The beginning of the year is chaotic! With new teachers coming into a corporation, seeing old friends, catching up, and those awe-inspiring PDs necessary for you to succeed as a teacher.
Where will you get the time to set up your first-day activities? Many teachers do elaborate labs and activities, team-building exercises, and icebreakers! Where in the summer do they come up with these plans? Also, how do they have time to do all this when the standards, testing, and curriculum are breathing down their necks?
We all know that building community within our classroom is essential to having a safe, peaceful year, but when and how can we do that in a simple, quick way? Today, I have a suggestion (actually four!) for you to implement into your classroom/hallways as a springboard for building that community! Even better, completing it takes 15-20 minutes (30 minutes for my middle school friends)!
Never forget the power of displays! A simple arts and crafts activity that gets the kids thinking about themselves creatively and sharing some vital information with you to get to know your students better.
Get to Know Your Students Display 1: https://www.instagram.com/p/CEFRudsjBE7/?img_index=1
Get to Know Your Students Display 2: https://www.instagram.com/p/CwfkXO2OPXe/?img_index=1
There are a variety of versions of the "Get to Know You" activity that I've provided below, but the premise is the same (the vector is slightly changed to fit your needs):
Be Creative - the questions are sprinkled with some basic and fun new ones! Never get bored in your questioning, or you'll get boring answers!
Goal Setting - make some questions related to goals. Goals in the classroom, goals in life, goals, goals. This helps you better understand your students and what they want to achieve. You can also relate to it later if they start to slip!
Let Them Draw - Don't make it a black-and-white response. Let them have time to draw things that represent them. Sometimes, questions aren't enough to get the whole picture. Give space for them to express themselves!
Connect with Others - Make sure that your "Get to Know You" activity can be connected to others (physically). As a DNA strand, atoms bonded, or as Earth's core, let them see they are in this class together! It's a team effort; if they want to succeed, they must lean on each other!
Do One Yourself - You're a part of the classroom, too. Don't forget to get into the fun and do one yourself, even if it's just an example. It allows kids to understand you a bit better, too!
Read - I like making myself build the connection because I'm forced to read the responses. This lets me get to know my students, and I can use this information for the next week or so to let them know I took the time to get to know them!
Refer Back - Don't forget that although this is a starting point, it's not the end. Refer back to your display and make it visible and accessible so that all students can always see it!
Sadly, there's a tiny summer left here in America, and that's a long list of items to complete and have done in an activity. If you have your creative bones still moving, make your own! The sky is the limit! If you've cashed out, though, below is my "Get to Know You" Packet
Four fun activities to try in your classroom!
Wishing you all a happy, healthy beginning of the school year!
That One Science Teacher
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