Back+to+School

= **If you have any tips, questions or ideas about the first days back please share them!** =

//**Games/ Ice Breakers**//
- Partner Introductions: Students pair up and one is A, one is B. A has one full minute to ask questions about everything he/she doesn't know about B. Then B has one full minute to answer all the questions he/she is comfortable with. Then they switch, and A introduces B to the class and vice versa. - Name Wave: Students form a circle and come up with some physical way for everyone to remember their name (dance move, syllabic clap, etc). They do it, then the person next to them does it, and it continues all the way around the circle. - Getting to know you bingo: These must be all over the internet; make a bingo card with things like "Someone who went on vacation outside of your state" "Someone who loves ice cream" "Someone who read Diary of a Wimpy Kid" etc. Students have to find the name of a student who matches the description in order to cross them off on their bingo card. - Making Nametags: I've done this where they have to use symbols to help us learn about them. For example, a letter I might be a paintbrush for someone who likes art, an S might be a snake for a snake-lover. - Acrostic Name Poem - What's in the Sack: I read the poem "What's in the Sack?" by Shel Silverstein then present a sack with 5 items that tell the class about me (my favorite stuffed animal, favorite book, my daughter's socks, etc). Their homework assignment for the first night is to decorate and fill their own sacks to share with the class the first week. - Snowball Fight w/Class Rules: On a piece of paper, I write the words "Respect Looks Like" w/space below then "Safety Looks Like" and "Learning Looks Like" (or something to that effect). I make enough copies for everyone then pass them out. I tell students to start at the top and write one way they can show respect in our classroom. Once they finish, I tell them to crumple the page into a ball. They have 20 seconds to have a "snowball fight" throwing it across the room and picking up other "snowballs". After 20 seconds is up, they have to find a snowball, open it up and write another way they can show respect. Repeat for the other rule prompts, then share and record as a group to create your class rules. - Student Surveys/Guess Who: Create a survey asking students about their families and favorites that they fill out the first day. Then each morning, play Guess Who by saying "This person has two sisters... likes burgers.."etc.