AI Prompts to Help You Prepare for the First Week of School

Welcome letters. Icebreakers. Seating charts. Lesson plans. Your back-to-school to-do list just keeps growing. You check off one task, and five more take its place.

This is where AI can help — you just need to know what to ask for.

Below are AI prompt ideas to help you prepare for the first week of school. If you use AI to handle some of your more repetitive, time-consuming tasks, you’ll be more free to focus on your students and your big-picture vision for your classroom.

Take these prompts as a starting point. Tweak the details to fit your classroom and school, and see how much time and energy you can save.

How to Prompt AI Effectively

A good AI prompt is specific. The more detail you give, the more useful the response. When writing your prompts, try to include:

• Grade level and subject (e.g., “5th grade science,” not just “science”)
• Your goal (what you want the output to do — engage students, save time, check for gaps, etc.)
• Output format (a list, a presentation, a table, a set number of items, etc.)
• Length
• Tone or context

Here’s the difference in action:

Weak prompt: “Write a welcome letter for my class.”

Strong prompt: “Write a warm welcome letter for my 3rd grade class, introducing me as their teacher and sharing two things students can look forward to this school year. The letter should be addressed to parents/guardians, should be between 250 and 400 words long, and should include my contact information and how best to reach me, how quickly parents can expect a response, and how excited I am to work with their children this year.”

The strong version gives AI enough to work with on the first try, which means less editing for you on the back end.

AI Prompts for Classroom Foundations

The first week of school sets the tone. Students are watching to see what kind of teacher you are and how your classroom will function. These early days are also crucial for relationship building and classroom management.

You could ask AI to help you:

Design icebreakers that work for your age group

• Ask for a mix of active and quiet icebreaker options.
• Ask for icebreakers themed around the subject you teach.
• Ask for icebreakers that double as a way to learn names.

Try this: “Give me 5 icebreaker activities for a [grade level] [subject] classroom of [number] students. Include a mix of active and quiet options, and keep each one under 10 minutes.”

Create a ‘get to know you’ survey or activity

• Ask for a written survey with a mix of fun and reflective questions.
• Ask for questions specifically designed to reveal learning preferences.

Try this: “Create a ‘get to know you’ survey for [grade level] students with 8-10 questions. Include a mix of fun questions (favorite tv show, hobbies, etc.) and a few that help me understand how they learn best. The questions should be a mix of multiple choice and short answer. The survey should take less than 5 minutes to complete.”

Draft a syllabus or course overview

• Ask for a full syllabus template.
• Ask for a simplified, student-facing version of the syllabus.

Try this: “Create a syllabus template for a [grade level] [subject] course aligned to [curriculum] standards. Include sections for course description, grading policy, classroom expectations, and a rough unit outline for the semester.”

Prompts for Lesson Planning and Grading

Grading and lesson planning are two of the most time-consuming parts of teaching — and two of the easiest to hand off to AI as a starting point. Consider using AI to:

Scan your lesson plans for gaps

Before you teach a lesson, ask AI to check it for pacing issues, missing differentiation, or weak spots in your assessment.

Try this: “Review this lesson plan for a [grade level] [subject] class and flag any gaps in pacing, differentiation, or assessment: [paste lesson plan].”

Create exit tickets

• Ask for exit tickets tied to a specific lesson or standard.
• Ask for a mix of question types (short answer, multiple choice, quick reflection).
• Ask for exit tickets designed to reveal common misconceptions.

Try this: “Create 5 exit ticket questions for a [grade level] [subject] lesson on [topic]. Include a mix of quick recall questions and one that checks for deeper understanding.”

Build a rubric once, reuse it all year

A clear rubric saves you time on every assignment that follows. Having AI draft the first version means you’re editing instead of starting from zero.

Try this: “Create a 4-point grading rubric for a [grade level] [assignment type], including criteria for content, organization, and effort, with a brief description of what each score level looks like.”

Prompts Just for You

The first week of school can be exhausting. (Exciting and fun! But exhausting.) Here are a few prompts to make your life a little more carefree.

Build a personal first-week checklist

You have so much to accomplish in a short period of time. Let AI build a checklist for you so you don’t have to hold it all in your head. Then (and this part is important), give yourself a reward when you finish the list or reach a certain milestone. You can ask AI for reward ideas, but, c’mon — you know your favorite kind of chocolate.

Try this: “Create a first-week-of-school checklist for a [grade level] [subject] teacher, covering classroom setup, first-day materials, and administrative tasks.”

Get quick dinner ideas

What’s for dinner? This is one decision AI can take off your… plate.

Try this: “Give me 5 easy dinner ideas that take 15 minutes or less to make, for a week when I’ll be too tired to think about cooking. Do not include [list any allergies or preferences here].” When AI returns the list, choose the meals you want or ask for other options. Once you have your dinners confirmed, prompt AI for the recipes and shopping list.

Get a cheesy pun

Back-to-school can be tense! Everyone is nervous, students and teachers alike, and a silly joke, one that makes the whole class groan, can break the tension. Ask AI for a few ideas. Or, just steal one of these:

• What did the pencil say to the paper on day one? “Write on!”
• Why did the teacher wear sunglasses on the first day? Because her students were so bright.
• I’m reading a book about anti-gravity. It’s impossible to put down.

Try this: “I’m a [grade level] [subject] teacher. Give me 5 puns about school that I can share with my class.”

---

The first week of school comes with a long to-do list, but you don’t have to do it all yourself. Sure, AI can help, but remember you’re also surrounded by a team of teachers and administrators who are pulling for you. Lean on them. Ask for their ideas and share your own. (And, of course, share your cheesy school puns, too).

For even more help, check out the Teacher Resources section of our website. It has guides, workbooks, infographics, on-demand webinars, and more, all designed to support and encourage teachers around the world.