Why are school buses yellow? Which food rubbed out pencil marks before erasers? These 80 back to school trivia questions and answers are about school itself, from pencils to the first day in Japan, and every answer shows a line on why.
Five topics, 80 questions
School supplies and where they came from has 16 questions, from yellow pencils to the oldest globe that survives. School around the world has 15, such as the paper cone German children get on day one. Famous firsts in education has 16, School words 17, and Calendar and number puzzles 16.
Pick questions by age
We mark 19 easy, 35 medium and 26 hard, and the levels are our estimate. The easy ones have three choices and were written for kindergarten to grade 2, such as what crayons are made of. Medium was written for grades 3 to 5, and hard for grades 6 to 8.
Tips
First-day warm-up: open School around the world and let the class vote with raised hands before you press Check answer.
Math warm-up: Calendar and number puzzles needs no facts, only sums. School starts on a Monday, so which weekday is the 100th school day?
Questions and answers
Can I print these back to school trivia questions?
Yes. Pick a Topic, then press Print question sheet while question 1 is on the card, and Print answer key for yourself. A sheet holds up to 20 questions with lettered choices, so each topic fits on one sheet whole.
Why are school buses yellow?
The yellow-orange color was picked because black lettering on it was the easiest to read in semi-darkness. It also stood out at a distance and was unusual enough to become linked with school buses. The question sits in the first topic.
What did the word school first mean?
Spare time. School goes back to the ancient Greek skhole, which meant spare time or leisure. School words has 16 more: pencil comes from the Latin for a little brush, and cafeteria from the Mexican Spanish for coffeehouse.
How were the answers checked?
Each fact was read on September 20, 2026 in the Wikipedia or Wiktionary article linked under its answer, and a script matched every claim to its sentence and worked the 16 sums. Hedged stories stayed out, such as the dunce cap's name.
All About Me Questionnaires to Print3 tools: An all about me sheet is a page of questions that one person answers in their own handwriting, then hands…
A hornbook was a small paddle with the alphabet on it. What covered its lesson sheet to keep it clean?Answer: A thin see-through sheet of animal horn. Source: Wikipedia: Hornbook
A huge find of very pure graphite in the 1500s made the first pencils possible. In which country was it?Answer: England. Source: Wikipedia: Pencil
Before rubber erasers, which food did people use to rub out pencil marks?Answer: Bread without the crust. Source: Wikipedia: Eraser
The first recorded use of chalk on a blackboard in the United States was in 1801. Which subject was being taught?Answer: Mathematics. Source: Wikipedia: Blackboard
How long is a typical desk ruler?Answer: 12 inches. Source: Wikipedia: Ruler
Laszlo Biro was tired of smudged ink and of filling fountain pens, so he worked on the ballpoint pen. What was his job?Answer: Newspaper editor. Source: Wikipedia: Ballpoint pen
Long ago people wrote with quill pens made from feathers. Which bird gave some of the best quills?Answer: The goose. Source: Wikipedia: Quill
Look at the flat end of a common wooden pencil. Which shape do you most often see?Answer: A hexagon, with six sides. Source: Wikipedia: Pencil
Natural chalk is a soft white rock. What is it mostly made from?Answer: The tiny shells of sea plankton. Source: Wikipedia: Chalk
The oldest globe of the Earth that still survives was made in Germany in the early 1490s. What is missing from it?Answer: North and South America. Source: Wikipedia: Erdapfel
Pencil makers mix clay into the core of a pencil. What does more or less clay change?Answer: How hard or soft the core is. Source: Wikipedia: Pencil
What are crayons mostly made of?Answer: Wax. Source: Wikipedia: Crayon
What color are most pencils made in the United States painted?Answer: Yellow. Source: Wikipedia: Pencil
What is a book of maps called?Answer: An atlas. Source: Wikipedia: Atlas
Which stone were the first classroom blackboards made of?Answer: Slate. Source: Wikipedia: Blackboard
Why did a meeting of school bus experts pick yellow for the buses?Answer: Black letters on it were the easiest to read in dim light. Source: Wikipedia: School bus yellow
School around the world 15
A randoseru is a firm backpack given to a child who is starting school. In which country?Answer: Japan. Source: Wikipedia: Randoseru
At show and tell, what does a child bring to class to talk about?Answer: Something from home. Source: Wikipedia: Show and tell (education)
For about 1,300 years, people in China who wanted a government job had to pass what?Answer: A very hard written test. Source: Wikipedia: Imperial examination
In Germany a Gymnasium is not a sports hall. What is it?Answer: A secondary school that prepares students for university. Source: Wikipedia: Gymnasium (school)
