Middle School Activities for the First Week of School
At the beginning of a new school year, middle school students are buzzing with energy, eager to socialize with one another and ready to see what their new classes are like. Use the first week of school as a time for students to build a positive learning community that you can carry throughout the year. Help students get to know one another, get to know you and learn what to expect from your course during the year.
Other People Are Reading
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Survey Says
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On a large piece of butcher paper, write out 10 statements that can be answered either "true" or "false." Some should pertain to your class, such as "Math is easy for me" or to school in general, such as "I am excited to be back in school "and others can pertain to students' lives outside of school, such as "I am interested in watching the World Series." Give each student 10 little round stickers so they can mark their answers to the statements under true or false. Then talk about the class's general feelings about the statements and allow students to comment about why they answered the way they did.
Writing Prompts
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To learn about your students, ask them to put their thoughts into words. You can assign any number of writing prompts to glean information you think will be useful to you. Simply ask students to write about what they did during the summer, or ask for something deeper, such as a prompt asking students to tell you what their greatest hopes and fears are for the year. Have students share their ideas in pairs or with the whole class to build camaraderie. You can use the writing activity to assess students' writing abilities as well.
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Find Someone Who...
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A simple activity you can prepare to help students break the ice is a "people bingo" game. Make a grid on a regular piece of paper and put a "someone who" phrase in each box, such as "someone who has a hamster," or "someone whose favorite color is green." Then ask students to find a peer who fits the criterion in a box until they have the grid completely full, without repeating anyone's name. Whoever fills out the grid first, gets a bingo. Review the winner's answers with the class.
Intro to Technology
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To introduce students to any technology they might be using in your class, give them the assignment of making informative fliers about one another. Pair students up and have them take photos with a digital camera and paste them into a template you create. Have students fill out the template with information about their partners and print the fliers. If you have other technology in your room, such as an ELMO or word-processing software that your students will be using, incorporate these into the assignment as well.
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References
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