As much as I try to squeeze every bit out of Summer Break, argue with myself over the time frame I will spend in school on a summer day, or come up with reasons why I can't all together, there's something about those summer days spent in school that really get me pumped up for the new year. Year after year, the summer smell in the hallways (if you didn't think I was weird before, you do now), the glistening, freshly-waxed floors, the sound of staplers echoing through the empty (for now) hallways as teachers work to bring their vision to life in their classrooms, the smiles and conversations with staff and teachers that are busily preparing for students, all bring a smile to my face and get me revved up for the year. My kiddos, Tristan (8) and CJ (6), who accompanied me were actually speechless when we walked in the building and I mentioned to them how I love the smell. I think they were just completely perplexed...they always have some comment to throw back at me! Not this time. Even empty of students, I leave school feeling energized and excited for the upcoming year (even though I am often exhausted and drained from the day's prep). Don't get me wrong, I'm still clinging to what's left of summer and I'm going to enjoy every day.
A few of you have asked about ideas for the start of the school year integrating tech within ice breakers and cooperative activities that first week. As you know, building relationships and establishing a sense of community are the most important to start off the school year with. If you're welcoming many of the same students back, whether you're looping, in Special Services, and so on, you can tweak many of the "Get to Know you" activities to "How've You Been" ones. Either way, team-building, building trust and establishing a sense of community are a must.
I do have a few ideas that you are welcome to take, tweak, or toss. Please share your own in the comments below for others! Blogs by grade level and Back-to-School Pinterest boards are linked at the end of this post as well. Some of the following activities involve tech, others do not. I've used many of these in the classroom myself over the years ~ I've updated most with tech aspects. You'll want to discuss and model cart care/device care before using the carts for the first time. As a reminder, anytime your students are going online, discuss online manners and Digital Citizenship just as you would discuss and role-play appropriate behaviors for face-to-face activities.
Enjoy!
1. Hopes and Dreams for Grade ___: An awesome collaborative tool to use in the classroom is Padlet, which is a digital wall that your students can collaboratively write on using "post-it notes". A collaborative Doc or Slide can also be used within your student Google accounts to achieve this. This activity can be done during the first week for students to share their hopes and dreams for the school year. The collaborative wall can be kept and displayed all year on your class website. You can also tweak it, to include questions they have. What are you looking forward to learning about this school year? What is one thing you want to know about your teacher, our class, etc? What is one thing you are nervous about?
2. QR Code Scavenger Hunt - This can be done in groups since many of you share iPads within a grade level OR reserve the iPod Touches or community iPad Cart for the day. You will create a series of cards with a QR Code that take students on a classroom tour when they scan each code. Students can respond on paper, on the iPad, or at the station that the QR Code takes them to. The "scavenger hunt" can also be used to get to know one another: "Find someone who..." Check this one out as an example.
3. We're All Connected: Great way to get to know something about one another, share one thing they did over the summer, or tell what they're looking forward to about the school year. Just with a ball of yarn, students sit in a circle and take turns telling about themselves. When they're done, they hold on to a part of the yarn before tossing it to a student across from them. In the end, discuss what the finished product of strings looks like. They will often respond "a web". Discuss how we are all connected. If they give a slight tug, they'll feel one another on the other end. Have one person let go and they'll feel how the connection loosens. This a a perfect time to address how each one of them is important. They all matter and contribute greatly to the classroom team. In the end, the students give a good tug and let go all at once. They have fun with this one.
4. We Fit Together: (I've never done this one digital, but it can be done simply with a photo of each student positioned together side-by-side to appear as a collage) Each student is given a puzzle piece to decorate in ways that best represent them. Just as with the yarn activity again, you'll display the puzzle pieces together and discuss how we are all a team. In the past, I've laminated them and attached them to Velcro. As students enter in the morning they can either put their piece on the back of their chair for the day OR attach their piece under Blue, Gold, or Home lunch choice. ~ You can knock out attendance and lunch count right then and there. If a student is absent, it's a good time to remind the class that our team is incomplete without them. ~Always reminding them that they are valued and that they have contributions to make to the class and to the world!
5. First Week Photo: Use your own camera, phone, or grab a school iPad or iPod touch to take your pics. Whether you use those adorable Photo Frames for kiddos to hold up, a special background, or a text overlay, you'll be set to use each student's first-week-pic for a variety of purposes: A collaborative slide show, first week goal-setting (toss pics in a shared folder on the Drive. Students grab their pic to write about in a Doc, first blog post, or collaborative presentation). ~Or just create a simple slide show to put up on your class website for the first week. You'll have the pics for a comparison at the end of the year to reflect on growth.
6. Who WE are: Create a collaborative Google presentation. Each student takes a slide to share who they are using pictures and words. Groups can also work together to create a slide. Partners can interview one another and create a slide to share about their partner. Possibilities are endless. Whatever you go with, they'll love working together on a common goal ~ That's one awesome aspect of the Google Apps! Share the final presentation on your classroom website (When posting online, encourage students to use first names and never share any personally identifiable information. Always check to see which students do not have permission to have work shared online).
7. All About Me in a Cloud- Have students share their favorites, their activities, and anything else about the (not personally identifying) into a Word Cloud generator like Tagxedo, Wordle, ABCya, etc. These are not typically iPad-friendly due to Flash. With anything, always test ahead on laptops or computers too in case an update for the website is needed. There's probably an app out there, but not sure off the top of my head.
8. Name Puzzle: An oldie, but a goodie! Use a Hidden-Message Wordsearch from PuzzleMaker. Students complete this during the first week and it's often a great thing to have out for them that first day. They'll find their name and the names of their classmates. The remaining letters unscramble to reveal a message from you. If you want to get creative, you could make different puzzles for students to complete in small groups. Each group would have a different single word remaining. They would need to work as a class in the end to pull the words together to create the message. Each group can shout their word until the entire message has been delivered.
9. How Am I Smart? ~ A Multiple Intelligence Inventory and Reflection: I think this one needs its own separate blog post! ~One of my passions to incorporate throughout the learning process to help students recognize their strengths. In a nutshell, provide students with background knowledge on the various Intelligences. Be sure to discuss strengths and how everyone has strengths that contribute to the success of our team. Someone may be better at something because it's a strength, but that doesn't make them better than another. Talk about the importance of building on those strengths, while building up other areas too. Students can take a multiple intelligence inventory or can determine from explanations of the Intelligences. There are a ton of different activities I've done with this over the years, from students creating Business Cards (These would stay up all year advertised on a bulletin board for students to go to request assistance from their classroom "experts") to simply reflecting on their Intelligence. Wherever you go with it, the most important part is to differentiate instruction based on the Intelligences and provide students with ongoing opportunities to show-what-they-know in their own way. Instead of a worksheet or paper/pencil test, allow students to choose how they will show their understanding. Provide a rubric and give a variety of options to choose from. I always left one that allowed them to come up with a plan of their own. I have examples if you ever want to talk student choice or Intelligences > This post is getting quite lengthy :)
That was more than a few, so I'm going to stop there on a random number.
As always, we're here to support you in your teaching and learning adventures!
Have fun creating that community within your classrooms.
Below are some Blogs and Boards you may be interested in as well....
Blogs by grade level:
ELEMENTARY:
ECE:
Kindergarten:
First Grade:
Second Grade:
Third Grade:
Fourth Grade:
Junior High
Science:
Math:
Language Arts / Literature:
Pinterest Boards:
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