Ways to use it in my class:

1. Find Someone Who… Similarity Groups Teacher announces a dimension such as hair color or birthday months. Everyone with the same answer forms a group. They then discuss positive and negative aspectsof that characteristic. Teacher announces another dimension. Ways to use it in my class: • Students mill around the room trying to find someone who can answer a question on the activity sheet. • The student who knows the answer initials that question. • Debrief as a class. Ask a student “Who knew the answer to #1 on your sheet?” Student tells you the name. Call on that new student to answer (to ensure all are correct.) Then ask him/her, “Who knew the answer to #2 on your sheet?” Continue in this fashion until finished. Ways to use it in my class:

2. Class Calendar • Record birthdays and one other important event from each student’s life, so as a class we can celebrate birthdays and anniversaries of important events. Living Bar Graph Ways to use it in my class: Ways to use it in my class: Students form a bar graph on some getting acquainted topic (family size, favorite subject, etc.) *Can be used for content-related topics as well

3. Class… Strengths Chart How are You Smart? Record the different types of smart on the horizontal line (x-axis.) Reflect and think about how YOU are smart in each of the areas. Make a point above each category using the High and Low range on the vertical lines. It is helpful to first think about your best strength and then go from there. Connect the dots to make a line graph. Illustrate each of your points. Ways to use it in my class: • name • motto • songs • cheers • banners • logos Ways to use it in my class:

4. Class Puzzle Name Toss Have everyone stand in a circle. Give a soft ball to one person and start a stopwatch. That person has to say a person's name and pass the ball to that person. After doing so, they quickly sit down. The ball gets passed around the class, with an emphasis on calling each classmate's name correctly. When everyone is sitting down, stop the timer. Announce the time and challenge the class to beat the time on the next round. VARIATION: if students know names, have them learn one interesting thing about each classmate and call that out instead. • Prior to the first day of school, draw enough puzzle pieces for each of your students and yourself on a piece of poster board. • Cut them out in left-to-right order, numbering them on the back. • When the students arrive, ask each one to decorate a piece of the puzzle to represent his or her own personality or interests, showing them your own designed piece as a model. • When all of the students have finished, put the pieces back together by calling out the numbers in order and inviting students to tell about their designs before adding them to the puzzle. • Tape the pieces together and ask students to collaborate on a title for the puzzle, such as We All Work Together or Everyone Fits In. • Post the puzzle in a prominent place in the classroom and use it as a reminder of the importance of every member of the class. • VARIATION: If you choose, you can make a class quilt rather than a puzzle by using square pieces of sturdy paper and taping or lacing them together. Ways to use it in my class: Ways to use it in my class:

5. People BINGO Candy Confessions Pass around the candy & tell each participant to choose anywhere from 1 to 5 pieces of anything that they want.  Instruct them not to eat it yet, though.  If there is a whiteboard or chalkboard present, write on the board the following: Red – Favorite hobbies Green – Favorite place on earth Blue – Favorite memory Yellow -Dream job Orange – Wildcard (tell us anything about yourself!) (If you don’t have the above colors, change the above to match the candy types that you have.) Each person takes turns introducing himself or herself, beginning with their name and then saying one fact for each candy type that they have.  • Students have a bingo form that includes descriptions of things people like to do, places they've been, family information, etc. Print a copy for each student. • They mix around the room asking people to sign in the various blocks. You can decide how long to let the activity continue. • You might require them to get everyone to sign their sheet somewhere, or allow them to stop when they have 2 rows completed. Ways to use it in my class: Ways to use it in my class:

6. Telephone Charades Flags Pass out a sheet of paper, pens, and colored pencils, crayons, and/or markers to each person.  Explain the activity: “We’re now going to draw flags that represent or symbolize us.  Please design your own flag of you – include some symbols or objects that symbolize who you are or what you find enjoyable or important.”  Give everyone a set amount of time to draw (e.g. 15-20 minutes or so) and then reconvene.  Ask for volunteers to share their flags and explain the meaning of what they drew.  If it is a large group, you can divide everyone into smaller groups and ask them to share their flags with each other, or you can just ask a small number of volunteers to share. After everyone has finished sharing the individual flags, as a big group you can ask everyone to brainstorm ideas on what to draw for a large class-wide flag.  Proceed to delegate individuals to draw certain parts of the class-wide flag.  Alternatively, you can collect the individual flags and paste them onto a board to create a “quilt” of individual flags, representing unity. • Choose five or six people (or ask for volunteers) and ask them to line up in a row, facing the left side of the room.  Ask the first person to turn around to see the first clue to be acted out.  Reveal the clue to the person, and display the clue to the audience as well.   • The first person turns around and taps the next person in line on the shoulder.  He or she then acts out the clue using classic charades rules (no talking or noises permitted).  • The second person then taps the third person and acts out his or her understanding of what was acted out.  This process continues until it reaches the last person in line, who must guess what the action is.  • This game is funny because the acting tends to warp and get distorted based upon each person’s interpretation of what is going on. Ways to use it in my class: Ways to use it in my class: