Students will begin building relationships with the teacher and their classmates.
Materials
Healthy snacks (ie. grapes, loaf of tasty bread, pretzels, mini-marshmallows)
Procedures
The first day of school, sit with your students in a circle and tell them a little bit about
yourself.
Draw students in by sharing
things about yourself they'd want to know--like if you've gone skydiving
or lived any place unusual.
Next, open the space up for informal introductions and a free-flowing discussion.
It's not difficult to get everyone
engaged, but if the conversation stalls try one of these questions:
Has anyone had a great time at a
sporting event?
A terrible time?
What's your favorite movie and why?
What is your least favorite food?
Pass around the grapes or bread or mini-marshmallows and try to create an atmosphere in
which the children feel welcome, feel like they belong, and feel like their teacher genuinely
cares about them.
Doing something this "un-classroom-like" the first day grabs the students' attention and eases
their worries.
