# School English: classroom objects and the school day

School vocabulary is learned through the objects children use and the routines they live every day. Classroom objects, subjects, and sentences describing a school day.

Author: Aslıgül Aşkın · Published: 2026-10-01 · Updated: 2026-10-12
Page address: https://grammardots.com/en/blog/classroom-objects-and-school-day-in-english

School words are easiest to learn through the things children pack in their bags and the routines they follow at school every day. Even packing a school bag can become a short English practice.

## Classroom objects

pencil, pen, rubber (eraser in American English), ruler, notebook, book, bag, scissors, glue, pencil case, board, desk.

Rather than memorising the objects one by one, use them in short sentences: “I've got two pencils in my pencil case.”, “Where is my ruler?” A child remembers a word more easily when they say it for a real need.

## Places at school

Use the table like a tour of the school: say the name of each place and make a sentence with it together.

Places at school with example sentences

| English | Turkish | Example sentence |
| --- | --- | --- |
| classroom | sınıf | Our classroom is on the first floor. |
| library | kütüphane | We read books in the library. |
| canteen | kantin, yemekhane | I have lunch in the canteen. |
| playground | okul bahçesi | We play in the playground at break. |
| gym | spor salonu | We have PE in the gym. |

## School subjects

English, maths, science, history, geography, art, music, PE. “My favourite subject is art.”

## A school day

“I get up at seven. I have breakfast and go to school by bus. School starts at half past eight. We have four lessons before lunch. After school, I do my homework.” Ask your child to describe their own school day with this pattern.

## The school day with times: the present simple

Things that happen every day are described with the present simple. The verb stays in its base form with “I”, “you”, “we” and “they”, and takes -s or -es with “he”, “she” and “it”: “I go to school.”, “She goes to school.”

Use “at” before a time and “in the” before a part of the day: “at seven”, “at half past eight”, “in the morning”, “in the afternoon”.

The times of a school day

| English | Turkish |
| --- | --- |
| I get up at seven. | Saat yedide kalkarım. |
| Our first lesson is at half past eight. | İlk dersimiz sekiz buçukta. |
| We have a break at ten past ten. | Ona on geçe teneffüse çıkarız. |
| We have lunch at half past twelve. | On iki buçukta öğle yemeği yeriz. |
| School finishes at twenty to four. | Okul dörde yirmi kala biter. |

## Model text: Deniz's school day

This short text describes a routine in the third person; notice the -s and -es endings on the verbs.

“Deniz is ten. She gets up at seven and goes to school by bus. Her first lesson is English, and she likes it a lot. At break, she plays in the playground. After school, she does her homework and reads a book.”

After reading it together, ask your child to rewrite it about themselves with “I”: “She gets up” becomes “I get up”, and they see for themselves that the -s disappears.

## Phrases heard in class

“Open your books.”, “Listen, please.”, “Work in pairs.”, “Can I go to the toilet, please?”, “I don't understand.”, “Can you help me?” The last three matter most, because they let a child speak up in class.

## Asking for help and permission in class

For a child, saying what they need matters as much as understanding instructions. These phrases are enough to ask for help, hear something again and ask for permission.

- “How do you spell ‘library’?”
- “Can you say that again, please?”
- “What does ‘ruler’ mean?”
- “Can I borrow a pencil, please?”
- “I've finished.”

Practise “How do you spell…?” at home as a game: you name a classroom object and your child spells it with the English letter names: “R-U-L-E-R”.

## Common mistakes

These mistakes usually come from translating a sentence word for word from Turkish.

Common mistakes in school English

| Wrong | Right | Why |
| --- | --- | --- |
| I make my homework. | I do my homework. | Homework takes “do”. |
| I go to school with bus. | I go to school by bus. | Means of transport take “by”. |
| We have English in Monday. | We have English on Monday. | Days of the week take “on”. |
| Close the light, please. | Turn off the light, please. | Lights and devices are turned off. |

When correcting, don't stop your child; just repeat the right sentence naturally: “Oh, you do your homework. Good.”

To keep going, see [How can I help with my child's English homework? A parent's guide](https://grammardots.com/en/blog/help-with-english-homework-parents-guide) and [First English words for children: colours, numbers, animals, and the body](https://grammardots.com/en/blog/first-english-words-for-kids).

## Frequently asked questions

### “Rubber” or “eraser”?

British English says “rubber” and American English “eraser”; use the one your child's school teaches.

### What if my child is shy about speaking in class?

Rehearsing a few phrases at home through play, like “Can I go to the toilet, please?” and “I don't understand.”, builds confidence.

### Are school subjects written with a capital letter?

Languages always are: English, Turkish. Other subjects such as maths, science and art are usually written in lower case inside a sentence.