The photo on the front porch
The most common US first-day-of-school tradition is the front-porch photo with a chalkboard or sign listing the grade, the teacher, and the date. The tradition is worth marking on the printed calendar two days in advance — buy or refresh the chalkboard the weekend before the first day, and confirm the morning routine so the photo is taken before the bus or carpool arrives, not after.
The first-week meal plan
The first week of school is the worst week of the year for evening cooking energy. A common tradition is to plan five extremely simple dinners for the first week and stock them on the weekend before. Mark the meal plan on the printed calendar so it doesn't get re-decided every evening.
The new-school-supplies unboxing
For elementary students, the ritual of opening new school supplies the night before the first day is widely adopted and surprisingly powerful for first-day anxiety. The printed calendar should show the supply-pickup or supply-shopping day a week before the first day so the unboxing can happen on the right night.
The first parent-PTA meeting
Most schools schedule the first PTA meeting in the second or third week of September. For new families, this is the most useful first-month event to attend; it produces both a better view of the school's culture and the first round of parent friendships. Mark it on the printed calendar in August so it doesn't get crowded out by the rush of first-month commitments.
The first-month review
A less common but powerful tradition is a single dinner conversation at the end of the first month of school: what is working, what is hard, what one thing the student wants to change. Mark the dinner on the printed calendar for the last weekend of September. The conversation produces a much better second month than a default rolling-forward approach.