Kate Beckinsale

NEW YORK — Fresh pencils and the perfect lunchbox, new clothes and the hottest notebooks. In the wind down of summer as we head into fall, a variety of celebrities time-tripped back to childhood, sharing favorite moments preparing for the first day of school.

“I went to a military school. Oddly enough, every fall when it came up, the idea of putting on the uniform and going back to school was very exciting,” recalled Joe Morton of ABC's “Scandal.”

For Katy Mixon, who stars in ABC's “American Housewife,” it was all about the duds.

“Going clothes shopping. I grew up in a family of seven — six girls and one boy. My mama used to always take us to go get those back-to-school clothes, and I loved it.”

Kelly McCreary of ABC's “Grey's Anatomy” was all about the paper products.

“I still love a great new notebook. Super nerd,” she said.

Her fellow cast member, Jason Winston George, had other favorite gear.

“Lunch boxes. It was all about the new lunch boxes and the backpack. Lunchbox and backpack, that was my joint,” he said.

Ian Ziering, who stars in Syfy's “Sharknado 5: Global Swarming,” has passed down one of his parents' back-to-school traditions to his two kids.

“It's taking a picture in front of the house, in front of the front door. We do it every year with my kids with a little sign: Kindergarten, first day of kindergarten, first day of first grade. It's great. I have that from my childhood and now my kids have that,” he said. “It's just a great picture to look back on.”

Kaitlyn Dever, in the summer film “Detroit,” said it was all about first-day fashion.

“You gotta bring it first day, and my mom would always get me something so rad and so cool,” she said. “I would always be coordinated with my sister, who's two years younger than me.”

Kate Beckinsale, who's in the new film, “The Only Living Boy in New York,” loved the idea of marking time as the school years passed.

“You could completely reinvent yourself every year, if you wanted to, defined by your backpack and your pencil case. I still like that, the smell of sharpening pencils and all new erasers,” she said.

Fellow cast member Kiersey Clemons has three little sisters.

“Taking them school shopping for the supplies and the backpacks and everything, that is my favorite thing,” she smiled.