Getting to Know You Activities
We are now in July! It is crazy how fast summer flies by! One of the biggest parts of a new school year is taking the time to start building relationships with our students. We also want our students to be excited about coming back to school and our classrooms. It is harder than ever to win over students engagement, and we want to start right off the bat building an engaging environment. Here are a few activities to help you get to know your students and build engagement right off the bat!
Paper Airplane Questionnaire
This activity is a fun way to learn a bit more about students outside of the ordinary questions. You can complete this activity in the classroom, the hallway, or outside. Students will write a question on the piece of paper. I try to get my students to think outside the box when creating questions and provide students with a few different examples. Once students have written directions, I ask if any students know how to make a paper airplane. I will then pick a student to teach the class how to make a paper airplane. We quickly make our airplanes and then we go over the next phase of the activity. Students will throw the airplanes until I say stop. They can pick up other airplanes and continue to throw them until they hear stop. Once students hear me say stop, they pick up a plane and sit down. I always participate in this activity and start with my question. Once I am done answering the question, I will say the student's name that wrote the question. It is then their turn to read their question and answer. We go through this until everyone has participated.
**Before this activity, I start by reviewing our class expectations.**
Masquerade Ball Activity
This is a great activity to learn about your students and an introduction into their writing. This activity starts by introducing what masquerade means. You could watch a clip from Phantom of the Opera to build excitement. Next, you will introduce three types of masks that we wear: chameleon, normal, and everything's okay. Discuss the different types and ask students if they can think of any other masks we may wear. Students will then pick out a mask template or create their own. They have the remainder of the time to decorate their own mask. The next day, students will then write about what type of mask they wear. Look at the Presentation to see an example. Once students have finished their masks and paragraphs, we celebrate with a "masquerade ball". I buy a few decorations and bring a treat of some sort. There are a few ways that you can have the students share. You can have everyone in a circle and share out to the whole class. You could also start by talking about communicating in social settings and use it as an opportunity to practice talking one-on-one. Students will then mingle with each other while wearing their masks. They will talk about the mask that they wear and can read straight from their paragraph or elaborate from that. The students should make it a priority to try to talk to everyone before time is up. You should mingle and discuss with the students, as well.
Speed Meeting (Dating)
This is another great activity to practice communicating and learning about each other. It always amazes me how many students don't know each other's names even though they have been attending the same school. I want my students to feel comfortable and safe with one another. This activity allows students to introduce themselves, ask questions, and talk. Set up your room for speed meeting or complete this activity in a different area in your school (library, hallway, outside, etc.). You can give your students questions or allow them to just have conversations. You should set up the format for your students: introduce yourself, take turns asking each other questions, ask follow up questions/provide a comment based on response. You should sit in the circle, as well. You will then be able to have an individual conference with many students. In order to see all children, create two parts to this activity. You can have one side be the question masters and the ones moving be the answer providers. They will then switch once everyone has been around the rotation once.
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