First Day of School Wishes: 89 Messages, From Kindergarten Lunchbox Notes to College Texts

In 1993 the Child Welfare League of America published a picture book called The Kissing Hand, by Audrey Penn. In it a young raccoon named Chester is scared to start school, so his mother kisses the middle of his palm and tells him to press that hand to his cheek whenever he feels lonely. Teachers still read it in the first week of kindergarten, and plenty of parents still kiss a small palm at the classroom door. The idea behind it is the best rule for any first day of school wish: keep it short, make it something the child can hold onto, and tell them where you'll be afterward.

Five first day of school wishes you can use as written:

• Have a wonderful first day! Be kind, be curious, and I'll see you at pickup.
• New school year, new adventures. I'm so proud of you already.
• You're ready for this. Go learn something amazing and tell me all about it tonight.
• Happy first day of school! Make one new friend and eat all your lunch.
• It's okay to feel nervous. Brave people feel nervous too, and then they go anyway.

Below are 84 more, sorted by age and by who is writing: lunchbox notes for little ones, low-key texts for middle and high schoolers, messages for a college freshman, lines for a child starting at a new school partway through the year, and wishes for teachers and other parents. After them you'll find a simple way to write your own and a few things to leave out.

Which Kind of Message Fits Which Moment

A first day of school wish is usually delivered in one of five ways, and each one has its own length. A spoken line at the door can be four words; a card on the kitchen table can be a short paragraph.

When and how	What works
Night before, at bedtime	Calm and reassuring. Name one thing to look forward to.
Morning, said at the door	Four to eight words. A smile, a hug, a "see you at three."
Note in the lunchbox or backpack	One or two sentences, printed clearly for early readers. A drawing for pre-readers.
Text to a teen or college student	Light, short, no questions that demand a long reply.
Card or social media caption	A sentence or two you'd be happy for them to read again in ten years.

Preschool and Kindergarten: Lunchbox-Sized Notes

Most four- and five-year-olds can't read yet, so these are meant to be read aloud by a teacher, said at drop-off, or written under a simple drawing (a heart, a sun, a stick figure waving). Keep the promise concrete. Small children trust "I'll pick you up after snack time" more than "I'll see you later."

• Big kids go to school, and today you're a big kid. Have fun!
• Hold your kissing hand to your cheek if you miss me. I'll be back after story time.
• Play, paint, make a friend. I'll be at the door when the day is done.
• You are kind, you are brave, and your teacher is lucky to meet you.
• Today you get a cubby with your name on it. How cool is that?
• Look for the friend who looks a little shy, and say hi first.
• Love you to the playground and back. See you at pickup!
• Draw me a picture today so I can see what you did.

For more everyday notes for little ones, our page of wishes for kids has lines for birthdays, good days and hard ones.

Grades One to Five: Notes They Can Read Themselves

By first or second grade most children can read a short printed note, and finding one in the lunchbox becomes part of the day. Short sentences, simple words and one small joke go a long way. A question they can answer at dinner ("What was the best part?") gives you an easy conversation later.

• Happy first day of second grade! I can't wait to hear about your new teacher.
• Third grade, here you come. Be the kind of friend you'd like to have.
• Your brain is going to grow so much this year. Feed it well (that means eat your sandwich).
• New pencils, new desk, same awesome you.
• Try one thing today that feels a little hard. That's how you get stronger.
• If you get lost, ask a grown-up wearing a school badge. Asking is smart, not silly.
• Tonight at dinner, tell us the best thing and the funniest thing that happened.
• Fifth grade is the top of the school. Be the big kid you used to look up to.

Middle School: Keep It Low-Key

Middle schoolers often don't want a note anyone else might see. A short text before first period, or a sticky note left inside a binder, lands better than a decorated card. Skip pet names unless they still like them.

• Good luck today. You've got this.
• New lockers are confusing for everyone. You'll have the combination down by Friday.
• First day of middle school! Remember: everyone else is nervous too, they're just hiding it.
• Sit wherever you want at lunch. Tomorrow you can sit somewhere else.
• Have a good one. Pizza tonight to celebrate surviving day one.
• Seventh grade, round two of middle school. You know the ropes now.
• No pressure, no speeches. Just: proud of you.

High School: Freshman Year and Senior Year

The first day of ninth grade and the first day of twelfth grade feel very different. Freshmen need reassurance that a big building gets small fast. Seniors are starting a year of lasts, and a parent's message can say so without getting weepy.

