The end of summer is always so bittersweet. As we say goodbye to those long, warm days, we make the exciting return to our classrooms. What will the new year bring? Sharing these inspiring back-to-school poems is the perfect way to help students (and teachers) make this annual transition.
Best Back to School Poems for Elementary School
1. Life Doesn’t Frighten Me by Maya Angelou
“That new classroom where Boys all pull my hair…”
2. September is Here by Lenore Hetrick
“School bells ringing in the morning…”
3. A back to school poem by Sara Holbrook
“I’ve rewatched every rerun.”
4. I Can be a Pal by Kristin Smith
“I can be a pal when you feel blue.”
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5. School Poem by Author Unknown
6. We’re Going Back to School by Twinkl
“We might feel nervous at the door.”
7. Almost Time for School by Lenore Hetrick
“Because Queen August has lifted her hand.”
8. Back to School by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater
“School was closed for so long.”
9. The First Day of School by Ruth Donnelly
“I don’t know if I’ll like the kids…”
10. Introducing a New ME! by Kalli Dakos
“There’s a new ME this year…”
11. Two More Days Til School by Leslie Kimmelman
“I’m finally going to school this year…”
12. Back to School by Rachel K
“Pencils, glue, paper, and books.”
13. I Like School by Lenore Hetrick
“I like to hear the school bell ring…”
Best Back to School Poems for Middle & High School
14. Information by David Ignatow
“I did something on my own that was not dependent on others…”
15. Fort Night by Lisa Olstein
“Is this a dream of potential unmet, of possibility undone?”
16. Confession by Krystyna Dąbrowska
“In the changing room girls jostle in lines, flushed from basketball or dodgeball.”
17. Theme for English B by Langston Hughes
“The instructor said, Go home and write a page tonight.”
18. Sick by Shel Silverstein
“I cannot go to school today…”
19. Girl Sleuth by Brenda Hillman
“Where has the summer gone, the autumn—are they missing too?”
20. The World Book by Patricia Hooper
“…and we sat down at the table leafing through silks and ships, saints and subtraction.”
21. On Doubt and Bad Reviews by Naomi Shihab Nye
“Don’t give it your notebook.”
22. Art Class by James Galvin
“Let us begin with a simple line…”
23. Gradeschool’s Large Windows by Thomas Lux
“They were large to let the germs out.”
24. The High-School Lawn by Thomas Hardy
“A bell: they flee.”
25. An Instructor’s Dream by Bill Knott
“Do they mock me? Forever?”
26. Why Latin Should Still Be Taught in High School by Christopher Bursk
“Because one day I grew so bored with Lucretius.”
27. Apples by Grace Schulman
“For that bitter fruit, tasting of earth and song, I’d risk exile.”
28. In Michael Robins’s class minus one by Bob Hicok
“At the desk where the boy sat, he sees the Chicago River.”
29. Calculations by Brenda Cárdenas
“Your daughter doesn’t understand math.”
30. Mother To Son by Langston Hughes
“Don’t you set down on the steps.”
31. The Testing-Tree by Stanley Kunitz
“On my way home from school up tribal Providence Hill…”
32. The Junior High School Band Concert by David Wagoner
“I played cornet, seventh chair…”
33. Sentimental Education by Mary Ruefle
“By the radiator in a wooden chair wearing woolen stockings sits a little girl in a dunce’s cap…”
34. Pockets by Michael Torres
“This was 5th grade.”
35. Evening Walk as the School Year Starts by Sydney Lea
“They shake their heads, subtle.”
36. When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer by Walt Whitman
“When I was shown the charts and diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them…”
37. Dreams by Langston Hughes
“Hold fast to dreams.”
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