New year, new students, it’s time to build community, set expectations, and create a thriving classroom environment. This is the first of a series of blogs featuring some of our favorite back to school activities. Today Name Games and Get to Know You Activities.
Name Games
Before jumping into name games it is so important that students learn how to pronounce each other’s names correctly. Two great books to prompt this conversation are:
After reading these books you can have students create illustrated name tags and can even have students teach the class to “sing” their names. Once students have learned how the say the names it’s time to practice who is who with some name games!
Name Bop
Have students stand in a circle. Go around the circle and have everyone say their name. Then have all the students but their arms out in front of the them with their hands in fists. Select one student to go into the middle of the circle. They will be the bopper. The game begins with one of the students in the circle saying a name. The bopper will then race towards the person whose name was said and try to bop them on the hands before they can say the name of someone else in the circle. If the bopper bops them before they say a name, they become the new bopper. Students must keep their arms out, if they pull them away to avoid being bopped they automatically become the bopper. This game is fun, silly, and active and has been a favorite in our classrooms for years!
Name Drop
For name drop you will need a dark colored sheet, a picnic blanket, or old comforter of some kind. Start by splitting the class into 2 teams. Next stretch the sheet across the playing area and have one team sit on each side. Then, quietly, and using gestures, each team selects one student and sends them up to the sheet. When both teams have a player in front of the sheet you count down, 3, 2, 1, and then drop the sheet. The players look to see who is sitting across from them and try to say their name. The first player to say the other players name (correctly) wins the round and the player who lost joins their team. Play continues until all the players end up on one team. One teacher tip, if you notice not all students are getting a chance to go you can make a rule like everyone has to go one time before someone goes again.
Get to Know You
Here are some ideas to help your students get to know each other better!
Get to Know You Bingo
Get to Know You Bingo is a great way to get students up out of their seats and learning about each other. Students travel around the room asking each other questions about the squares on the Bingo Board looking to find people who can “sign” that the square is true for them.
To launch this activity it is a good idea to model asking questions. Ask a student to join you and ask them one of the items of the Bingo Board like, “Have you visited a museum?” if they say yes they sign your board across the square (we recommend kids using markers) if they say no you can ask them a second question or model walking up to someone else and asking them. Remind students that they can’t just go up to people and say “sign this!” The goal is to get as many bingos as you can.
The board above has picture clues to help students with limited language or limited english participate by pointing to the pictures. You can purchase a copy here. It can also be fun to customize a board for the interests of the students in your class. You can add local places and more specifics with this FREE editable board. When the activity is over it can be fun to go through the squares and ask, “Who had someone who signed ____ square?” Then students can share about why they signed it. For example, “Who had someone sign that they visited an amusement park?” Then the student they said signed it can share about the trip. It’s a great way to learn more about each other.
Two Truths and A Lie
This classic game is a great way for students to learn more about each other and gives them an opportunity to share about themselves. All they have to do is think about 2 true statements about themselves and 1 lie. Then they share them with the class. Next the other students try to guess which one is true and which one is a lie. You can do this by calling on volunteers or by having students put up fingers to vote. 1 finger if they think the first statement is a lie, 2 fingers if they think the second statement is a lie, and 3 fingers if they think the third statement is a lie. If you want your students to write down their statements, we have a free worksheet!
Time Capsule
Time capsules are a great way for students to share more about themselves at the beginning of the year. After students complete them you can have them share them with a small group or do a whole class share. Then you can stash them away in a safe place and pull them out at the end of the year. You can even make it into a game where you pull out 1 sheet at a time and share clues about the mystery person and see if the class can guess whose sheet it is. Students love seeing how they have changed over the year. Is pink still their favorite color? Has their favorite book changed? Have they grown? Did their drawing skills improve?
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