Back 2 School - Getting to Know You Activities

Time to start planning those back to school activities! This week Notes from the Portable and I are sharing some of our favorite getting to know you activities and games.

Getting to know your students is important. Knowing their likes and hobbies will allow you to engage them throughout the year.... if Little Johnny loves baseball he will enjoy solving baseball themed word problems in math.

One 'get to know you' activity that I love is NAME ART. It is a minimum prep activity (love that too!). All I do it type my students name in bubble letters using Power Point.

Print their names out and have them decorate the letters with things the love. While they are working on this you will have a few minutes to do those tedious first week tasks (you know- organizing 20 packs of paper so they fit in your cabinet). Then, when everyone is done have the students share their name art. I like to hang their name art somewhere in the room.

 

Another good and time consuming activity I have my students do is an All About Me banner. Each kid decorates a pennant, then they share it with the class. I take there picture with this frame and they put it on the pennant. Then, I string the pennants into a banner and hang it in the hallway.  You can download these banners HERE!

 

 

Lastly, now that you have gotten to know you students, now it is time for them to get to know you! I like to play a little game... 25 Facts About Your Teacher! I tell the students 25 facts about me, and when I am done I try to see if they can remember them all. I have played the 'game' several ways...

 *Students can call out facts until you get to 25

*Students can work in pairs/groups to list as many as they can

*Students can list as many as they can on their own - see who can list the most.

I created a Power Point that I use to share my facts. This ensures I won't forget a fact as I am introducing myself and allows me to quickly check off the facts that they can remember.
You can download this editable template HERE for FREE!!

 

Of course, we have another great prize this week... a $25 Michael's gift card! Enter below!

 

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And the Winner Is....

Thanks to all of the people that entered our $25 Target Gift Card Giveaway! Notes from the Portable and I have randomly selected a winner....

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We hope you will join us again this Thursday for another Back to School Link Up and of course, another fun give away!!

Intoducing....Back 2 School Link Up !

I hate to bring this up… I know it is only July, but many of us will be reporting for preplanning very soon. Yup, back to school time is right around the corner. #Sorry #Don’tHateMeForBringingItUp

To make this ‘season’ easier, Jessica Zannini from Notes from the Portable and I are hosting a new link-up each Thursday for the next 4 weeks. We hope you will participate!

Here are the topics we will cover:

July 16th- KICKOFF WEEK! Setting up your classroom

July 23th- Procedures & Teaching them to your students

July 30th- Getting to know you ideas & games

August 6th- Communicating with parents

Jessica will host the first link up July 16th. If you post on social media please use #back2schoollinkup. We will also have weekly giveaways, including TPT gift certificates!

We look forward to sharing ideas with you and reading about what you do in your classroom.