Dear Educators,
The beginning of the school year brims with possibilities—a time filled with new faces ready to learn, fresh notebooks, and budding relationships. This fall, the challenges are also plentiful. Many students are carrying an extra load—one that you may be bearing, too.
Even in the midst of this turbulence, we see you rolling up your sleeves to give your students the learning opportunities they deserve.
And we want to help.
To support your work this fall, we’re excited to share our Back-to-School Hub on 826 Digital, featuring resources that will help you build brave and welcoming spaces for students to write freely and share their stories in community. The first few weeks are critical for building positive relationships with students and boosting their confidence as writers. This has always been true, and is especially true at this moment: young people need and deserve safe spaces to learn, create, and foster new relationships.
“826 Digital resources are creative, authentic, and student-centered. Everything feels like it’s designed to honor student voice while giving teachers just enough structure to make implementation easy and effective.”
— Caitlin Hayes, Middle School Teacher, Virginia Beach, VA
The Back-to-School Hub is a landing page and toolkit for all educators serving young writers in grades K-12. The hub features a collection of favorite, field-tested resources on 826 Digital to use during the first few weeks of school (or programs!), including Educator Tools that share best practices on teaching writing to Sparks that deliver engaging and adaptable writing prompts.
Educator Tools
- 826 Digital Base Camp: An Educator’s Guide for Exploring 826 Digital | Grades K-12
See our new guide to 826 Digital, designed for you to make the most out of the 826 Digital platform and resources. - The First Weeks: Building Relationships Through Writing | Grades 1-12
Start off the year on the “write” foot with this collection of writing activities that make space for students to introduce themselves, get to know each other, and set writing goals for the year ahead. - Writing to Discover Yourself | Grades 1-12
This Educator Tool is designed to help you support students along their journeys in positive identity development.
Sparks and Lessons
- My Name Is | Grades 1-5
Students will create a self-portrait and write an acrostic name poem that can be used as a way to introduce themselves to their classmates. - All About Me Zines | Grades 3-5
Students will create a zine that celebrates what makes them special. - Character-O-Matic: Who I Am | Grades 4-12
Students will use a “character-o-matic” to develop a profile that reflects their own identities. - Our Values | Grades 6-9
Students will work collaboratively to construct a vision for your classroom as a safe space for students and educators. - Choosing My Name | Grades 7-9
What’s in a name? Students will consider how language can impact identity and create an illustrated name poem that reflects their identities. - Where I’m From | Grades 7-12
Inspired by George Ella Lyon’s original poem, this lesson guides students through naming the people, places, and things that have shaped them.
New Collection: Super Sentences
Inspired by our friends at 826NYC, this new collection of resources will help students write narratives with vibrant verbs and adverbs, poetry with brilliant rhymes, and sentences that ebb and flow.
Through resources like these, together, we have helped over 876,000 young people across the country gain confidence in their voice, explore new ideas, and grow their writing skills.
Thank you, educators! We see you, and we stand with you.
