[Mrs. L]

Does anyone play a game on the first day of school? I'm looking for a fun ice breaker. Thanks!!!

[sandra d]

what about having them interview each other limit it to 5 questions or you could do the old tell me 2 truths and 1 lie, but then teach how they cannot lie in your class after this

[johnsju]

I don't know if I'd call this a game, but it is good for community building/helping the students get to know each other.

I read A Bad Case of Stripes by David Shannon (love it!) and then we talk about being unique and accepting other people's uniqueness. I give each student an index card and they write one special thing about themselves on there (favorite color, favorite sport, a cool fact, etc.). Then, we sit in a circle with a ball of yarn...I share my fact, then throw the yarn to the next volunteer. They do the same (holding on to their own piece of yarn). It goes on and on until everyone has shared and is holding a part of the yarn. We talk about the "web of friendship" that we've created; as a class, we have to respect and look out for each other.

Kind of cheesy and it may not be quite what you're looking for, but I love it. We did it the 2nd day of school this year (2 weeks ago), and my students still ask if we can do it again!

I've also gotten some ideas from this site: http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/co.../tout_txtl////
Actually, the friendship web may have come from there. Hope some of this helps!

[Mrs. L]

The friendship web sounds like a great idea! Thanks for sharing!

[ConnieWI]

http://www.proteacher.net/discussion...d.php?t=106026

[blairslug]

The first day, I do a scavenger hunt/Bingo style game. I have a paper with 25 boxes with different items in each box such as: Has blue eyes, or can speak another language etc. The students have to walk around the classroom and find other students who can fulfill one of the boxes and they sign their name. I give the students about 10 minutes to walk around and then see which students got the most names. Then, we all share something from our board, like... Johnny wrote that he went to the beach this summer, What did you do there??? It creates a lot of chit chat for the first day and gets the kids involved. It always works great for me in the beginning of school!!