Andrea Knight

Teacher · Learner · Author

Back to School Activities – If I Built a School

It’s almost time to go back to school, so I’m gathering up all the books we love to read during the first few weeks. Honestly there are so many, it’s hard to narrow it down. One of our favorite back to school books is If I Built a School by Chris Van Dusen.

In the story, the main character, an imaginative kid named Jack, shares his bold and creative ideas about what the perfect school would look like. He redesigns the classroom, the playground, and everything in between. It’s a kid-favorite, for sure!

Once you’ve read the book, I think you’ll wish you worked there too! Imagine your school and Disney’s Tomorrowland had a baby… wouldn’t YOU want to go to school there?

The most natural thing to do after reading this book is to continue daydreaming. Children can’t wait to put their own spin on these ideas. The classroom is already buzzing with their chatter so they hardly need encouragement, but I ask anyway, “In your mind, what would the perfect school look like?”

BUT FIRST…

Ultimately, I read this book because it’s fun and imaginative and I can’t wait to see how it inspires the kids to create their own designs. But first, we do a little comprehension work. It’s the first week of school, so nothing super heavy. But you know… teachers gonna teach.

A little bit of time processing the text helps them think, rethink, and gather more creative ideas, setting the stage for the design work they’ll be doing afterward. The worksheets help us record what we know about Jack’s school and then prompt us to think about our own. What would we keep? What would we can? We also think about Jack’s character… what makes him unique?

If we have time, I also pop in a little work about the author’s purpose and a chance to review the book in writing. That being said, the upcoming design work can take anywhere from 2-3 days, so I can spread this comprehension work over that period of time to keep everything connected.

LET’S GET CREATIVE

The next activity is my favorite because it gives children the space to envision and create their ideal spaces in a school. You can get as fancy as you want to with this project. To keep it simple, pencils, crayons, and markers will get the job done. However, if you’re the type of teacher who isn’t afraid of a little messiness, you may want to offer up a few more options. Supplies like paint, glitter, tissue paper, and yarn can open the door to some pretty creative results.

As far as back to school activities go, this one’s a favorite. I recommend planning for it to take 2-3 days. You can ask a teaching assistant or a parent volunteer to pre-cut the patterns to help save some time, but I also think it’s important to let kids use scissors… fine motor development, right?

A good compromise is to pre-cut the curvy shapes like the tree and the school bus, leaving shapes with straight edges for the children to cut. The word boxes would be the simplest for the children to trim on their own.

The inside section of the book is where each kid’s unique creativity begins to take shape. The tabbed pages give them an opportunity to design school spaces they would love, like the perfect classroom, cafeteria, and playground.

Don’t be surprised if a few students take their cues directly from the picture book. Imitation is one way some kids participate, especially if they need to feel safe and secure in sharing. As the year goes on, their confidence will build and you’ll notice them taking more creative risks.

COLLABORATIVE SUPPORT & A TEAMWORK TWIST

A FOUR CORNERS activity is one way to support children who need a little inspiration and guidance. Before doing the project above, spend some time rotating around the classroom, discussing ideas together. These casual conversations among students can really go a long way in helping all the children imagine a wide variety of ideas. It’s a supportive way to set the stage for the individual design work.

Which reminds me… the four corners cards can also be used to form teams. Once children choose the school space they want to create, they can work as a team on a group design. This can be done in lieu of the individual project above and can take on more of a STEM vibe. Provide items such as toilet paper tubes, pipe cleaners, cardboard, straws, craft sticks, foil, and masking tape. Then, let the building begin! What kind of 3D models can they create together?

The completed designs make a great display for Back to School Night. It’s a fun way to share some student work with families. And you know the children LOVE talking about what they’ve made!

AS FAR AS MATH GOES…

One of the most obvious ways to connect math to this read-aloud is to ask the children, “Which of Jack’s designs is your favorite?” Their choices are essentially votes which is the beginning of a fun graphing lesson. In this math lesson, we build a simple bar graph to represent our choices using the pieces below.

When we’re done building the class graph, we work together to collect and analyze the data. I prompt them with:

  • Make tally marks to show the number of votes each design got.
  • Which of Jack’s ideas was the most popular in our class?
  • In our class, which of Jack’s designs got the least amount of votes?
  • In all, what is the total number of votes for Jack’s gym and playground?
  • How many votes are represented on the graph all together?

In addition to these prompts, I just like to ask, “What do you notice about the data?” I like open-ended questions like this one that allow the children to respond at all sorts of levels.

You can find all these pieces in this resource👉 IF I BUILT A SCHOOL – BACK TO SCHOOL PACK. It’s perfect for kids coming into 2nd grade, but will also work with 1st grade children with a little extra support.

Happy teaching!

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