Ice+-Breakers




 * Every veteran teacher has his or her favorite first-day-of-school activities. Here are a few of them..Let me hear about your favorites too!**

After the students sit and I take roll, I ask them to take out a sheet of paper and a pen or pencil for their first test of the school year. I explain to them -- in complete seriousness, of course -- that this will be the hardest test of the entire year because they have not prepared in class for the test. I have them title the paper "Teacher." I ask them to answer all parts of each question. The questions might include Where was I born?, What does my father do for a living?, How many brothers and/or sisters do I have -- if any?, How many different states have I called home?, Where did I go to high school and college?, How old am I?, What is my favorite color?, What kind of car do I drive? The test can be as long or short as you wish; make the questions fit the things you would want them to know. You can imagine the looks on their faces when asked these questions. I tell them they received their very first 100 in my class if they answered all of the questions correctly! At the end of the "test," I give the answers, and the kids marvel at the discrepancy of their answers. One of my favorite things to see is a student who was in my class the previous year. They always think they'll make a 100. They never do! With younger students, when they're right they think they can predict the future!
 * Already a Test!**

To get communication going between students who aren't necessarily friends, I start the year off with a game of BINGO. I make up BINGO cards for the students. Each square on the card includes a brief description. Examples: Visited Florida this summer, Is an avid waterskier, Has a big brother and little sister, Was born in another country, Lives nearest the school, Learned how to skateboard this summer, Didn't see the movie //Titanic,// Likes anchovies on pizza, Was born in the same month as you, Has a brother or sister in the same school, Favorite subject is science, Has an ear pierced more than once, Father's name is Jim, Read more than one book this summer, Speaks two languages, Has two pets. Students walk around the room and get the signature of someone who fits the specific description in each box. The goal is to be the first to student to fill the BINGO card with signatures. To make it harder, have students fill every square with a different student's signature and set a time limit. When a student has a BINGO (one name signed per square) give the person a small prize, such as being first in line that day. This is a great way to learn special things about your students and help get them to know one another. An alternative: Set this up as a scavenger hunt with a series of questions, each question with a line beside it. Students are given a time limit to circle the classroom and find someone who has "been there, done that." That "someone" writes her or his name in the blank space.
 * BINGO-Scavenger Hunt!**

Pass out BINGO cards to students. Each square on this card contains a question. (Click [|here] for a sample card created by teacher Peg Teeter.) Have each student fill in the answers for ALL questions beside number 1. Wait for all students to finish. Then students find classmates with the same answers written in each box. The classmate with a matching answer prints his or her initials on line 2. Give a prize to any or all who get a BINGO!
 * BINGO Times 2**

One of my objectives is to get the kids used to "true participation" and to the idea that being wrong can lead to being right! Playing Twenty Questions is a great tie-in to what I start class with the following day -- how sometimes we learn as much or more from being wrong as from being right. The game is easy and requires no set-up or materials. I choose an item in the room, and students have to guess what it is. They can ask only questions that I can answer with either yes or no. For example: "Is it blue?", "Is it in the front half of the room?" The person who finally gets it gets to be the next yes-no person. I stress that that person would never have gotten it without everybody else's help; the "no" answers helped as much as the "yes" answers did. I also get to be a participant and to point out that sometimes I am wrong too! The tone of friendly cooperation on the first day lasts into the school year, and the first day becomes part of a lesson, not just a day of record keeping
 * Twenty Questions**

Students use colorful markers to write their names in big letters on a sheet of drawing paper. Under their names, they write several sentences describing themselves, for example, favorite things, family info, hobbies, and pet info. Then hand out blank puzzles (which can be found in craft stores -- cheap!). Privately -- perhaps behind a folder upright on their desks -- students illustrate on the blank puzzles the interests and information on their name sheets. They break up their puzzles and place the pieces in a brown paper bag with a question mark on the front. Post the large papers with the descriptive sentences on a bulletin board and, beneath that display, line up all the paper bags full of puzzle pieces. Throughout the week, during free time, students can choose a bag, put the puzzle together, compare the puzzle with the posted sentences, and guess which classmate it may be. At the end of the week look at guesses, and find out whose puzzle is really whose.
 * Puzzling Activity**

Each day throughout the school year, I introduce a Word of the Day. The first day's word is //unique.// I write the word on the board and ask students to read the word. (I don't recall any of my third graders ever identifying the word without a few clues. My last clue, using proper emphasis, is usually "This word is a //unique// word!") Then I use the word in several statements, the last of which is "Each of us is unique." We talk about ways in which we're each unique. I'm the only one more than 6 feet tall. Mia is the only one who's wearing a pink shirt. Sam is the only one of us who has a pet ferret. (I learned this from the previous activity.) And so it goes. Next step: Out comes the roll of white mural paper. I tear off a sheet about 10 feet long. Sometime during the day, each child goes out into the hallway and uses markers to draw his or her name on the mural paper. "Make it unique!" is my only direction. I start out by writing "Mr. H" in big bubble letters inside an explosion design such as you see declaring NEW! or IMPROVED on product packaging in the grocery store. I draw colorful polka dots inside the bubble letters. When completed, this colorful mural makes a great hallway bulletin board under the cutout-letter headline We Are All Unique! I can also see from this activity who some of the truly unique characters will be in my new class
 * We are all unique!**