First Day Back From Winter Break: A Low-Prep High School Reset

It's January. Winter break is over. The students are back. The classroom is back. The alarm clocks are unfortunately back. And somehow, even though these are the same students who were sitting in your classroom two weeks ago, that first day back can feel a little like starting over. Here's the thing: I don't think the first day back from winter break needs to be a huge production. I also don't think we need to launch directly into a brand-new lesson while everyone is still trying to remember what day it is. Sometimes, the best plan is to give students a chance to reconnect, get their brains working again, and ease back into the actual business of learning. Without a twenty-slide presentation about classroom expectations. And definitely without making everyone share their favorite winter-break memory.

Why January Needs a Different Kind of Icebreaker

In September, students are getting to know one another. In January? They already know one another. Some of them probably know one another a little too well. What they need isn't another round of introductions. They need a way to start interacting again without feeling like they've been assigned a social activity. And I'm a big believer that not every classroom activity needs to involve a personal reflection, a goal-setting worksheet, or a beautifully organized chart of New Year's resolutions. Sometimes, kids just need to laugh together. That's where I start.

Step 1: Start With a 5–10 Minute Left-Right-Left Game

If you've never played a Left-Right-Left game, the concept is wonderfully simple. Put students in small groups. Give everyone a small object to pass—a marker works just fine if you don't want to use prizes. Then read a ridiculous story out loud. Every time students hear LEFT, they pass their object to the left. Every time they hear RIGHT (or WRITE), they pass it to the right.

Sounds easy, right? It is. Until the story gets moving, someone loses track of which way they're passing, and the whole group has to figure out what on earth just happened. The beautiful part is that nobody needs to stand up and deliver a speech about their vacation. Students have a shared task, a reason to pay attention, and something silly happening right in front of them. And the whole thing takes about 5–10 minutes.

The Return of the WRIGHT Family

I liked my original back-to-school Left-Right-Left game enough that I wrote a sequel specifically for January: Left, Right, and Back From Break. The zombie dreams return. So does the wonderfully inconvenient WRIGHT family. This time, the first morning back involves a forgotten lunch, questionable leftover coffee, and Mrs. WRIGHT making life just a little more complicated. Students who remember the original story will recognize some familiar characters. But the January version also works completely on its own.

If you don't feel like spending your own winter break writing a story full of lefts, rights, and zombie-related problems, the ready-to-use Left-Right-Left game is available here. Both the original and the winter-break sequel are included.

Step 2: Get Them Moving With a Carousel Review

Now that everyone is laughing, it's time to wake up the academic part of their brains. But I wouldn't jump straight into a lecture. Instead, I'd set up a carousel activity with review prompts around the room, all directly connected to what students were learning before winter break. This is important: I'm not talking about random trivia questions or a generic review worksheet. I want students revisiting the actual ideas, models, evidence, and questions we were working with before we disappeared for two weeks. And I want them moving.

Set Up the Carousel

Before students arrive, hang four or five large sheets of paper around the room. Each station has a different prompt related to the unit you were teaching before break. You can even tape up copies of old diagrams, graphs, class notes, or student handouts beside the questions. Give them something familiar to look at. Sometimes seeing the same diagram or model they worked with in December is all it takes to get an idea moving again. A few possible stations:

• What Were We Trying to Figure Out? Revisit the big question or phenomenon from before break. What were we investigating? What had we figured out so far?

• What Does This Evidence Tell Us? Display a familiar graph, diagram, or data set. What did we notice about it? What explanation did it help support?

• Can You Still Explain This? Put up a model or concept students worked with before break. Have them annotate it, explain a relationship, or identify something important.

• What Are We Still Wondering? What questions were left unanswered? What do we need to investigate next?

And my favorite kind of station?

The Alphabet Brain Dump

Put up a giant sheet of paper with the letters A–Z listed down the side. That's it. Students add a vocabulary word, concept, example, or scientific idea connected to the unit for as many letters as they can. Maybe A is axis. Maybe E is eccentricity. Maybe R is revolution. It depends entirely on what you were teaching.

The goal isn't to fill every letter. Nobody needs to spend eight minutes desperately searching for a science word that starts with X. The goal is to get students reaching back into their memories and building on one another's ideas. One group remembers a word. The next group adds a connection. Someone else realizes that two ideas belong together. By the time the carousel is over, you've got a pretty interesting snapshot of what the class remembers.

How to Run It

Put students in small groups and give them two or three minutes at each station. They read what's already there, discuss the prompt, and add something new to the paper. Then everyone rotates. Encourage students to build on earlier responses rather than simply repeat them. They can add evidence, draw connections, annotate diagrams, or even leave a question mark beside something they're no longer sure about.

And here's what I'd be watching for: Can students still explain the science, or do they only remember the vocabulary? Because those are two very different things. If they can tell me a term but can't explain the evidence behind it, that tells me where we need to spend a little time. And discovering that on the first day back is a whole lot more useful than pretending everyone remembers everything.

Step 3: Launch Back Into a Light Lesson

Now we've laughed. We've moved around. We've remembered that science exists. Time to actually do a little. But I'm still not trying to conquer an entire new topic on January's first day back. I'd take a few minutes to look over the carousel responses with the class, especially the ideas students remembered easily and the ones that clearly need a little attention. Then I'd move into a short, manageable lesson.

The goal is simple: Review something important from before break, and learn one new thing that connects directly to where we're going tomorrow.

That's it. Maybe students revisit a model they've already developed and add one new piece of information. Maybe they look at a new data set that builds on something familiar. Maybe they use an old explanation to make a prediction about the next phenomenon we're going to investigate.

Whatever it is, I want the lesson to feel achievable. Students should leave thinking, Oh, right. I remember how to do this. Not, What just happened to me? I especially like ending with a question that we aren't quite ready to answer yet. Something that makes students realize there's a little more to figure out. Because now you've got a natural place to begin the next day.

My First-Day-Back Plan for a 51-Minute Class

Here's how I'd put it all together:

• 5 minutes — Welcome back, get settled, and explain the plan

• 5–10 minutes — Left-Right-Left winter-break game

• 15 minutes — Carousel review with prompts and familiar materials

• 15 minutes — Short lesson reviewing an old idea and introducing one simple new connection

• 5 minutes — Wrap up with what we remembered and what we're figuring out tomorrow

You don't need an elaborate slideshow. You don't need a brand-new packet. And you definitely don't need to spend your entire winter break preparing for the first day back. A funny story, a few large sheets of paper, some familiar classroom materials, and one good teaching idea. That's a pretty reasonable January plan.

Tomorrow? All Bets Are Off.

Look, I love a good investigation. I love challenging students to think deeply, work through evidence, revise models, and wrestle with ideas that don't immediately make sense. But I also think there's something to be said for easing everyone back into the rhythm of school. Give them a little laughter. Get them moving. Help them remember that they actually learned some pretty cool stuff before break. Teach them one manageable new idea. And send them home feeling like they've successfully returned to the land of the academically functioning.

Because tomorrow?

Tomorrow, we hit them with so much new learning they'll wish winter break had a sequel.

Still planning for December? Check out my ideas for the days before winter break. And if you're welcoming a brand-new group of students, here's my original first-day icebreaker approach.