Back to school worksheets & activities
Free, printable back to school activities for kindergarten through 5th grade and special education: school supplies, new classmates, routines and goals for the year. Each one opens in a worksheet maker with school words already filled in — keep ours or type your own, then print.
Color by word & color by number
A back to school picture with a word or a math fact in every space. Students read each one and color it by the key, which is quick to check at a glance. Each sheet comes with an answer key.
Game boards
A back to school game board with word cards to cut apart, from the school bus at START to the backpack at FINISH. Roll a die, move, then read, spell or use the word you land on. An easy first center to teach, since every student plays it the same way.
Hands-on & multisensory
Activities students touch, build and move, which help a lot of early readers and many students with disabilities. Ideas for using them are further down the page.
Reading passages & writing prompts
Original back to school reading passages for kindergarten through 5th grade, a story and a nonfiction passage for each grade — rulers, crayons, pencils, backpacks, sleep and the yellow school bus — with comprehension questions and an answer key. Plus story starters, journal prompts and imagination prompts.
Back to school picture book companions
Read-aloud favorites about first-day nerves, names and new friends, with vocabulary and comprehension questions for the beginning, middle and end of each book.
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
Make the first weeks easier
Show the day before it happens
A new room, new adults and new routines are a lot at once. Post a visual schedule of the first day and walk through it together, and read a short social story about the first day ahead of time. Knowing what comes next helps many students, including students with autism.
Name tiles
On the Letter Tiles sheet, type each student’s name in the Extra tiles box. Students find the letters of their name in a sensory bin of rice or pasta and build it on the table, then build a friend’s.
Teach one center at a time
Start with the game board: every student plays it the same way, so once the class knows it, you can swap in new words all year without teaching the game again.
Build it before you write it
On a Read it, Make it, Write it sheet, students make each word with letter tiles, playdough, pipe cleaners or building bricks before writing it. Building the word first gives them more ways to remember it.
Back to School word lists by grade
K–1 · 2nd–3rd grade
Ready-made lists. Click a worksheet to open it with these words, then add, remove or change any of them.
Back to school words for K–1
bus, book, desk, glue, bag, pen, read, class, lunch, friend
Back to school words for 2nd–3rd grade
backpack, pencil, teacher, classroom, scissors, notebook, crayons, eraser, library, recess, lunchbox, schedule
First-day visual supports
- Visual schedule maker — A picture schedule of the school day, from arrival to dismissal.
- Social story maker — A short story about the first day of school, riding the bus or meeting a new teacher.
- First/Then board — First work, then a break or a favorite activity.
- Classroom labels — Picture-and-word labels for bins, centers and supplies.
- Back to school free printables — Our blog roundup of free back to school printables.
Frequently asked questions
Are these back to school worksheets free?
Can I use my own spelling or sight words?
Can I make name practice for my class?
Do these work for special education?
Can students do them on a tablet?
If you have questions or concerns, or if you would like to share pictures and ideas about how to use our worksheets,
please contact us at literacyworksheets@gmail.com
Please share this site with others to help us reach as many children as possible!
