First Day Tried and True Linky Party

Howdy! I am Tricia from Tricia’s Terrific Teaching Trinkets! So excited to be a part of this linky party.  Let’s get this party started!

I love the first day of school!  The night before the first day, I am a bit nervous and have a hard time sleeping… just like my kiddos.

Here is my favorite icebreaker community builder game.

“Guess the Kiddo”

Age Group:  Kindergarten through Third Grade
Materials:  A name tag for each new student, a seating chart, and a silly personality

Preparation
The night before school I finish up name tags for my new students and draw a classroom seating chart where I will place each student to sit on the first day of school.

Then I memorize the seating chart –  sometimes not as easy as it sounds.

How to Play
On the first day of school, after I introduce myself to the class and tell them a little bit about myself, my family and my teaching career, I tell my students that even through we have never met, I know each one of them by name.  I tell my students that I have “special powers” and as I hand out each nametag necklace, I will be able to find them. No peeking so cover those desk tags.

Then I begin my “acting”…sometimes I sniff looking for a student, look into their ear or come very close to their face. I may call them a wrong name like Darth Vader, Kevin the Minion or whatever movies/books/musicians are popular that August.

Once I find the student, I ask them one question about their favorite food, color, vacation etc… and the student asks me one question about anything they would like.

This game usually lasts around 15-20 minutes and without a doubt gets the giggles going and the first day jitters begin to disappear.

Other First Day of School Ideas include
* Teaching a yoga move like “downward dog”, “cat/cow”
* Teaching one or two signs from sign language like “yes”, “no”, “water”
* Name scavenger hunt
* Beach ball Catch – answer a question about yourself
* “Get to know your Teacher” survey

Thanks for stopping by! Have an amazing beginning to your school year.
Grab a “FREEBIE” on your way out under my Freebie tab 🙂

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