Star of the Week Back to School Activity

One great way to build a classroom community is to have a star of the week program! You can have your students take turns being the star by giving them a fun poster to decorate at home. Then, they bring it back to school when it is their turn to be featured as the star student.

We like to honor our superstar all week long with a chance to be in the spotlight in a different way each day! More on that a little later…. 😉 The main purpose of having a star of the week is for students to learn more about each other and their families. What better way to build a strong classroom community at the beginning of the year? It also allows children to practice their public speaking skills by having them talk about a subject they know very well… THEMSELVES!

Choosing a Star of the Week

There are different ways you can choose a student for each week of the school year. My personal favorite is to have parents sign up during Back to School Night or Orientation Day. That way, parents and students set the tone for when they feel most comfortable participating in this program. Another option is to predetermine your own schedule and send that home to the parents so students have plenty of time to prepare for their assigned week. Some teachers even try to correspond the star of the week to each child’s birthday week. Another fun idea is to select a child randomly each week which makes it more of a surprise for the kids!

Star of the Week Poster Activity

We prefer to assign this as an “at home” project that they can do with their parents or caregiver. It really helps them to be creative without looking to see how other students are filing in their posters, so that each poster comes out unique.

A Week in the Spotlight

Before having each student share, I like to have the children get to know ME by filling out a poster and attaching pictures of myself and my family. It’s always fun to have the teacher go first and this way students can hear all about you and your favorite things.

Now it’s time for the students to shine! Here is a sample schedule of how we make the child feel special all week long:

Daily Ideas:

MONDAY: Student shares their poster with the class. Then, they have a short Q&A session where they take several questions from their classmates and answer them to the best of their ability. Our students have always loved this part of the program because it allows them to get to know each other better while working on their public speaking and social skills.

TUESDAY: Student brings in their favorite picture book to read to the class (or have the teacher or guest reader read it to the class). It is important to encourage the student to practice reading the book aloud at home before bringing it in to share.

WEDNESDAY: A mystery item chosen by the star student is brought in to share with their classmates. This mystery item could be their favorite toy, souvenir from a trip, really anything special to them and school appropriate. One rule we have is to make sure the item can fit inside a regular sized paper lunch sack. The star gives the class 3 clues and students try to guess what it is before they share the item!

THURSDAY: On this day, the star student can share a talent if they choose. They can perform a talent for the rest of class such as playing an instrument, showing a magic trick or even leading the class in a song.

FRIDAY: We call this special day “Family Friday” because it gives the star a chance to highlight their family and those who live in their home. They can bring in real pictures of their family and pets and talk about who they live with, how many siblings they have and the names or special traits of any pets they may have. This is a great way to show the children how families come in so many different sizes and forms.

To download the Star of the Week PDF file click on the button below. Be sure to continue celebrating your students and their names with our “All About My Name” Banner FREEBIE!