In elementary schools, kids are still young and often nervous on the first day of school. Often times, a teacher will have a student who is brand new to the school and area. Also, some students might not have any familiar peers from the previous years in this year’s class. Additionally, there may be some language barriers between students. Thus, rather than introducing difficult curriculum, lessen the first day of school jitters with these fun icebreakers. They will help both you and your students relax.
Getting to Know You
There are two objectives to these activities: to get to know your students and to get them to feel comfortable around each other. I always like to give students an Interest Inventory to find out things like their favorite subjects, books and animals. This helps me decide what books to read with my students and other activities to plan during the school year. If you want to be more creative, have students make an “All About Me” book or poster. Students can draw a picture of themselves on the front, and draw and write about their other favorites on subsequent pages. Here is an example for younger students at kidsprintables.com.
Poems or Back to School Writing
Get a writing sample in a fun way by having kids write about their thoughts on the first day of school. They could write an acrostic poem with the words school or back to school. Or they could write a humorous poem about the first day of school. Make it easier on kids by giving them a poem form or open-ended form. Try this Being back to school worksheet or an acrostic poem.
Things in Common “Scavenger Hunt”
Make up a list of 20-30 characteristics like “I have two brothers” or “my eyes are brown.” Put these on a printable sheet and pass out to students. Then, give them about ten minutes to go around the room and ask these questions to other classmates. When they find someone with the characteristic, that person must sign or write their name on their classmate’s paper. This is a great way to get kids talking. Here’s a back to school scavenger hunt in bingo style from worksheetplace.com.
Get to know the Teacher
It seems that kids do better in school if they have a connection to their teacher. An easy way to do this is to spend a short amount of time telling them about you. I always used to bring in pictures of my four animals. Most kids love animals, thus they enjoyed seeing the pictures and having me tell them about my animals. You can also bring in pictures of your family. If you have any interesting collections or hobbies, this would be a good time to share this with them.
Q and A
Elementary students, especially the younger ones, are probably interested about their teacher. Give them the opportunity to ask you a question without felling nervous but letting them write a question on a note card and putting it in a paper bag. Before recess, lunch and dismissal take about five minutes to pull out the questions, read it and answer it.
Have a great first day back!
Sources:
kidsprintables.com
worksheetplace.comprintables.scholastic.com
