The first day of grade one is not only daunting for the fresh and squeaky-clean little faces who are eager to start their schooling careers. This time can also be quite stressful for teachers who do not know what to expect from the new personalities they are about to meet.  It’s perhaps not a bad idea to arm yourself with a few “getting to know you” activities which can help ease you and your students into the new environment. So, I have done some research and have compiled a short list of my favourite ice-breakers for young students.

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Three Ice-Breaker Activities for Young Students

ONE

How did you get to school? Give each child the chance to tell you how they got to school that day, record the information and create a graph on your chalk board for them to see the collected data. This way they can see that their classmates all have similar as well as different ways of getting to school.

TWO

My bear. Give each child a black and white print out of a bear and make sure they have some crayons too. Ask them a list of questions and then request that they colour in their bears according to the question. For instance, “do you have any brothers or sisters”, if they answer yes, ask them to colour in the bears ears in blue, if the answer is no, then ask them to colour them red. This ice-breaker is a great way for the students to then compare similarities and differences they have with their peers.

THREE

Name Chase. This is a great way for the kids to learn each other’s names (and to help teachers to remember them too). It is played similarly to the well-known Duck, Duck, Goose game. Instead of using the words duck and goose however, the students are requested to say the name of each classmate as he or she taps them on the head (you might need to help remind kids about each one’s name here). Instead of saying “goose”, the person that is “on” can say the group name, or class name e.g. blue group or rosebud class. It is at this point that the “tagged” classmate will get up and run after his or her peer.

This really is a fun way to start the year off, or even a new term/semester. Allowing the kids to see that school can be fun and that everyone has similarities and differences is one way to get the used to and comfortable in their new environment. Do you have any ice-breaker activities that you would like to share?

Much love - @sweetpea

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