Let’s talk lesson plans after a holiday break. I know I always rest easier during a vacation when my plans, copies, and activities are all prepped and ready to go for the first day back. Being strategic about your lesson plans for the first school day after spring break is so important! These days are critical from an academic and classroom management perspective. These FREE day after spring break lessons address both!!

Here’s a rundown of my favorite ways to ease back into learning (while still learning!) on that first day after spring break.

Day After Spring Break Morning Meeting Ideas

It’s no secret how much we LOVE morning meeting! I shared how our morning meeting works in this blog post and some of my favorite morning meeting read alouds here. For the first day after spring break, we keep our morning meeting routine the same. For the share portion, I have students share a small moment from their spring break. It can be a favorite food they ate, a favorite book they read, a favorite show they watched, etc. I do NOT emphasize sharing about activities, trips, etc., but if students select a small moment from the trip, that’s perfectly fine! Then we do this fun Learning Never Takes a Break activity.

For our read aloud, we read A Camping Spree with Mr. Magee (Amazon affiliate link). It details a camping trip gone wrong, and I’ve never met a child who doesn’t love it. There are a few little lessons to be garnered from the theme, but it’s primarily just a fun book to read and enjoy together, which is just what I need on these days!

After Spring Break Lessons

The free download includes plans for your subject areas that first day back too. We always have fun with “Find Someone Who…” activities, so I included two of those! There are also plans for a grammar scavenger hunt, partner plays, using pictures to teach, math pictures, and weather activities!

The after spring break lessons also include FREE fluency task cards and FREE mental math task cards. I utilize both of these in my classroom almost daily. They take less than five minutes each, but provide meaningful, effective practice of oral reading fluency and mental math skills.

More Seasonal Tips

For seasonal ideas beyond your first day back, this Spring in Upper Elementary post has more ideas for spring activities, conference tips, and test prep strategies to use in the spring semester.

April is also National Poetry month, and this poetry post is packed with my best tips and activities for how to teach poetry in upper elementary.

Finally, it’s also test prep season so this post is full of meaningful test prep tips.