Best of the Icebreakers
Education World has been collecting great icebreaker activities from teachers since 1997. This year, we take a look back and spotlight some of the best of the more than 150 ideas that teachers have shared. Included: Ten creative, teacher-tested ideas.
Since we published the first edition of getting-to-know-you "icebreaker" activities in 1997, eleven more volumes have followed. Even today, new ideas continue to flow in. This is the first year we have not had more than a dozen new ideas to share with Education World readers, so, instead of sharing new ideas, we have decided to look back. The ten icebreakers that appear below are ten of the most original and powerful ideas we've seen through the years.
Maybe you'll find the perfect idea here for your first day of school. If not, be sure to check out more than 100 additional ideas that have been submitted over the years to our Icebreaker Activities Archive.And, if you have an idea to share, be sure to join the Icebreaker conversation on Education World's message boards.
As I have always done, each idea below is credited to the teacher who submitted it to Education World.
MAKING INTRODUCTIONS
Many icebreaker activities are focused on helping teachers get to know their students and helping students get to know one another. These activities are fun ways to learn about students' backgrounds and personalities and to start to form bonds that will last all school year long.
Recipe Card Mix-Up Provide each student with a recipe or index card. Ahead of time choose about five questions that you might ask of students. Be as creative as you want with the questions. Possible questions might include the following:
What is the title of a favorite book?
What do you like doing in your free time when you're not at school?
What is your favorite board game?
What is your favorite candy bar?
If you could request your favorite meal for your birthday, what would that meal be?When students -- and the teacher -- have written their answers to the questions, collect the recipe cards. Shuffle the cards. Then pass out a card to each student; be sure students do not receive their own cards. When everyone has a card, then the job of each student is to find the student in the room who belongs to the card the student holds. When everybody has found the person who wrote the answers on the card they hold, they must make sure they know how to pronounce that student's full name and that they understand everything that is written on the card. Then it is time for introductions. The teacher can begin the activity by asking the student on the card s/he holds to come to the front of the room. As that student stands by, the teacher introduces the student to the rest of the class by saying, "Class, I'd like you to meet ___. Her favorite book is ___. Her favorite board game is… Please welcome ___ to our fourth grade class!" (Classmates then give the student 4 claps [for 4th grade]). The student that the teacher introduced continues the activity by calling up the student whose card he or she holds. Continue until all students have introduced someone to the class. When everyone has been introduced, take all the cards, shuffle them, and call out responses on one card at a time to see if students can remember who belongs to each card.Arlene Stoebner, Yankton School District, Yankton South Dakota
Getting-to-Know-You Venn DiagramGather groups of three students. Supply a prepared three-circle Venn diagram (see an editable sample) for each group. Students talk in their groups about themselves and the things they like to do. After a brief discussion, students must…
decide on at least three ways in which they are all alike; they write those things in the area of the diagram that intersects all three circles.
find ways in which they are like one other student in the group and record those ways in the appropriate areas of the diagram.
determine a few facts that make each of them unique and write those facts in the appropriate sections of the diagram.This activity helps students recognize and appreciate likenesses and differences in people. It also introduces them to Venn diagrams on the first day of school. This type of graphic organizer might be used many times throughout the year.Rene Masden, Sixth District Elementary School, Covington, Kentucky
Student DictionaryWrite five questions on the board. Questions might include the following:
What is your name?
Where were you born?
How many brothers or sisters do you have?
What are their names?
Do you have any pets? Tell students to write those questions on a piece of paper and to add to that paper five more questions they could ask someone they don't know. Pair students, and have each student interview his or her partner and record the responses. Then have each student use the interview responses to write a "dictionary definition" of his or her partner to include in a Student Dictionary. You might model this activity by creating a sample dictionary definition about yourself. For example:
Reynolds, Kim. proper noun. 1. Born in Riverside, California. 2. No brothers or sisters. 3.…
Have students bring in small pictures of themselves to paste next to their entries in the Student Dictionary. Bind the definitions into a book, and display it at your back-to-school open house for parents.Kim Reynolds, Warwick Elementary School, Fremont, California
Getting-to-Know-You Chart Create a large chart titled Getting to Know You. Include on the chart sections for students' names and interesting facts, such as how many people are in their families, how many pets they have, their favorite colors, favorite school subjects, favorite sports, and so on… Laminate the chart and hang it on the wall. On the first day of school, have each student "sign in." Leave the chart up for several weeks. The kids love to wander over to it when they have free time. They keep learning new things about one another. The chart can be a good source of "data" for a lesson in graph-making too.Charilyn Damigo, Liberty Baptist School, San Jose, California
Education World has been collecting great icebreaker activities from teachers since 1997. This year, we take a look back and spotlight some of the best of the more than 150 ideas that teachers have shared. Included: Ten creative, teacher-tested ideas.
