Let’s face it; the first week of school after winter break can be HARD. It’s been a long break of doing whatever you want, eating whatever you want, and sleeping whenever you want. No wonder it can feel so hard to get back into the swing of things!
Honestly, it can feel like the beginning of the year all over again.
However, the first week after winter break is actually the perfect time to hit the reset button and give yourself and your students a fresh start to kick the new year off on the right foot.
In this blog post, I will be sharing tips for a smooth transition getting back into the school routine, activities to review classroom rules and procedures, and ideas to build your classroom community and set goals for the new year.
Tip 1: Reset Your Classroom
My first tip is actually for before winter break even begins: Spend a little extra time each day the week before you leave, resetting your classroom and setting up for the new semester.
Just spending a few minutes each day preparing what you can is a great way to give yourself peace of mind so that you can truly rest and recharge over winter break.
This can look like:
- Reorganizing and/or rearranging your classroom. You can even get students to help you with this!
- Cleaning, sanitizing, and replacing supplies for a fresh start (and hopefully less germs than before break).
- Planning and preparing your lesson plans and materials for the first week back after winter break so you can just step into your classroom in January ready to teach!
- Changing out your math and literacy centers. These free New Year Centers would be great activities for that first week back!
- Putting out new winter themes and writing prompts for a January writing center.
- If you have a display bookshelf in your classroom, swap out the books for New Year and winter-themed read alouds.
P.S. I don’t advocate for anyone to spend their hard-earned break at school. So if you didn’t do this before leaving for winter break this year, just file these ideas away for later.
Tip 2: Reevaluate What’s Working (and What’s Not)
The week after winter break is also a great time to take a closer look at what has — and hasn’t — been working in your classroom.
Before you dive back into new material, ask yourself: Which daily routine structures are running smoothly? Which classroom procedures feel like a constant battle? Are there spots in your room that aren’t functioning the way you envisioned at the beginning of the year?
This doesn’t have to be a big, overwhelming audit. Even just jotting down two or three things you want to do differently for the new semester can make a huge difference for the rest of the year. Think of it as your own personal fresh start alongside your students!
If you can, do this reflection before leaving for winter break so you can walk back in with a plan. Again, if you didn’t, no guilt. There’s still plenty of time to make adjustments in January!
Tip 3: Start with a Soft Start
One of the best things you can do the first week back after winter break is resist the urge to jump straight back into your scope and sequence. I know, I know — there’s so much to cover! But trust me on this one.
Think about it like the first day of school all over again. Your kindergarteners have just come off a long break. Their brains have been in full holiday mode, not school mode. Easing back in with a soft start — meaning, a slower, lower-pressure re-entry into the school routine — sets everyone up for a much smoother transition.
This is a great time to revisit familiar content, review skills from last year, and let students ease back into the daily routine before introducing anything new. Your future self will thank you!
If you want the entire first week after winter break planned out for you — phonics review, literacy, math, writing, and classroom procedure reset all included — the Kindergarten Winter Break Reset does exactly that. Five full days of lesson plans, no prep required.
Tip 4: Review Classroom Routines and Procedures
After a long break, students will forget EVERYTHING.
Okay, maybe not everything, but you should expect that your normal routines and classroom procedures will need to be retaught almost from scratch.
And honestly? That’s okay! Reviewing classroom rules and procedures after winter break is one of the most important things you can do for a smooth transition. It saves everyone a headache, gets individual students back on the same page, and helps your classroom feel like a well-oiled machine again much faster.
Treat it just like the beginning of the year. Walk through your daily routine explicitly. Practice transitions. Revisit classroom expectations together. The extra time you spend reviewing in that first week will pay off for the rest of the school year.
Some ideas for reviewing classroom procedures:
- Act out and practice routines whole group before jumping into independent work
- Use anchor charts as visual cues to remind students of expectations
- Celebrate students who are showing what the procedures look like!
P.S. The Kindergarten Winter Break Reset includes dedicated “Winter Break Reset” time built into each day specifically for reviewing supplies, procedures, and classroom routines — so you don’t have to figure out how to fit it all in yourself.
Tip 5: Set Goals as a Class
Happy New Year — what a perfect time for some goal setting! The week after winter break is a great opportunity to set both individual and class-wide goals together.
