Teachers, are you tired of repeating the same old icebreakers in the first week of school? Here are some more interesting ideas for your elementary students this year:

About Me

Create a worksheet with blank spaces for the students to fill out, including a square in the upper left for the student’s illustration of themselves. Some information could include: Name, birthday, age, family, favorite color, favorite food, best friends, picture of me

Birthday Calendar

Help kids create a yearly calendar on a sheet of A3 paper. Let them use colored pens to draw and write. Kids should fill out the birthdays of their friends and family members – they can fill out any dates they don’t know at home! The calendar should be hung on their bedroom wall or somewhere else clearly visible.

What’s In Common?

Help students gather into groups based on what they have in common e.g. eye color, style of shoes, hair colour, birthday month’s, favorite season, favorite animal etc… Kids will have a chance to get to know each other without the embarrassment of the usual icebreaker activities.

Name Game

Have students throw a soft rubber ball to each other, and then say their names the way they’d like them to be pronounced for the year! Many students may have shortened names or last names that are difficult to pronounce, so letting the students tell you (and their classmates) avoids a bit of embarrassment for everyone.

Classroom Wordsearch

Create a wordsearch/wordfind using different items in the classroom and subjects or books students will study during the year. Words may include: poster, whiteboard, Cinderella, multiplication, teacher, hamster, world map etc…

Scavenger Hunt

Scavenger Hunts are a great way for students to start conversations with each other and get rid of some energy for the day! Students should gather at least one name for each of the following summer activities

Went camping

Went swimming

Went on a plane

Went on a train

Rode a bicycle

Read a book

Went to the movies

Went to a museum

Baked a cake

Made some art
etc…

Book of My Life

Help students make a small book about themselves! Use sheets of A4 folded in half and stapled. Include information like: family, house, pets, favorite subjects, hobbies, friends, birthday etc…

 

Fill in the Blanks

Choose a popular fairytale and add to a word document. Replace a few words per page with a blank line  “_______________.” Students should fill in the blanks with their own words, either funny or serious. Then get students to read aloud at least one one or two sentences. This activity can get pretty hilarious!

 

School Action Verbs

Make a worksheet with 10 action verbs related to school. There should be two columns on the A4 sheet: one for words and one for images. Alternating rows, make sure some of the words and some of the images are blank. Kids can write an action word related to the image in the blank space, or draw an image in the blank space next to printed action word. Some school-related verbs include: study, write, read, play, talk, color, sing, run, climb, share etc…

 

Class Sticker Chart

Create a chart for every student, with columns for months and illustrations that kids can color in and personalise. Hang up all of the charts and assign star stickers throughout the year to any students who have good behavior, show initiative and try hard in class. At the end of the year the students with the most stickers receive a gift!