Since we published the first edition of getting-to-know-you "icebreaker" activities in 1997, eleven more volumes have followed. Even today, new ideas continue to flow in. This is the first year we have not had more than a dozen new ideas to share with Education World readers, so, instead of sharing new ideas, we have decided to look back. The ten icebreakers that appear below are ten of the most original and powerful ideas we've seen through the years.
Maybe you'll find the perfect idea here for your first day of school. If not, be sure to check out more than 100 additional ideas that have been submitted over the years to our Icebreaker Activities Archive.And, if you have an idea to share, be sure to join the Icebreaker conversation on Education World's message boards.
As I have always done, each idea below is credited to the teacher who submitted it to Education World.
MAKING INTRODUCTIONS
Many icebreaker activities are focused on helping teachers get to know their students and helping students get to know one another. These activities are fun ways to learn about students' backgrounds and personalities and to start to form bonds that will last all school year long.
Recipe Card Mix-Up Provide each student with a recipe or index card. Ahead of time choose about five questions that you might ask of students. Be as creative as you want with the questions. Possible questions might include the following:
What is the title of a favorite book?
What do you like doing in your free time when you're not at school?
What is your favorite board game?
What is your favorite candy bar?
If you could request your favorite meal for your birthday, what would that meal be?When students -- and the teacher -- have written their answers to the questions, collect the recipe cards. Shuffle the cards. Then pass out a card to each student; be sure students do not receive their own cards. When everyone has a card, then the job of each student is to find the student in the room who belongs to the card the student holds. When everybody has found the person who wrote the answers on the card they hold, they must make sure they know how to pronounce that student's full name and that they understand everything that is written on the card. Then it is time for introductions. The teacher can begin the activity by asking the student on the card s/he holds to come to the front of the room. As that student stands by, the teacher introduces the student to the rest of the class by saying, "Class, I'd like you to meet ___. Her favorite book is ___. Her favorite board game is… Please welcome ___ to our fourth grade class!" (Classmates then give the student 4 claps [for 4th grade]). The student that the teacher introduced continues the activity by calling up the student whose card he or she holds. Continue until all students have introduced someone to the class. When everyone has been introduced, take all the cards, shuffle them, and call out responses on one card at a time to see if students can remember who belongs to each card.Arlene Stoebner, Yankton School District, Yankton South Dakota
Getting-to-Know-You Venn DiagramGather groups of three students. Supply a prepared three-circle Venn diagram (see an editable sample) for each group. Students talk in their groups about themselves and the things they like to do. After a brief discussion, students must…
decide on at least three ways in which they are all alike; they write those things in the area of the diagram that intersects all three circles.
find ways in which they are like one other student in the group and record those ways in the appropriate areas of the diagram.
determine a few facts that make each of them unique and write those facts in the appropriate sections of the diagram.This activity helps students recognize and appreciate likenesses and differences in people. It also introduces them to Venn diagrams on the first day of school. This type of graphic organizer might be used many times throughout the year.Rene Masden, Sixth District Elementary School, Covington, Kentucky
Student DictionaryWrite five questions on the board. Questions might include the following:
What is your name?
Where were you born?
How many brothers or sisters do you have?
What are their names?
Do you have any pets? Tell students to write those questions on a piece of paper and to add to that paper five more questions they could ask someone they don't know. Pair students, and have each student interview his or her partner and record the responses. Then have each student use the interview responses to write a "dictionary definition" of his or her partner to include in a Student Dictionary. You might model this activity by creating a sample dictionary definition about yourself. For example:
Reynolds, Kim. proper noun. 1. Born in Riverside, California. 2. No brothers or sisters. 3.…
Have students bring in small pictures of themselves to paste next to their entries in the Student Dictionary. Bind the definitions into a book, and display it at your back-to-school open house for parents.Kim Reynolds, Warwick Elementary School, Fremont, California
Getting-to-Know-You Chart Create a large chart titled Getting to Know You. Include on the chart sections for students' names and interesting facts, such as how many people are in their families, how many pets they have, their favorite colors, favorite school subjects, favorite sports, and so on… Laminate the chart and hang it on the wall. On the first day of school, have each student "sign in." Leave the chart up for several weeks. The kids love to wander over to it when they have free time. They keep learning new things about one another. The chart can be a good source of "data" for a lesson in graph-making too.Charilyn Damigo, Liberty Baptist School, San Jose, California
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