8 Back to School Activities To Get To Know Your Students Infographic

8 Effective Ways To Get To Know Your Students Infographic

1. The silent line
   Students must silently form a line as quickly as possible with criteria dictated by the teacher. The whole group will form just one line. Criteria can be varied: height, shirt color, hair color, etc.
2. Ready, set, group
   Students should form groups as quickly as possible with criteria dictated by the teacher. (Eg: get in a group of three with people who have the same favorite color as you do). Students will have to talk to one another quickly and arrange themselves. Consider timing the activity.
3. Toss the name ball
   While sitting in a circle, one person holds a ball. They state their name, and then toss the ball to someone else. The person who catches the ball must state the previous person’s name, then add their own name before passing the ball again. Each person must repeat all of the names that came before theirs. If the ball is dropped, the process must re-start at the beginning – giving lots of incentive to not drop the ball!
4. Cross if you…
   The group should be arranged seated in a circle of chairs with one person in the middle. The middle person says “cross if you..” and adds in a particular criteria. (Eg, Cross if you are wearing blue shoes, or cross if you have brown hair). Everyone who meets that criteria must leave their seat and find a new one. At that time, the person in the middle also leaves to find a seat in the circle. There will always be one person for whom there is no chair, so that person then goes to the middle and selects the next criteria.
5. Snowball fight
   Each student takes a sheet of white paper and writes on it: a) one thing they are excited about, b) one thing they are nervous about, and c) one thing they’d like to learn. Everyone then crumples their paper into a ‘snowball’, and they are gathered in the center of the room. Each person then picks a snowball (not their own!) and has to go find and talk to the person it belongs to.
6. Truth vs. lie
   "Each person in the group should think of 2 facts about themselves, as well as one lie. In turn, they present their three ‘facts’ to the rest of the group, who have to collectively discern which item was a lie.
7. Foodie friends
   This is a fun variation on the name game. The first student says their name and a food that begins with the name letter as their first name. (eg. Cauliflower Carrie). The following student repeats that before adding their name and food. By the time you reach the last person in the group, they will have to repeat each person’s name and food. The repetition and food association helps everyone remember!
8. A poem about me
   Have your students write a 5-7 line poem about yourself. The teacher should delineate what each line should cover (eg. 1st line = your name, 2nd line = 3 things you love, etc). You can tailor this activity to any age group or subject matter. Have the class share their poems however you choose.