Using Back to School Stations in Middle School ELA

It seems like each year summer completely erases my brain. Like summer slide…but the teacher edition. As back to school inches closer, I used to find myself scratching my head at how to introduce classroom expectations and what to do for the first week of school. Luckily I made it easy for myself a few years ago by creating back-to-school stations.

These have now become my go-to resource for getting students set up for the school year. And I don’t have to rely on my sluggish summer brain to get creative!

Why should you use back-to-school stations?

The first few days of school are always awkward. Teaching in front of a room full of strangers feels odd, and the students stare at you like a deer in headlights. I have found that stations help break the tension in the room and allow me to get to know my students. I am constantly moving around and chatting with my new students during this station time.

Stations are also ideal because there are a lot of small housekeeping items to cover at the beginning of the year. My students can take care of each of these items through stations.

How do you introduce stations at the start of the year?

It might seem weird to teach students expectations through stations because stations require a good amount of expectations themselves! However, I have found my middle school students are familiar with the basics of stations, so a quick review is all it takes to get us going. The rest they learn through practice.

Before students move into stations, I briefly explain what they will find and complete at each station. I display a timer on the board and let students know how much time they have for each rotation. Additionally, I let them know what I expect from them during this time (ie. you can talk with your group, but make sure you are on task and working).

While students are working, walk around and engage with them. Also, make sure during transition and station work, you are laying the groundwork for classroom expectations. Redirect students. Have them repeat a transition if it was crazy-town. 

Back to School Stations Ideas

I want to share some ideas to help you create your back-to-school stations. Note that you don’t need to do these stations in one day. Your first two or three days in the classroom can be spent working on these stations.

Back to School Station #1: Syllabus Scavenger Hunt

This is a really popular back-to-school station for a reason. Say goodbye to the days of reading through a syllabus while your students’ eyes slowly close. In a syllabus scavenger hunt, you’ll give your students a copy of the syllabus and a questionnaire to fill out.

This questionnaire should highlight the key things you want your students to note. Often I give them a question and then bullet points or numbered blanks to fill in their answers. You can ask questions like –

• How will you be dismissed at the end of class?
• How many days do you get to complete make-up work?
• What is the class cell phone rule?
• On Friday we always do stations. What four stations will we do?

Back to School Station #2: Notebook Set-Up

If you use interactive notebooks or writing notebooks in your classroom, this is a must-have station. It always saves me time in class and gets my students familiar with setting up their journals. Here are a few tasks that students should complete in this station:

• Number the pages in their notebook(s) (yep, all of them!)
• Write their name on the front of the notebook(s)
• Create a table of contents on the first two pages
• Add in tabs for different sections of the notebook (check out my editable notebook tabs)

Back to School Station #3: Library System

This station is a great opportunity to get your students familiar with your classroom library check-in and check-out system. Plus, they get time to check out their first book (which I always require for independent reading time in class).

Make a direction sheet explaining the check-in / check-out process. Then, students will practice this process with the book they select. With any time students have remaining in this station, they will begin to read independently.

Back to School Station #5: About Me

Of course, we also want to get to know our students during the first week of school. When creating my “about me” survey, I like to make sure it includes information that is truly beneficial for me to know as a teacher. For example, here are some questions I ask students –

• Do you play any sports or participate in clubs?
• What is your favorite thing about school?
• What is one goal you have for this school year?

I also like to ask my students questions about their relationship with reading. This helps me understand the types of readers in my class. I may have a class full of students who love reading, while another class considers reading boring. This is really important for me to know. I also like to know how often they read and their favorite types of books.

Back to School Station #6: Independent ELA Lesson

Naturally, I have to squeeze in some content during the first week of school. This helps me gauge the knowledge they already have, and gives them an idea of what it will be like in my class. Honestly, I think it helps ease their nerves a little before we dive into a full lesson.

For a small lesson in a station, I like to use a video like TED-Ed to introduce a topic to my students. Then, I give them a fairly simple activity to complete using what they have learned. TED-Ed has videos on irony, point of view, and more that are really good for the first week of school concepts.

If you are loving the idea of back-to-school stations, but not loving the idea of creating them on your own… I have a solution. I created Back to School Middle School ELA stations that are completely done for you and ready to be used.

This resource includes twelve stations, including the stations I talked about above. I’ll provide you with the station descriptions, along with any worksheets, surveys, or materials you need. This resource is also fully editable, so you can customize any part of it to match your students and classroom.

Give Me the Back to School Stations!