First day of freshman year:

• Four years starts today. Take it one class at a time.
• High school is bigger, but so are you. Have a great first day.
• Join something you've never tried. The club fair is your friend.
• You don't have to figure out who you are by lunch. Just find your classes.
• Good luck today. Text me if you need anything, or don't, and I'll see you tonight.
• The upperclassmen were freshmen once too. Walk in like you belong, because you do.

First day of senior year:

• First day of your last first day of high school. Make it a good one.
• Senior year: work hard, then enjoy every minute of the parts that aren't homework.
• I'll try not to be sappy, but this is a big day. Proud of you, always.
• One more year in these halls. Leave them better than you found them.
• Applications, games, prom, graduation. It all starts this morning. Go get it.

College Freshman: Texts From Home

A college student's first day of classes usually happens far from the people who'd normally say "good luck" at the door, so the message becomes a text. Send it the night before or early in the morning, keep it short, and don't ask for a report. If they want to talk, they'll call.

• Happy first day of college! Go find your classrooms before you need them.
• Proud doesn't begin to cover it. Have a great first day.
• Say yes to the floor meeting, the free pizza and the weird elective.
• Your room is quiet without you, and that's how we know you're where you should be.
• Office hours exist for a reason. Go introduce yourself to one professor this week.
• Good luck today. Call whenever you want, not because you have to.
• Remember to eat something green this week. Love, your worried family.
• New city, new people, new chapter. We're cheering from here.

Starting at a New School Partway Through the Year

Not every first day of school is in August or September. Families move, and a child who walks into a classroom in October or January faces a group that has already formed friendships and routines. These lines name that honestly and focus on the first small step.

• Being the new kid takes courage. You have plenty of it.
• Everyone else has had a head start, but you bring something none of them have: you.
• You only need one friendly face today. Look for it, and be one for someone else.
• It's okay if today feels strange. Strange turns into normal faster than you think.
• New school, same you. Your old friends are still your friends, and new ones are on the way.
• Ask your teacher to show you where everything is. That's their favorite question.
• We'll get ice cream after school, and you can tell me everything (or nothing).

From Grandparents

A card or a short phone message from a grandparent makes the day feel like an occasion. Grandparents can say the gushing things a parent might hold back.

• Grandpa and I are so proud of our school kid. Have a wonderful first day!
• Your teacher has no idea how lucky they are. Go show them.
• Sending a big first-day hug through the mail. Open it whenever you need one.
• Learn lots, laugh lots, and call us this weekend to tell us about it.

A Word Every Nervous Speller Needs

If your child worries about getting things wrong in a new class, there's a line in A. A. Milne's Winnie-the-Pooh that reads like a permission slip. Pooh wants Owl to write "A Happy Birthday" on a present for Eeyore, and explains why he can't do it himself:

"My spelling is Wobbly. It's good spelling but it Wobbles, and the letters get in the wrong places."
— A. A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh, Chapter VI (1926)

It's a lovely thing to write inside a first-grade card or read together the night before: Pooh knows his spelling wobbles, says so cheerfully, and asks for help. That is exactly the attitude a teacher hopes a new reader will bring. Pair it with a line of your own, such as "Wobbly is fine. Trying is what counts."

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A misattribution to know about: the popular first-day line "You're braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think" is not in any of Milne's books. It comes from the 1997 Disney video Pooh's Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin, written by Carter Crocker and Karl Geurs, where Christopher Robin says it to Pooh. It's still a fine thing to write, but credit it to the film rather than to Milne.

For Teachers: To Your Child's Teacher, and From Teacher to Class

A short note to the teacher on day one is kind and also useful: it introduces your child and opens the door for later conversations. Keep it brief, since teachers receive a stack of them. Teachers greeting a new class, on a whiteboard, a welcome letter or a class page, can use the second set.

From a parent to the teacher:

• Welcome to a new year! We're excited for Maya to be in your class.
• Thank you in advance for all the patience this year will take. We're glad he's with you.
• She's a little nervous and very curious. We think you'll get along well.
• Wishing you a smooth first day and a great year. Please reach out anytime.
• Happy first day! Our family is here to help however we can.

From a teacher to students:

• Welcome to Room 12! This year we'll read, build, ask questions and make mistakes on purpose.
• I've been getting ready for you all summer. I'm so glad you're here.
• In this class, "I don't know yet" is a perfectly good answer.
• Look around: these are the people you'll learn with all year. Be good to each other.
• New year, clean slate. Everyone starts with an A in kindness.
• Happy first day, readers and thinkers. Let's have a great year.