In Germany, children get a big paper cone on their first day of school. What is inside it?Answer: Sweets, toys and school supplies. Source: Wikipedia: Schultüte
In Japan, who sets and cleans the tables for school lunch?Answer: The students. Source: Wikipedia: School meal
In Russia the school year traditionally starts on the same date each year, called Knowledge Day. Which date is it?Answer: September 1. Source: Wikipedia: Knowledge Day
In South Korea the school year starts at the beginning of which month?Answer: March. Source: Wikipedia: Academic term
In which month does the school year begin in Japan?Answer: April. Source: Wikipedia: Education in Japan
Kindergarten is a German word. What does it mean?Answer: Garden of children. Source: Wiktionary: kindergarten
On Knowledge Day in Russia, first graders take part in a ceremony named after a sound. What is it called?Answer: The First Bell. Source: Wikipedia: Knowledge Day
Recess is the American word. What is that time of the school day called in the United Kingdom?Answer: Break or playtime. Source: Wikipedia: Recess (break)
Some children in the Australian outback live very far from any school. How did the School of the Air first bring them lessons?Answer: By radio. Source: Wikipedia: School of the Air
When does the school year begin in most of Australia?Answer: Late January or early February. Source: Wikipedia: Academic term
World Teachers' Day is held every year on which date?Answer: October 5. Source: Wikipedia: World Teachers' Day
Famous firsts in education 16
A famous school in ancient Athens stood beside a sacred grove planted for the goddess Athena. Which trees grew in it?Answer: Olive trees. Source: Wikipedia: Platonic Academy
A normal school was a special kind of college. Whom did it train?Answer: Teachers. Source: Wikipedia: Normal school
About 120 million copies of these schoolbooks were sold between 1836 and 1960. What were they?Answer: McGuffey's Readers. Source: Wikipedia: McGuffey Readers
Before Maria Montessori became famous for her schools, which profession did she train for?Answer: Doctor. Source: Wikipedia: Maria Montessori
Boston Latin School has been open since 1635. What does its Latin motto, Sumus Primi, mean?Answer: We are first. Source: Wikipedia: Boston Latin School
Elizabeth Peabody opened the first English-language kindergarten in the United States. In which city?Answer: Boston. Source: Wikipedia: Elizabeth Peabody
The first kindergarten in the United States opened in Watertown, Wisconsin. In which language was it taught?Answer: German. Source: Wikipedia: Kindergarten
The flat square cap worn at graduation is nicknamed the mortarboard. Why?Answer: It looks like the board a bricklayer holds mortar on. Source: Wikipedia: Square academic cap
Horace Mann worked so hard for public schools that he is known by which nickname?Answer: The Father of American Education. Source: Wikipedia: Horace Mann
In 1658 John Amos Comenius made a schoolbook for children that was new in one big way. What did it have?Answer: Pictures. Source: Wikipedia: Orbis Pictus
In 1763 which kingdom set up a modern system that made children go to school?Answer: Prussia. Source: Wikipedia: Compulsory education
In an old one-room school, how many teachers usually taught all the grades?Answer: One. Source: Wikipedia: One-room school
Maria Montessori opened her first school in Rome in 1907. What does its name, Casa dei Bambini, mean?Answer: Children's House. Source: Wikipedia: Maria Montessori
Nalanda was a great center of learning that was built in 427 and lasted for many centuries. In which present-day country are its ruins?Answer: India. Source: Wikipedia: Nalanda mahavihara
Oberlin College in Ohio was founded in 1833. It is the oldest college in the United States of which kind?Answer: One that teaches men and women together. Source: Wikipedia: Oberlin College
Schools are said to teach the Three Rs. What are they?Answer: Reading, writing and arithmetic. Source: Wikipedia: Three Rs
School words 17
A class trip may go to a museum. The word museum goes back to a Greek shrine for whom?Answer: The Muses. Source: Wiktionary: museum
A semester is what part of a school year?Answer: Half. Source: Wiktionary: semester
A thesaurus is a book of words with similar meanings. Its name comes from a Greek word for what?Answer: Treasure. Source: Wiktionary: thesaurus
Cafeteria was borrowed from Mexican Spanish. What did the word mean there?Answer: Coffeehouse. Source: Wiktionary: cafeteria
Campus, the grounds of a school or college, is a Latin word. What does it mean?Answer: Field. Source: Wiktionary: campus
Curriculum, the plan of what a school teaches, comes from a Latin verb. What does the verb mean?Answer: To run. Source: Wiktionary: curriculum
In French, the word crayon means which school tool?Answer: A pencil. Source: Wiktionary: crayon
Janitor comes from the Latin word ianitor. What was a ianitor?Answer: A doorkeeper. Source: Wiktionary: janitor
