Each year, we fear we may not be able to come up with a dozen new icebreaker activities to help teachers get to know their students — and to help students get to know one another — and each year the e-mails keep coming in. This year, we introduce more than 25 new teacher-tested getting-to-know-you activities in two new volumes.
Looking for a way to calm those first-day-of-school jitters — for your students and yourself? Why not try an “icebreaker”? Icebreakers, fun activities to help students get to know one another and their teachers, can ease those first-day nerves and get the school year off to a great start.
The children hide their faces with the puppets and tell their classmates all about their families, hobbies, pets, etc.
I give everyone a white sheet of paper. Along with their name, I ask them to write one thing they are excited about, one thing they are nervous about, and one thing they would like to learn. (They can draw a picture if they aren’t able to write yet.) We wad it up and have a snowball fight with our paper. Then, we all pick up a snowball and read the information. Next, we have to find who it belongs to. This is great for getting to know each other and seeing what their fears and expectations really are. At the end of the year, it’s usually what they remember most.
On the first day of school, I introduce myself to the class, and I tell them that they are going to unscramble some words that I have placed on the board. The scrambled words are a list of my favorite things, but I do not reaveal this to the students.