Teachers on the receiving end of thanks later in the year will find more wording in our Teachers' Day messages.

Funny First Day of School Wishes

Humor works best for kids who are excited rather than anxious, and for older siblings who would roll their eyes at anything earnest.

• Have a great first day! Remember: the cafeteria tater tots are not a food group.
• Go to school, learn things, come home and explain them to me.
• Back to school means back to bedtimes. I'm sorry. Have a great day anyway.
• Good luck today. Try not to get homework. (I know that's not up to you.)
• Summer is over. Please accept my condolences and this granola bar.
• Rule number one: never trade the good snack.
• Have a great first day. The dog will be waiting at the window for you, as usual.

Short Captions for the First Day Photo

The front-step photo with a backpack (or a chalkboard sign) is a tradition in many families. These captions are short enough for an image or a social post. Before you post, check that the photo doesn't show the school's name, a bus number or your house number, and ask a teenager before sharing their picture at all.

• First day of 1st grade. Same smile, bigger backpack.
• Off to kindergarten. Somebody hold my coffee.
• Third grade, ready or not.
• The last first day of high school.
• New year, new shoes, same favorite kid.
• Day one of many. Proud of this one.
• Backpack packed, lunch made, heart a little full.
• Class of 2039, here we come.

To Another Parent on the First Day

The first day is a milestone for parents too, especially at kindergarten drop-off or a college move-in. A text to a friend whose child is starting school is a small, thoughtful thing to send.

• Thinking of you at drop-off this morning. Coffee later?
• Big day for your little one, and for you. Hope it goes smoothly.
• The first day is harder on the parents. You're both going to be fine.
• Kindergarten! How did that happen? Sending a hug.
• Your kid is going to do great at college. How are you doing?

Tomorrow Has No Mistakes in It Yet

For a child who had a rough first day, or a perfectionist who's afraid of messing up, L. M. Montgomery gave Anne Shirley a line worth borrowing. In chapter 21 of Anne of Green Gables, after Anne accidentally flavors a cake with liniment instead of vanilla, she says to Marilla:

"Marilla, isn't it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet?"
— L. M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables, Chapter XXI (1908)

Marilla's dry reply is "I'll warrant you'll make plenty in it," and the pair of lines together make a good bedtime conversation: mistakes are going to happen, and every morning starts clean anyway. Write Anne's line on a note for day two, after a first day that didn't go to plan.

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How to Write Your Own First Day Message

Most good first day of school wishes have the same three parts, in this order:

1. Name the brave thing. Starting school, a new building, being the new kid.
2. Give one thing to look forward to. Recess, a new friend, the art room, the dorm dining hall.
3. Say where you'll be afterward. At pickup, at dinner, at the end of a phone call.

Worked example. A plain first draft might read: "Have a good first day at your new school." Using the three parts: "Walking into a new school is brave. Look for the library first; I hear it has beanbags. I'll be right out front at 3:15." It's still only three sentences, but it gives the child a picture of the day, a goal, and a time they can count on.

What to Leave Out

• Your own worries. "I'll miss you so much, I don't know what I'll do" can make an anxious child feel responsible for your feelings. Save that for a friend.
• Promises you can't keep. "Nobody will be mean to you" or "You'll love it" set up a disappointment if day one is bumpy.
• Grades and performance. The first day is about settling in. "Get straight A's this year" is pressure, not encouragement.
• Anything embarrassing in public. A middle or high schooler's friends may see a note or a post. Keep the mushy version for home.

Questions Parents Ask

How do you wish someone a good first day of school?
Keep it short and warm: "Have a wonderful first day! I'm proud of you." For a child, add when you'll see them next. For a teen or college student, a brief text with no demand for a reply works best.

What do you say to a child on the first day of school?
Something calm and concrete: that you're proud, that it's okay to feel nervous, and exactly when you'll be back. "You're ready. I'll be here after school" says all three.

What do you write in a first day at school card?
One or two sentences that name the milestone and say you're proud, such as "Happy first day of kindergarten! We're so proud of our big school kid." Sign it the way they know you (Mom, Dad, Nana and Pop), and add a doodle for children who can't read yet.

Should you put a note in your child's lunchbox?
Many children love it, especially in the early grades. Keep it to a sentence, print clearly, and stop if an older child asks you to. A backpack pocket is a more private spot for a preteen.

For exam season later in the year, our best of luck wishes cover tests, tryouts and auditions, and our positive quotes for kids make good notes for any ordinary school day.