For a great start of year 
and end of year activity, JEOPARDY!  

At the beginning of the year, working in small groups, have each group create a back to school jeopardy game, as Miss Cantillon's Fifth-Grade Class did. Switch students around and play the games. Your students will quickly get to know each other, learn school and classroom rules, and have fun. (This really works. I've never seen kids excited about a rule book before, but they hunted through it, trying to find questions to trick their classmates. 

At the end of the year, revisit your games. Again, working in small groups, assign each group all of the jeopardy games. Have each group select the best questions, or add new ones, for each category. Then, as a class, vote on which questions to include in one final Back to School Jeopardy game. Add a last page or two with everyone's good luck wishes to the new class. 

This activity can be used year after year. Each year opens with one game, created by last year's class, to use as an example. Then have your new class create new games.