Is there anything more awkward than the first day of middle school? Seriously. You are trying to set the stage for a year of learning while also trying to keep those too-cool-for-school middle schoolers from rolling their eyes. We love them but you totally know what I’m talking about. You need some no-fail icebreakers for the first day of school that are fun and help students get to know each other better. Check out this post if you are looking for other first day of school activities.
1. Buzz
Coming up with icebreakers for the first day of school that students will actually play is not easy. This is a low-risk icebreaker that is sure to get your students pumped up – just make sure to review what a multiple of seven is before you start!
Students stand in a circle.
The first student starts off by saying “1”, the next says “2” and so on.
When students come to a multiple of 7 or a number with a 7 in it, they must say “BUZZ.”
If a mistake is made that player is “out” and the game continues until only one player remains.
To keep it inclusive, you can have the “out” players start their own Buzz circle and try again.
2. Blobs & Lines
One way to make things a little less awkward for your students is for them to find other people who have something in common with them.
For this icebreaker, students listen to the prompts read by the teacher and form a line or a blob (group of students) according to the instructions.
For example: Make a blob with people who have the same number of siblings. Line up in order of birthdays starting with January 1st.
3. Make an Appointment
Looking for a way to get students into partners? Have your students fill out appointment cards! Print off the appointment cards and have students write their own name at the top. (You can find these printable appointment cards and discussion prompts in my First Day of School Volume 2 product.)
Students will walk around the room and find someone to make an appointment with. They write their partner’s names in the same open time slot.
If someone is without a partner for a particular time slot they can triple up with another pair.
Each student should aim to have a different partner for each time slot. Once the appointment cards are filled out, call out an appointment time and have students meet with that partner.
Read out a prompt like, “If you could only eat one kind of food for the rest of your life, what would it be?” Students discuss their answers with their partner. Then, call out a different time and ask a new question.
4. Careers
Everyone chooses a career, real or made up and then writes it on a piece of paper and hands it to the teacher. The teacher then reads out all of the careers on the paper.
Going around the circle, everyone takes a turn guessing which person matches up with one of the careers.
Once a student has been guessed they join the team of the person who guessed them. The student who was guessed no longer guesses anymore. They help the person who guessed them – the team captain.
To take over someone’s whole team (versus a person with no team) you need to first guess the captain’s career and remember everyone else’s name and career on that team.
Once everyone is on one team that captain is the winner.
5. Two Truths and a Lie
This idea came to me from Mlle R. Go and follow her on Instagram. She played it with her students on Flipgrid. They recorded a video of themselves sharing their two truths and a lie. Her students responded to the videos with what they thought was the lie.
Don’t use Flipgrid? You can still use this icebreaker. Here’s how to play:
Set your students up in a circle. Each student will think of two true statements about themselves and one statement that is a lie. They share their statements and the class guesses which one is the lie.
Be sure to encourage them to make their lie believable. It could be something that is similar to what they’ve done before or something that they might want to do.
Are you planning for back to school during the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic? You can still use these icebreakers for the first day of school! Try playing these games outside where you have more space and make sure that they stay 6 feet away from their partners. If they are making a blob make sure it’s a physically-distanced blob. That’s totally a thing!
If you need some other first week of school ideas, I’m your girl. My First Week of School Bundle has you covered with icebreakers, ideas to set up classroom expectations, art ideas and more.
