For the 2026-2027 school year, I have three brand new activities to share. These are designed to be low-prep, easy to use, and just the right mix of thinking and fun. You can use them as bellringers, partner activities, morning work, station rotations, or quick fillers when your lesson wraps up a few minutes early.
I am excited for you all to take a look.
1. Mystery Locker
Mystery Locker is all about looking closely, making inferences, and knowing when there just is not enough information to answer. Each slide gives students a peek inside a student’s locker. They will find school supplies, snacks, notes, sports gear, folders, badges, and a few little details that may or may not matter.
The goal is simple. Students use the clues in the locker to answer the questions. But there is a twist. If the locker does not give enough information, students write “No Compute.” I like that phrase because it keeps students from inventing an answer out of thin air. We have all seen that happen. One tiny clue turns into a full biography, a family tree, and possibly a pet iguana.
The set includes 20 Mystery Locker activities.
For example, students might look inside Tessa’s locker and notice a volleyball, knee pads, a choir folder, a visitor badge, and a note that says, “Meet Mom in Room 12 after school.”
From there, they answer questions like:
- What sport might Tessa play?
- What can you infer about Tessa’s family?
- What information is not shown in the locker?
Some answers are supported by the clues. Some answers need a good old “No Compute.”
2. Quick Debates
Some students love to talk. Some students need a little warm-up. And some students will absolutely have strong feelings about whether cereal counts as soup.
Quick Debates is perfect for those first days when you want students talking, but you do not want to ask, “Tell us three fun facts about yourself.” Instead, share one debate slide, have students add a sticky note, and ask them to state their position. Then, let them defend their decision with a partner, small group, or the whole class.
The topics are light enough for back-to-school, but they still spark plenty of discussion. The set includes questions like:
- Is a hot dog a sandwich?
- Does a straw have one hole or two?
- Is your thumb a finger?
- Should you eat rice with a spoon or a fork?
- Is chess a sport?
- Should you eat ice cream in a cup or a cone?
- Is cereal a soup?
- Does a snake have a tail?
- Is cheesecake a cake?
- What is the correct way to put on socks and shoes?
3. A Fruit Salad of Idioms
A Fruit Salad of Idioms is a fun way to introduce or review idioms without making students start with a worksheet. Students read a clue and guess the fruit idiom that matches. Every answer includes the name of a fruit, which gives students just enough of a hint without giving the whole thing away.
For example, a clue might be “a way news or gossip spreads,” and students would answer, “heard it through the grapevine.”
It is a quick way to get students thinking about figurative language, context clues, and how strange the English language can be. Honestly, idioms are weird. We say things like “go bananas,” “in a pickle,” and “the cherry on top,” and somehow everyone is supposed to know what that means.
This activity includes 15 fruit idioms. Unlike some idiom activities that focus on one specific word or phrase pattern, this one is more of a mixed basket. That makes it a nice fit as a lesson starter, review activity, station, or quick check during an idioms unit.
And here is the big news. This activity also has a vibe-coded online activity students can play.
Ready for a little fruity wordplay? In the online activity, students are given a fruit idiom and two sentences. Their job is to pick the sentence that uses the idiom the right way.
Use it as a whole-class guessing game, a partner activity, or an individual challenge.
Whether you start with Mystery Locker, Quick Debates, or A Fruit Salad of Idioms, I hope these activities help make those first days of school a little easier and a lot more engaging. Access six more back to school activities here.
Happy new school year!
