to help children thrive. Read her story about going from an OT making $3/hour (after paying for kids’ childcare) to a full-time OT resource creator for millions of readers. Want to collaborate? Send an email to contact@theottoolbox.com.
