Are you back at school? Most, if not all, schools have reopened for the new year and days have been filled with getting to know new students, setting ground rules and tackling the task of covering all required work before the first set of assessments.
The first few weeks ( as well as the last few, and everything in between) prove to be rushed and fly by with many tasks to be accomplished.
I always found to spend time at the beginning of the year building my new class as a ‘family’ worked well for us for the rest of the year. I did this by creating opportunities for my students to get to know one another.
I would spend time introducing activities to enable students to get to know each other. Firm favorites were:
Find one person who…
This game entailed each student being given a page containing a list of characteristics. They would then have to move around the class to find people, and record their names in the space provided, who meet the characteristics.
For example, a characteristic could be: “Someone who has a pet bird at home.” or “Someone who enjoys watching cartoons.”
Students will quickly learn about their peers and have an opportunity to speak to and interact with everyone.
You can download my version from Teachers Pay Teachers for FREE. I have also included an editable version in this download so that you can add your own criteria and make it more applicable for your students. I would love you to leave feedback if you find it useful.
What are your goals?
My students sat in groups so would discuss with the rest of the group what their short term and long term goals were. They would discuss with each other possible methods for achieving these goals. Each students would then have an opportunity to report back to the class with one of their group member’s goals and possible solutions in achieving the goals.
I did this activity with my 5th -7th graders. It helped then realize that their goals are achievable if they are prepared to follow a path and put in work to get there.
Getting to Know You Board Game
I designed this fun board game for students to play, not only at the beginning of the year, but throughout it. I used it as an early finisher activity on occasion to help students to move away from their ‘click groups’ and find out about others in their class too.
Should you be interested in using this game in your class, I have listed a version in my Teachers Pay Teachers store. You can purchase it here.