I especially love setting a class behavior goal at the start of the new semester. This gives your students something to work toward together, builds a sense of ownership over how your classroom runs, and supports your classroom management for the rest of the year. It’s also a wonderful way to support social emotional learning and growth mindset in a really natural, meaningful context.
Want a step-by-step guide to New Year’s goal setting with your class? Check out this blog post on New Year’s activities and goal setting for elementary students!
Tip 6: Make Time for Talk
After a couple of weeks apart, your students are going to have a LOT to say. A lot can happen over winter break! New toys, family visits, holiday traditions, trips — and if you don’t intentionally build in time for talk, you’re going to be managing side conversations all day long anyway. So you might as well make it part of your plan!
Building structured talk time into your day is a fun way to ease back into the school routine while also strengthening your classroom community.
Some easy ways to do this:
- Use morning meeting as a dedicated share time each day that first week
- Build in partner talk during activities and transitions
- Use quick discussion prompts as a warm-up or brain break
- Incorporate small group conversations as part of your morning work routine
Your students will feel heard, you’ll get ahead of the chatter, and everyone will be happier for it. Win-win!
Tip 7: Build Stamina Back Up
Here’s something that catches a lot of teachers off guard the first week back: students’ stamina for independent work takes a serious hit over a long break. Don’t be surprised if your class can’t sustain focus for as long as they could before winter break — that’s completely normal!
The perfect way to handle this is to work in shorter bursts with frequent breaks built in, especially those first few days. Think of it like the beginning of the school year when you were first building stamina for math skills, reading, and independent tasks. You’re just doing a mini version of that now.
Shorter work periods → more frequent movement breaks → gradually increase over the first week back. Simple, effective, and so much less frustrating for everyone.
Tip 8: Adjust Your Expectations
This tip goes hand in hand with building stamina, but it deserves its own moment: please, please adjust your expectations for the first week back after winter break.
If you walk back into your kindergarten class after a long holiday break expecting students to perform exactly where they left off — same focus, same independence, same math skills — you are going to have a hard week. And so will they!
The great time to set yourself up for success is before that first day of school back in January, when you can mentally give yourself and your class permission to have a re-entry period. It’s not lowering the bar — it’s being realistic about what a smooth transition actually looks like in practice. Give it a week or so, and you’ll be amazed at how quickly your little learners find their groove again.
Tip 9: Build Your Classroom Community
Finally, don’t underestimate the power of intentionally rebuilding your classroom community that first week back. After time apart, it takes a little effort to get everyone feeling connected again — and a strong classroom community makes everything else run more smoothly for the rest of the year.
This doesn’t have to be elaborate! Simple community-building activities woven into your normal routines — a special morning meeting activity, a collaborative art project, a class read aloud with discussion — can go a long way toward helping your students feel like a team again as they settle back into the school routine.
When students feel safe, connected, and valued, they’re so much more ready to learn. And that’s what the week after winter break is really all about — setting everyone up for a great second half of the year.
Ready to Make the Week After Winter Break a Breeze?
You’ve got the tips, now let’s talk about making the whole thing as easy as possible for you.
If the idea of planning out an entire first week back after winter break from scratch sounds exhausting, I have great news: it’s already done for you!
The Kindergarten Winter Break Reset is an all-in-one unit that plans out your entire first week back — so you can walk into your classroom in January feeling confident and prepared instead of scrambling.
Here’s what’s included for all five days:
- Morning meeting
- Shared reading poem
- Literacy interactive read alouds
- Phonics (soft start reviewing letters and CVC words)
- Writing mini lessons
- Math (numbers, shapes, and number sense)
- Social studies focused on classroom rules and citizenship
- Two daily “Winter Break Reset” blocks specifically for reviewing classroom procedures, routines, and supply expectations
- 10 no-prep math and literacy center mats
- New Year’s resolutions craft and bulletin board display
- Social stories, anchor charts, and so much more
Most of it is print-and-go, with a digital option for the social stories. If you loved the First Week of Kindergarten unit, you are going to love this one too.
👉 Grab the Kindergarten Winter Break Reset here!
Teaching first grade? The First Grade Winter Break Reset is also available!
Here’s to a smooth transition, a fresh start, and a great rest of the school year. 🎉
