Are you the kind of teacher who was dreading the end of summer, or were you excited to get back to a routine and your students? I admit, I was the first example. I didn’t want to give up my lazy mornings, my lunch with friends, my time with my hubby, and just being “Summer Judi.” Believe it or not, not all students will be as excited to be back on their first day either. When you are a middle school teacher, that is not a shocker. Give them time to talk to friends with some ice-breakers.
Day 1 With Staff
On the first day back to work , I dreaded the routine meetings, the absolutely dreaded “skit” of introducing new staff members that we did each year, and I dreaded having to talk to people in the morning. Ha.
Happily, I was surprised my first day back. Our school has a new principal, and he gave his welcome to staff, we didn’t have to do the skit, and the best part was the ice-breaker we did. The staff competed in groups for a “Selfie/’Usie’ Scavenger Hunt.” We broke into groups, making sure we included at least a new staff member, and we were given a list of things we had to find around the school. We had to complete each task, take a picture of the whole group doing it, and then text it to our administrators. Running around the school like our students would, we tried to get it done before everyone else. I’ve included some of the tasks below:
To be honest, this is the only thing I remember about our first day. I loved being in a group with people I don’t normally see throughout the day, and it was fun to get to know one of our new staff members.
Day 1 With Students
This could be a great activity to do with your students, either with their phones, Ipads, or cameras. Not sure about having your students run around school on the first day? “Roll It Get To Know You” Yahtzee is another fun ice-breaker. I found this as a free download on Teachers Pay Teachers. Thank you, Carol Miller, for offering it for free. I made the mistake of assuming that most kids had played Yahtzee before, and it was more difficult to explain at first than I had planned. They enjoyed the game once they got the hang of it. How do I know? They asked if they could play it again the next day.
What’s the point of this blog post? Don’t be that teacher that goes over the rules and syllabus your very first day. Give kids a chance to get to know each other and have some fun. Be that class that students will talk about when they get home when their parents ask about their day. I have a feeling you will have kids excited to come to your class that very next day.
Whiteboard Trivia
On an extra note, for some students it’s uncomfortable to come in to the classroom for the first time and not know what do until class starts. Write a question on the whiteboard and encourage them to answer it while they are waiting. You can read more about “Whiteboard Trivia” on my old blog.
I LOVE all of these ideas! Like you, as a teacher I went with dragging feet to the first staff meeting knowing it was going to be same old, same old. I would have loved seeing my 5’1″ overweight principal slide down a stair rail! I be bad…..