For everyone in the academic world, winter break is a happily anticipated time. It’s two weeks filled with much-needed relaxation and recreation. But after the days of presents, family traditions, and delicious baked goods, it’s difficult to return to the classroom, and to the mental demands of full-time schooling.

Coming back from break is inevitable, but feeling bummed about it doesn’t have to be. Check out our tips for successfully transitioning back to the classroom, and help get your students prepped and excited for a new semester.

Give Your Classroom a Refresh

A classroom, like a home, needs an occasional reset. Use this new semester as a chance to give your environment a little bit of a spruce up. Start with restocking community supplies, dusting surfaces, and perfecting bulletin boards.  Then, take a closer look at items that might need to be replaced, such as worn-off nametags, book covers, or old bathroom passes. Giving your classroom some TLC is certainly time-consuming (#teacherlife), but creating a fresh, happy environment is worth it.

This is also a good time to assess your storage options and electronic care. Take a look at our recommendations for organizing all of your important tech gear. 

Allow Students an Opportunity to Share

Most students, especially younger ones, will be excited to reconnect with classmates and will be anxious to share some of their winter break adventures with the group. For teachers, the challenge is to not have winter break stories interrupt instruction time. Meet them halfway by allowing students to share a break highlight with the class. Use this randomizer to call on participants, adding some extra fun to the activity. 

If you’re a middle or high school teacher, think about beginning the class with a pressure-free icebreaker. Oftentimes, students are shuffled into different class periods at the start of a new semester; some new students could be joining the school as well. In any case, it’s helpful to give everyone a fair shake at getting acquainted. Check out our ideas for easy, fun icebreakers here.

Practice Procedures

It might go by in a flash, but two weeks is a long time to be out of the everyday routine. If you neglect to re-teach procedures, students will create their own. Don’t let this happen to you! Go over your expectations for pivotal classroom transitions, such as: what to do when the bell rings, dismissal to and re-entrance from recess, passing in homework, needing to use the restroom. Taking the time to get on the same page will save you time (and frustration) moving forward.

Review, Review, Review

Teachers have a lot of content to cover- but as tempting as it is- don’t simply proceed as usual. If you have cumulative content, or if the break occurred in the middle of a unit, make sure to work in some review time. Consider beginning with a review game or engaging activity to get those brain juices flowing. This will ease students back into the swing of things and help ensure that fundamental understanding is there. 

Bethany at Teaching with Technology compiled an incredible list of tech-friendly, fun activities to excite your students.

With the help of these ideas, we think you and your students might even be excited to return to the classroom. Best wishes for a productive second half of the school year!