CLASS ICE BREAKERS 2014

1. A word book
Create a personalized dictionary that each student will keep for the duration of the course.
Hand out a few blank sheets of paper to each of your students, as well as a piece of poster
board of the same size. The poster board will be the front cover of their dictionary, which
they can decorate as they please. The blank sheets of paper will be the pages of their
dictionary. They should write down new words in their dictionaries, with a short definition,
example, or drawing.
2. Looking to the future - Buried Treasure
Heres another great activity for the first day of school that will blow your students away on
the very last day of class. Create a Treasure Chest. Ask your students to draw pictures of
themselves and write something on the back: a description of themselves, their favorite
things, what they hope to learn and do in class, etc Measure each of their heights with a
piece of string or yarn and label each one with a child's name. If possible, record each of
them speaking, briefly stating their names and a little something about themselves. Get a
cardboard box that will hold all of the drawings, pieces of string, and the cassette or disc,
seal it with tape, and hide it somewhere in the classroom, or take it home with you.
On the last day of class, you can play a Treasure Hunt game, complete with treasure map,
or simply re-open the box in a grand ceremony. Students will have a blast looking at their
earlier work, and theyll be amazed to see how much they've learned and grown.
3. Bankrupt
This a great warmer you can use to recycle any vocabulary or grammar structures I once
read while diving on the Internet for ideas. The game is called Bankrupt. Collect the
vocabulary flashcards you aim to revise, and stick behind them cards showing an amount of
money, like Us$500, Us$ 100 and so on. One or two of them should say BANKRUPT and
another DONATION. Stick the flashcards on the board. Be careful students don't see
money cards. Divide the class into two groups. Students take turns to choose one of the
flashcards, say the item on them, or a sentence using that word, as you prefer. If they say it
right they gain the amount of money at the back. If it says Bankrupt, you erase the money
they had won, and if it says Donation, that team donates all their money to the other group.
4. Dead or alive
Write "WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE" on the blackboard. Explain to the students that you
are looking for two very strange twins. On a piece of paper hand draw two funny looking
brothers very different one from the other. Describe them slowly as your students draw,
then go around the class showing your twins and see if you can find a similar drawing.
5. Alphabet Game
I have recently given this activity to my students who are in my conversation class. They
work in pairs with a set of cut out alphabets folded where student A will have to pick an
alphabet followed by student B finding a word which starts with the alphabet picked by
student A. The third step is completed by student A by making a sentence that uses at least
five words including the word which has been selected by student B.

6. Corrections
Spotting and correcting writing errors is always a challenge for students. Heres an
engaging game for practicing this important skill. Divide the class into three groups, and
then writing a sentence on the board, but misspell words, leave out or put in incorrect
punctuation, use incorrect tenses and capitalization. Have group A make fixes on the board
for 30 seconds. Give them one point for each correct fix. Now let groups B and C raise their
hand to point out any missed or incorrect fixes. They get two points for each correct
answer. Repeat with the next group, and so on.
7. Word Cards
Word cards, or flash cards, help develop sight vocabulary.
Flash cards are available commercially, but you and your student can make your own too. If
you do, be sure to put a picture of the word on the back of the card. The new words are
printed or written onto the cards which are then displayed one at a time. Your student may
look at the word and say it three times, trying to imprint the image on her mind.
Words learned in this manner are "sight words."
When a word is successfully recognized in three consecutive presentations, it may be added
to a separate stack of known sight words. Not more than five new words should be
introduced at one lesson.
Variations:
1. Ask your student to match a word card with the original in an experience story.
2. Make a duplicate deck of word cards. You and your student can play "Fish" with the
duplicate cards by shuffling both together, dealing a hand of seven cards to each player, and
taking turns drawing a card from the deck. Pairs of identical words can be laid on the table
face-up.
3. Play word card poker. Group cards in piles of nouns, verbs, adjectives, articles, and
prepositions. Deal your student five to ten random words, and pretend he wins $10 for each
of the words he can include in a good, single sentence. Tell him he can buy words from the
various category piles for $10 each. He loses $10 for each ol the random words that are not
used or misused. Keep a running tally sheet as you play this game over a number of weeks.
4. Play Concentration. Make duplicates of the cards. Turn the cards face down on a table.
Flip one card and lay it on the table, then flip another. If they match remove them from
play. If they do not match turn them over again, and the next person flips two cards until all
are matched. Don't forget to read each card as it is turned over.
8. Pop Songs
Give each student a piece of chalk/pen and tell them to fill the board with pop song lyrics.
Then put them in pairs, and get them to use the words on the board to create a new
dialogue.
9. Guess the picture
Hidden picture ( you can use one from any textbook - the only thing is that it must be
relevant to the topic to be discussed).
Teacher shows Ss a small part of the picture - students in groups discuss what it might be you can put some of their ideas on the board if you wish.

