First Day of School Stuff
Is the first day of school super boring for students? Probably. For high schoolers it is all about finding classrooms, making sure they have a friend at lunch, going over rules and expectations and doing annoying get to know you games. And some teachers go over the syllabus and then do nothing the rest of the class! That's not the way to start off the school year!
I want to engage my students from day 1. Yes, we go over rules and expectations. They fill out a get to know you form. And then we do team builders! How are they any better than get to know you games? I've tried get to know activities before and I get a mixed reaction from students. Most don't mind, most do the same ones in other classes, and most honestly don't want to participate. Get to know you games involve introducing yourself to the class, talking to most of the class at some point, and honestly they only foster the social aspect. Team builders on the other hand do foster socialize skills that students will need for group work but they involve less useless information of things like your favorite color and or subject in school. Students work together towards a goal. They communicate to achieve the goal. Those are skills that are used during the school year when they work in groups. The shy students only have to talk to a few other people so it is less stressful for them.
Below are a few team builders I've used (or will be using soon):
- Marshmallow Challenge: Students work in groups to construct a tower out of spaghetti that holds a marshmallow at the top. The goal is to build the tallest. This link takes you to the website of the challenge.
- Balloon Towers: Students get several balloons, straws, tape, and even string to build the tallest tower in the room. There are so many varieties of this one. I will be trying it for the first time this year and I'm not sure exactly what I'll give them - depends on how big my classes are most likely. But each group will get the same amount of supplies. As for time limit, I'm thinking 18 minutes like the marshmallow challenge gives. If you want ideas for what these look like go on pinterest and search balloon towers.
- Subversive groupings: So I found this online but can't find the original place I found it (sorry original author!). So I've uploaded the original but please know it's not mine. The goal of this is for students to find their group by finding classmates that have something in common with their card (all planets, all car brands, etc). The link above gives you directions. Here are some printable cards that you can print and laminate (like I will be): these are the original ones for 6 groups of 4. And here's one I added to (though the new groups aren't as good) that has 2 additional groups.
Lost at Sea Exercise: Students are given a scenario and have to rank the usefulness of the items they have. The link takes you to a copy of the activity. The original version said rum which I changed to rubbing alcohol. Here is a student sheet as well that you can pass out that has just want they need in front of them.
Is the first day of school super boring for students? Probably. For high schoolers it is all about finding classrooms, making sure they have a friend at lunch, going over rules and expectations and doing annoying get to know you games. And some teachers go over the syllabus and then do nothing the rest of the class! That's not the way to start off the school year!
I want to engage my students from day 1. Yes, we go over rules and expectations. They fill out a get to know you form. And then we do team builders! How are they any better than get to know you games? I've tried get to know activities before and I get a mixed reaction from students. Most don't mind, most do the same ones in other classes, and most honestly don't want to participate. Get to know you games involve introducing yourself to the class, talking to most of the class at some point, and honestly they only foster the social aspect. Team builders on the other hand do foster socialize skills that students will need for group work but they involve less useless information of things like your favorite color and or subject in school. Students work together towards a goal. They communicate to achieve the goal. Those are skills that are used during the school year when they work in groups. The shy students only have to talk to a few other people so it is less stressful for them.
Below are a few team builders I've used (or will be using soon):
- Marshmallow Challenge: Students work in groups to construct a tower out of spaghetti that holds a marshmallow at the top. The goal is to build the tallest. This link takes you to the website of the challenge.
- Balloon Towers: Students get several balloons, straws, tape, and even string to build the tallest tower in the room. There are so many varieties of this one. I will be trying it for the first time this year and I'm not sure exactly what I'll give them - depends on how big my classes are most likely. But each group will get the same amount of supplies. As for time limit, I'm thinking 18 minutes like the marshmallow challenge gives. If you want ideas for what these look like go on pinterest and search balloon towers.
- Subversive groupings: So I found this online but can't find the original place I found it (sorry original author!). So I've uploaded the original but please know it's not mine. The goal of this is for students to find their group by finding classmates that have something in common with their card (all planets, all car brands, etc). The link above gives you directions. Here are some printable cards that you can print and laminate (like I will be): these are the original ones for 6 groups of 4. And here's one I added to (though the new groups aren't as good) that has 2 additional groups.
Lost at Sea Exercise: Students are given a scenario and have to rank the usefulness of the items they have. The link takes you to a copy of the activity. The original version said rum which I changed to rubbing alcohol. Here is a student sheet as well that you can pass out that has just want they need in front of them.