Interactive Whiteboard Activities
Daily Starters
Welcome to Daily Starters, the newest free feature on Scholastic’s Teachers site.
- Grades: PreK–K, 1–2, 3–5, 6–8
Launch the day with Daily Starters — fast, fun, and engaging items in Language Arts, Math, History, and Fun Facts that will spark student brains to begin the school day.
Daily Starters can be projected on your whiteboard for a whole class, meeting-time warm-up activity. Other options: Start up the classroom computer with the Daily Starter page or print a hard copy for older students to work on individually or with partners.
Grade Clusters
Find the Daily Starters for your class in these four grade clusters:
- PreK–K
- Grades 1–2
- Grades 3–5
- Grades 6–8
Topics Covered
Daily Starters for each grade cluster are age-appropriate activities in Language Arts, Math, and a tidbit from History and an interesting Fun Fact.
Fun Fact topics include science, health, art (Before erasers, people used piece of bread!), sports (basketball), animals (sharks, chipmunks), famous people (Johnny Appleseed, Dr. Seuss), seasonal topics, and more.
You can start Daily Starters any week of school. We recommend beginning on a Monday to get the full impact of this exciting new feature.
Daily Starter strands and scope and sequence for language arts and math are drawn from Common Core State Standards. Most features and skills are for review. Some features are designed to preview skills to come, or fun things to know. All features and skills are designed to stimulate thinking, and give students an upbeat, successful experience first thing in the morning.
Scope and Sequence by Grade Cluster
Daily Starter strands, scope and sequence for Language Arts and Math are drawn from Common Core State Standards.
PreK–K
The PreK–K grade cluster has three Daily Starters — Language Arts, Math, and Fun Facts — to allow for art and a large font size.
| Daily Starters | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday |
| Language Arts | Alphabet Recognition | Phonemic Awareness | Phonics | Sight and High Frequency Words | Oral Vocabulary |
| Math | Numbers and Names | Counting | Sequence | Shapes and Patterns | Measurement |
| Fun Facts | Topics Vary | Topics Vary | Topics Vary | Topics Vary | Topics Vary |
Grades 1–2
| Daily Starters | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday |
| Language Arts | Phonics | Sight and High Frequency Words | Spelling | Grammar | Word Play (Multiple Meanings, Homophones) |
| Math | Counting / Place Value | Operations | Measurement and Data | Geometry | Word Problems |
| History | Topics Vary | Topics Vary | Topics Vary | Topics Vary | Topics Vary |
| Fun Facts | Topics Vary | Topics Vary | Topics Vary | Topics Vary | Topics Vary |
Grades 3–5
| Daily Starters | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday |
| Language Arts | Grammar | Usage / Mechanics | Word Parts (Prefixes, Suffixes, Roots) | Word Study (Prefixes, Suffixes, Roots) | Word Play (Multiple Meanings, Idioms, Metaphors, Similes) |
| Math | Operations / Algebraic Thinking | Numbers and Operations in Base 10 | Measurement and Data | Fractions and Geometry | Word Problems |
| History | Topics Vary | Topics Vary | Topics Vary | Topics Vary | Topics Vary |
| Fun Facts | Topics Vary | Topics Vary | Topics Vary | Topics Vary | Topics Vary |
Grades 6–8
| Daily Starters | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday |
| Language Arts | Grammar | Usage / Mechanics | Word Parts (Prefixes, Suffixes, Roots) | Word Study (Homophones, Confusable words) | Word Play (Multiple Meanings, Idioms, Metaphors, Similes, Adages, Anagrams) |
| Math | Operations / Algebraic Thinking | Numbers and Operations in Base 10 | Measurement and Data | Fractions and Geometry | Word Problems |
| History | Topics Vary | Topics Vary | Topics Vary | Topics Vary | Topics Vary |
| Fun Facts | Topics Vary | Topics Vary | Topics Vary | Topics Vary | Topics Vary |
Sample History topics:
- Baseball
- Skateboards
- Zoos
- Blue jeans
- Inventor of the smiley face graphic
- Jacks
- Summer vacations
- Presidential pets
- Statue of Liberty
- Little League
Sample Fun Fact topics:
- Apple peels
- Baby sharks
- Feelings
- Crayons
- Dr. Seuss
- Basketball
- Johnny Appleseed
- Popsicles
- Sneezes
- Milk
- Subjects:Language Arts, Math, Social Studies