If you don't hear any nice ideas, you can try gradually revealing some other parts of the
picture. Gives an overview of any reading text with a picture.
10. The Hot Seat
Get the students to bring chairs and make one big circle by moving all the tables to the side
of the class. Point to your chair and say This is the Hot Seat. Sit down and say My
name is and I have black hair. Ask them to stand up if this is true to them.
Ask the students who have stood up to exchange their places quickly with others who have
stood up but remind them that they are not allowed to sit down on the same chair. You have
to leave your Hot Seat so another student can come and say My name is " and
mentions another fact.
11. Time Capsule
During the first week of school, my second graders make a time capsule. First I ask them to
bring an empty paper-towel roll from home. We cover the rolls with construction paper, on
which the children draw pictures and write their names. Capsule contents include a picture
of the child, a hand tracing, and a completed questionnaire that asks about favorite books,
TV shows, friends, and so on. It also asks them to write three things that they want to learn
during the year. I measure each student's height with a piece of string, and the string is also
put into the time capsule. Then I collect the capsules and hide them. On the last day of
school we have a fun "reopening" ceremony, during which the children compare their
earlier choices and goals (and height!) with how they feel now.
12. Class-Created Puzzles
Using a large piece of tagboard, I draw as many puzzle pieces as I have students, plus one
for myself. I number them on the back and cut them out. I have students decorate their
pieces with their names, pictures, and words. We share these as a group and then
reassemble the puzzle on a bulletin board to symbolize the importance of each individual's
contribution to the class as a whole.
13. Mission Statement
My kindergarten class works together on the first day to come up with a mission that we
strive to accomplish on each day of the school year. For example: "We will learn and use
each other's names. Also, we will say 'Please' and 'thank you' at the appropriate times." We
read the mission statement every day, and I include it in my newsletters home to parents.
We adjust it as the year progresses.
14. B-Kind! B-On Time!
My first bulletin board revolves around our nature-study unit on insects and helps children
remember good behavior. We make bees out of paper, paper plates, and pipe cleaners. Each
child thinks of a phrase to go with his or her bee (e.g., B-careful, B-honest, B-kind). Then
we hang the bees and accompanying phrases on the bulletin board.
15. LADDERS: A Word Game for Language Arts
1) Select a word, such as "September" and write it vertically on the board.
2) Then write it backwards, vertically, beside it.

S...........................R
E...........................E
P...........................B
T...........................M
E...........................E
M...........................T
B...........................P
E...........................E
R...........................S
3) Students get into pairs, get a dictionary, and try to find the longest word possible that
begins with an "S" and ends with "R".
4) If they don't know the meaning of this word they are to write it down after the word.
16. Meeting Your Match
A fun way to break the ice on the first day of school is to challenge each student to find
another classmate that matches them.
Here's how this activity works: As students enter the classroom, hand each child a puzzle
piece. Once students are settled in, instruct them to walk around the room to each classmate
to see if their puzzle piece fits with another students' piece. As they go from student to
student, they must introduce themselves and tell one important fact about themselves. At
the end of the activity each "match" must introduce one another and tell the class about the
facts that they have learned. This activity can also be done with a piece of yarn. Cut each
piece of yarn into different lengths. The students that have the same length of yarn are
matches.
17. Class Animals
This is a simple activity that puts a fun spin on dull introductions. Begin by giving the class
your name and telling them that if you were an animal you be ____ and give the reason
why. For example, you could say "Hi, my name is Ms. Jones, and if I were an animal I'd be
a hyena, because I love to laugh." Give the students some time to think about what animal
they want to be and why. Let the students give their animal introductions and try to repeat
all of the children's names and animals in the order you hear them. This activity can help
you to remember student names quickly while showing the class that their teacher isn't
perfect (you will inevitably make a mistake).
18. Animal Scramble
Write the name of an animal that makes a familiar noise on a slip of paper. Create five to 10
slips for each animal you decide to use. Good animal choices include a cow, duck, chicken,
dog, cat, goat, or snake. Give your students a slip of paper and tell them that they have to
keep their animal a secret. After everyone has their animal paper, the students must make
the noise of the animal and try to find the other students that are making the same animal
noise. Continue with the game until all of the student animals find "their kind" and get into
animal groups.

19. Catch Me if You Can

This is a really fun game that gets students to interact with one another on the very first day
of class. Pair up two of your students. Make two lines, with partners directly across from
one another. Students should take about 30 seconds to look very closely at their partner,
taking in as many details as possible. Tell the two lines to face away from one another once
the 30 seconds ends, and give one or both lines time to change something about their
appearance. The change should be something very subtle. The student might take off a ring
or belt, switch a watch to the other wrist, or part their hair on the other side. The goal here
is to try and stump your partner on what's different about your appearance. The change
made has to be visible but discrete. Give the students 20 to 30 seconds to alter their
appearance. Have the students turn back around and give them another 30 seconds to figure
out what is different about their partner now.
20. Crossword Connection
This activity includes visual symbols of connection and self-introductions. The teacher
prints her own name on the board, leaving some space between each letter. She then tell the
class something about herself. Next, she picks a student to come to the board, tell
something about themselves, and print their name crossing the teacher's as in a crossword
puzzle. Students take turns telling something about themselves and adding their names.
Volunteers copy the completed puzzle as a poster. To save time, the puzzle could be written
on paper taped to the board and left up in first draft form.
This activity can be extended by asking each student to write their name and a statement
about themselves on a sheet of paper. The teacher can then use the statements as clues for a
class-names crossword puzzle which can be made with crossword puzzle software.
21. TP Surprise
Students will know you are full of fun with this one. The teacher welcomes students at the
door while holding a roll of toilet paper. He instructs students to take as many sheets as they
need refusing to explain the purpose. Once class begins, students are instructed to write one
interesting thing about themselves on each sheet. When students are finished, they
introduce themselves by reading their TP. Variation: Students write one thing they hope or
expect to learn in the course this year on each sheet.
22.