Fun and Easy Icebreakers for the First Day of School

Here are some fun ideas for getting your students acquainted and putting them at ease as you begin your new school year adventure.

1.  Cut pieces of string or yarn in different lengths.  Make two pieces of each length, and just enough, in total, for each student to get a piece of string.  Have students walk around the classroom looking for the person whose piece of string matches their own.  When they find their partner, students will visit and learn a bit about each other.  Then, call on students in pairs, to come to the front of the room and introduce their partners.  Each students need to tell the name of his or her partner, and one or two facts about them.

2.  Get your students up and moving by having them find those with whom they have something in common.  For example, tell students to find a partner who has the same color eyes that they have.  Students will move around the room until they pair up with someone, then they need to learn that person’s name and one thing about him or her.  Then, give another direction, such as finding a partner who gets to school the same way you do (bus, walk, car, bike, etc.).  Do several of these so students become familiar with classmates, and lose their nervousness.  You may want to tell students that they have to find a new partner each time.

3.  You’ll need a good-sized space for this activity.  If you don’t have space in your classroom, you could go out to the playground.  Divide the space into two parts by putting a strip of tape down the middle.  Tell students to stand on whichever side they would like.  Then ask everyone to “switch sides if” the following statement applies to them.  Here are some examples:

          Switch sides if you rode the bus to school today.

          Switch sides if you love math.

          Switch sides if you have two or more brothers

          Switch sides if you were in Mr. _______’s class last year.

          Switch sides if you were excited for school to start.

Each time there is a switch made, students need to share a detail with someone on the same side of the tape.  For instance, if the switch came because of the number of brothers, student would tell someone near them, “I have three brothers.” etc.

4. I love to start the school year with the book Chrysanthemum by Keven Henkes, and this is a great icebreaker to go with that story.  Have each student count the number of letters in his or her first name.  Then have them find a classmate who has the same number of letters. If they can’t find a partner, pair them up with someone else who has no one with the same number of letters.  Students can then ask their partner questions about their name. such as:

         Do you like your name?  Do you have a nickname?  Do you know anyone else who has the same name you have?   If you could change your name, what would it be?

You could have partners introduce each other to the class by sharing what they learned about the partner’s name.  You could also have a graph prepared, and students could work with their partners to graph the number of letters in their names.  

Classroom Management Tips for the First Day of School

Don't know where the summer's gone, but it is going fast!  As we approach the end of July, it is time to start thinking about starting a new year with a new group of students.  Here are a few tips for getting your year off to a fabulous start!

 

1.  You have only one chance to start the year off right.  Plan and prepare for a day that will set the tone and expectations for the whole year.

2.  Smile and be approachable.  When I started teaching, several veteran teachers advised me “not to smile until Christmas”.  That was not good advice for creating a classroom environment that is warm and supportive.

3.   Set your expectations high.  Be specific about what you expect from students.  Teach routines and procedures explicitly.  Model and practice them.  Practice them again.  If students don’t perform routines and procedures as you expect them to, stop and re-teach, then have them do it again.  Time that you spend in teaching procedures is an investment that will pay high dividends.

4.  Teach a routine for everything—what to do when you enter the classroom in the morning, how to hand in your homework, how to line up, how to pass papers down the row, etc.

5.  Don’t relax your expectations at the end of the day.  When it’s time to send them off, stick to your end-of-day procedure.  Model and practice how you need your students to clean up the classroom and get organized to leave.  Again, if they don’t follow expectations, stop and try it again.

6.  Spend time as needed throughout the first days, and even weeks, of school to make sure that routines become routine.  Whenever you see a problem, stop and re-teach.  If you become lax with your expectations, behavior will start to deteriorate.

How NOT to Liven Up a Math Lesson

Sigh of relief!  I am always so glad when the new school year is underway, the routines have been taught, and we’ve settled in.  The first few weeks of school this year seemed especially hectic, perhaps because we got a new math program, which we are still trying to figure out, and we have larger classes than last year—each of us on the third grade team with a full share of students whose needs require extra attention.  Last Thursday, I did the most embarrassing thing I’ve ever done in the classroom—I tripped over a student’s chair and fell down.  I tried to save myself as I went down, to no avail.  I went down on my back and just laid there for a few seconds.  Kids started yelling, “Is she dead, is she dead?”  You can imagine the uproar.  Lying there on my back on the floor, I said, “No, I’m not dead, just really embarrassed.”  Well, that really enlivened the math lesson!  I think I’ll try to find simpler ways to bring excitement to the lesson next time!

Back to School

Well, it's time.  The summer has flown by.  It's time to shake off the cobwebs and get back to it!  For me, this is the 35th time I've been on the teacher side of "Back to School".  It is always a little bitter-sweet.  Summer is just so wonderful, with a relaxed attitude and schedule, but it is so exciting and fun to start again with a whole classroom full of new possibilities.  I don't know any other profession that has so many opportunities to "start". 

One thing that really helps with the craziness of starting over, is to have a standard back to school to-do list.  You know, the things that you need to do every year, but since you only do them once a year, it's easy to forget.  Things like supplies to get from office, copying your parent info packet, making desk top name tags, etc.

I also like to have some items calendared for the entire year.  I always make a year-long plan for my small-group reading instruction.  I select comprehension skill to be emphasized, the reading text that will be used (a combination of selections from 3 different reading basals and various trade books), and determine how many days will be spent on the lesson.  By the way, I don't believe in ever throwing away basal reading texts.  You can ALWAYS use the selections from basal readers.

I usually have a math calendar in place, as well.  This is based on the pacing guide from my district, and core concepts and skills that drive the curriculum.  This year, we will have a new math program, Go Math! and I have not yet received the pacing guide.  That will come next week.  I'm anxious to get the plan laid out for the year.  For me, it is so helpful to have these major pieces of my planning in place for the year.  When I finish a unit, I don't spend any time wondering what to do next.  That is already decided.

Starting the Year with Chrysanthemum

I love to start the school year with the book Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes.  I read it to my class, then we read it together--I have a class set of the books.  We do several activities with character, setting, plot, and sequencing.   We also do some vocabulary and comprehension activities.  My students' first weekly vocabulary assessment will be with vocabulary words from this story.  We also do several activities focused on our own names.  Students have a homework assignment to talk about their own names with their parents.  They write a paragraph about their names after having this chat with their parents.  We make a bar graph based on the number of letters in our names.  Students make a colorful poster of their names.  Kids love to learn about their names and talk about their names.  This short little unit is a great vehicle for getting to know your kids!  These activities are available on Teachers Pay Teachers.  For a limited time, the unit is being offered free.  You can find it here: www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Chrysanthemum-Reading-Guide
Have a great start to a great school year!