3 First Days of School Icebreakers (Games)

So many emotions exist during the first days of school and it doesn't really matter if it's kindergarten or senior year. These variety of emotions also are evident with teachers as well but what will often determine the remainder of the school year depends on relationships built between teachers and students and students to students. Icebreakers are used with first days of school as well as in professional environments to ease social anxiety. Some traditional icebreakers are where I would need to be creative to come up with my spirit animal that begins with the same first letter of my name. First of all, Monkey Matt can actually describe my willingness and ability to climb but, let's be honest, I am not in the mood to be creative the first day of anything. Here are some non-creative, yet informative Icebreakers you can try your first days of school. 

*For upper grades with students who will roll their eyes once you say "Let's do an icebreaker", call it a game instead. Pretty much everyone likes games. 

This or That

How to Play

Have your students to stand and choose a location in the classroom based on their preferences from the questions. Once the students have chosen their side, then they can have a brief discussion with the others in that group as to why they chose it. For example, if the question asked was "Do you prefer dogs or cats?" These discussions do not require speaking in front of a large group but even shy students can find individuals that are like-minded and, perhaps, instant friendship. Most importantly, YOU, the teacher need to play as well!

Sample questions for This or That:

• Would you rather live in the jungle or the North Pole?
• Which is worse: a broken arm or a broken leg?
• Would you rather be blind or deaf?
• Which is better: Playing sports or watching sports?
• Would you rather have 8 brothers or 8 sisters?

Blobs and Lines

How to Play
In this icebreaker, students are prompted to either line up in some particular order (by birthday, for example) or gather in “blobs” based on something they have in common (similar shoes, for example). What’s great about this game is that it helps students quickly discover things they have in common. It’s also ridiculously easy: Students don’t have to come up with anything clever, and they can respond to every question without thinking too hard about it. This game keeps students moving and talking, and it builds a sense of belonging and community in your classroom.

Here are some sample prompts you can use for this game:

• Line up in alphabetical order by your first names.
• Line up in alphabetical order by your last names.
• Gather with people who have the same eye color as you.
• Gather with people who get to school in the same way as you (car, bus, walk).
• Line up in order of your birthdays, from January 1 through December 31.
• Line up in order of how many languages you speak.
• Gather into 3 blobs: Those who have LOTS of chores at home, those who have A FEW chores at home, and those who have NO chores at home.
• Gather with people who have the same favorite season as you.

Concentric Circles

How to Play
This icebreaker has students arrange themselves in an inside circle and an outside circle, the inside facing out, forming pairs. Pairs discuss their answers to a getting-to-know-you question, then rotate for the next question, forming a new partnership. This game gives students the chance to have lots of one-on-one conversations with many of their classmates and helps them quickly feel more at home in your class.

The possibilities for questions in this kind of configuration are endless; be sure to use more open-ended questions that can get students talking, rather than those that simply ask for a yes or no answer. Here are some sample questions:

• Do you play any sports? If so, which ones?
• Do you consider yourself shy or outgoing? Why?
• What was the last movie you saw? Did you like it?
• Describe your perfect dinner.
• What would you do with a million dollars?
• What is one thing you’re good at?