Library comes from the Latin word liber. What did liber mean?Answer: Book. Source: Wiktionary: library
School sports have a varsity team. Varsity is a clipped form of an old way of saying which word?Answer: University. Source: Wiktionary: varsity
What do dictionaries say about where the word quiz came from?Answer: Nobody knows its origin. Source: Wiktionary: quiz
The word alphabet is made from the names of the first two Greek letters. What are they?Answer: Alpha and beta. Source: Wiktionary: alphabet
The word bus is a short form of which longer word?Answer: Omnibus. Source: Wiktionary: bus
The word pencil goes back to a Latin word for which painter's tool?Answer: A little brush. Source: Wiktionary: pencil
The word school goes back to an ancient Greek word. What did it mean?Answer: Spare time. Source: Wiktionary: school
The word syllabus, the list of what a class will cover, was born by accident. How?Answer: From a mistake in a 1470s printing of an old Roman writer. Source: Wiktionary: syllabus
You get a diploma when you graduate. The word comes from Greek. What did it first mean?Answer: Folded paper. Source: Wiktionary: diploma
Calendar and number puzzles 16
A box holds 12 crayons. You have 2 boxes. How many crayons do you have?Answer: 24. Source: Own work: checked by working it
A class has 26 students. Half ride the bus and 5 walk. The rest come by car. How many come by car?Answer: 8. Source: Own work: checked by working it
A school year has 180 days. 45 of them are over. How many school days are left?Answer: 135. Source: Own work: checked by working it
A teacher needs 60 pencils. Pencils come in packs of 12. How many packs must she buy?Answer: 5. Source: Own work: checked by working it
The first day of school is a Wednesday. Which day of the week is it 10 days later?Answer: Saturday. Source: Own work: checked by working it
In a year when September 1 is a Tuesday, how many Tuesdays does September have?Answer: 5. Source: Own work: checked by working it
It is 7 o'clock in the morning. The school bus comes at 8 o'clock. How long until the bus comes?Answer: One hour. Source: Own work: checked by working it
The lockers in a hall are numbered from 1 to 100. How many of the numbers end in a 7?Answer: 10. Source: Own work: checked by working it
Notebooks cost $3 each and folders cost $2 each. How much do 4 notebooks and 3 folders cost?Answer: $18. Source: Own work: checked by working it
School runs from 8:30 in the morning until 3:00 in the afternoon. How long is the school day?Answer: 6 and a half hours. Source: Own work: checked by working it
School starts on a Monday and there are no days off. On which day of the week does the 100th school day fall?Answer: Friday. Source: Own work: checked by working it
September has 30 days and October has 31. How many days is that in all?Answer: 61. Source: Own work: checked by working it
Today is Friday, September 13. What is the date next Friday?Answer: September 20. Source: Own work: checked by working it
You go to school on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. How many school days is that?Answer: 5. Source: Own work: checked by working it
You must read a book of 120 pages. You read 15 pages each night. How many nights will it take?Answer: 8. Source: Own work: checked by working it
Your class has 10 girls and 9 boys. How many children are in the class?Answer: 19. Source: Own work: checked by working it
How this list was compiled
Written for this site; nothing was copied from another list. Every question, wrong choice and explanation is our own wording. Each fact answer, and every extra claim in an explanation, was read on 2026-09-20 in the English Wikipedia or English Wiktionary article named and linked beside the question: the article text was fetched that day, a script matched each claim to the sentence that states it, and every matched sentence was then read. The 16 calendar and number puzzles are our own work, and a script worked each sum. Levels are our estimate. No question repeats word for word in the site's other grade, crowd, subject or occasion trivia packs as they stood on 2026-09-20. Set aside because a grade pack or another sibling pack already asks it: what pencil lead is made of, the protractor, the drawing compass, who invented paper, the color of a school bus and the year it was chosen, what a globe is, the abacus, the first mechanical calculator, where the words calculus, algebra, zero and trivia come from, Braille, the oldest university in Europe, the oldest college in the United States, the first American dictionary, the pencil with an eraser on its end and the spelling bee. Not asked because the article hedges: where the dunce cap got its name, who invented the index card and where the word randoseru comes from. Not asked because the fact moves with time: the age at which school starts in each country, school fees, class sizes and any ranking of schools. Start dates for other countries follow the Wikipedia articles as they read that day. Licence: own work