The first week of school sets the tone for the entire year. It's an important time to build community, ease anxieties, and ignite excitement for learning! Teachers, you’re probably looking for some new, engaging icebreaker activities to complete with your students. We have three activities that are perfect for you!
Materials:
scissors
brass fasteners
writing and coloring utensils
Activity #1: All-About-Me Wheel
Try this interactive activity to learn more about your students! Print copies of both pages of this template for all your students. You may wish to print on cardstock for extra durability. Have students write their name large on the line on the first circle. For kindergarteners, consider writing the names ahead of time with dotted lines and letting the students trace it.
Next, students will fill in each of the four sections on the second wheel. Older students can both write and draw their answers, while younger students can stick to only drawing their answers.
Have students cut out both circles on the dotted lines. This provides the perfect opportunity to discuss scissor safety as well as any classroom procedures for cleaning up scraps.
Finally, help students to attach the front circle to the back circle using a brass fastener. They now have their all-about-me spinners! Encourage students to get to know each other by sharing their spinners with a small group or with different partners. If your school has a Back-to-School Night, this would be a perfect craft to display on students’ desks.
Activity #2: First Day Feelings Bar Graph
This activity is a great way to incorporate math skills on your first day of school. You can choose to print out a copy for each student or simply display the graph on the board to complete as a class.
If completing the activity as a class, read each feeling and ask students to stand up if they are feeling that emotion. Count the number of students for each feeling and record on the graph. You can even pick students to come up to the board and color in the bar graph.
If each student has their own copy, you can repeat the first few steps from above, but have each student record the data on their own individual graph.
This activity also has a bonus component of social-emotional learning! Be sure to talk about each emotion and why students might be feeling this emotion. Don’t forget to mention that all feelings are important and okay!
Activity #3: All-About-Me Task Cards
Need an activity to get your students up and moving? These task cards are perfect! Print and cut out all 30 task cards. You can put one on each desk or tape them to different spots around the room.
Give each student a copy of the recording sheet. Encourage students to walk calmly to each card and answer the question.
At the end of the activity, you can ask each question and have a few students read their answers from the answer sheet.
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Be sure to try out these three engaging activities with your students! For more fun back-to-school activities, check out this page on Super Teacher Worksheets. We hope you have an amazing year full of fun and learning!
