DIFFERENT ICE BREAKERS

1. My name is _____, and if I were an animal I'd be a _____ because....

I demonstrate for my students: "My name is Mr. H., and if I were an animal, I'd be a turtle," I say,
"because I'm always rushing around. Sometimes I wish I could slow down."

Then I give the students a little time to think about what animals they
might like to be -- and why. I encourage them to be creative, to be
different and unique. The first student to one side of me in the circle starts out. After the first
student finishes, I say, paraphrasing, "My name is Mr. H., and if I were an animal, I'd be a turtle
because I'd like to be able to slow down. This is Emily, and if she were an animal, she'd be a hyena
because she likes to laugh a lot." Then it's on to the next child. After each child speaks, I try to
repeat all the other kids' name-and-animal combinations in order. That's always good for a laugh
or two -- shows the kids right from the start that the teacher isn't perfect!

2. Twenty Questions
One of my objectives is to get the kids used to "true participation" and to the idea that being
wrong can lead to being right! Playing Twenty Questions is a great tie-in to what I start class with
the following day -- how sometimes we learn as much or more from being wrong as from being
right. The game is easy and requires no set-up or materials. I choose an item in the room, and
students have to guess what it is. They can ask only questions that I can answer with either yes or
no. For example: "Is it blue?", "Is it in the front half of the room?" The person who finally gets it
gets to be the next yes-no person. I stress that that person would never have gotten it without
everybody else's help; the "no" answers helped as much as the "yes" answers did. I also get to be a
participant and to point out that sometimes I am wrong too! The tone of friendly cooperation on
the first day lasts into the school year, and the first day becomes part of a lesson, not just a day of
record keeping.

3. Who Am I? Riddle Book

Have children share facts about themselves by creating a Who Am I?riddle book. Students write
four or five statements about themselves. The last line is a question: "Who Am I?" I put this up as a
bulletin board and have students guess who each person is. The first person to guess correctly
gets to choose who guesses next.

4. Candy Gets Kids Talking!

Bring in Skittles, one of your students' favorite candies for sure! (Another favorite, M&Ms, are an
option.) Tell the kids to take as many as they want. Most are pretty apprehensive -- after all, it's the
first day of school! -- so they usually take about ten to 15 Skittles. You should take some too. Next,
pick out some fun music. For each Skittle they took the students must say one thing about
themselves while moving to the music. You demonstrate first, of course. An option: Each color of
candy represents a category students must speak about. Example: orange = scary memories, red =
great vacations, green = something about your family, blue = favorite hobbies, etc. The activity is a
real icebreaker, and the kids love it! After that, they feel comfortable, and the class is no longer
quiet.
5. Student Dictionary
Write five questions on the board. Questions might include the following:

•What is your name?

•Where were you born?
•How many brothers or sisters do you have?
•What are their names?
•Do you have any pets?
Tell students to write those questions on a piece of paper and to add to that paper five more
questions they could ask someone they don't know. Pair students, and have each student
interview his or her partner and record the responses.

6. People Poems 
Have each child use the letters in his or her name to create an acrostic poem. For example, Bill
could write

Big
Intelligent
Laughing
Loving.

Tell students they must include words that tell something about themselves -- for example,
something they like to do or a personality or physical trait. Invite students to share their poems
with the class. This activity is a fun one that enables you to learn how your students view
themselves. Allow older students to use a dictionary or thesaurus.

7. Another Poetic Introduction. 

Ask students to use the form below to create poems that describe them.

Name ______________________
Title (of poem)_______________
I will never _______________,
I will never ________________,
and I will never ______________.
I will always ______________.

This activity lends itself to being done at the beginning of the school year and again at the end of
the year. You and your students will have fun comparing their responses and seeing how the
students and  the responses have changed.
8. Adjective Activity. You might use this getting-to-know-you activity in language arts
classes. Each student must think of an adjective that begins with the same letter as his or her
name (first or last) and that also describes a positive quality he or she has; for example, musical
Maddox. If a student is stumped, other students can offer suggestions. (It's amazing to see how
well they know one another.) The activity reinforces -- in a way students remember -- that
adjectives are words that describe.

9. Mrs. Pizza. Arrange students into a circle. Ask Who did not eat breakfast this
morning? Usually at least one student has not eaten. Then ask, Who wishes they hadn't eaten
breakfast? That question usually encourages at least one student to begin the fun. Have that
student say his or her name and tell the craziest thing s/he ever ate for breakfast. Continue
around the circle; have each successive student tell what his or her craziest breakfast consisted of.
In addition, each student must say the name of each previous student and tell what that person's
craziest breakfast was. You go last; list every student by name and describe their most unusual
breakfast. After that, for at least the first week of school, use students' "crazy breakfast" item to
help their classmates remember their names. For example, Jenny ate cold salmon so you might
refer to her as "Miss Jennifer Salmon." The kids love it, but beware -- they might call you Mrs. Pizza
all year long!

10. A Kiss for the Kids!

All students start this activity in a seated position. Then the teacher will give the following, or
similar, instructions for students to follow:

•If you traveled this summer, stand up.

•If you have a brother, sit down.
•If you are the youngest of all the children in your family, stand up.
•If you own a pet, sit down.
•If you have a sister, stand up.
•If your family owns a computer, sit down.
•If you live in an apartment, stand up.
•If this is your first year in this school, sit down.
•If you are in ____ grade, stand up. (Fill in the blank with your grade; all students will stand.)
•If you were kissed by someone this morning, sit down.
At this point in the activity give a (chocolate) kiss to all those who are standing and say, "We all
need a kiss a day!"

11. Cool Introductions

Have students write three things about themselves. They should not put their names on their
papers. Then have each student crush his or her paper into a ball. Now you're ready for a getting-
to-know-you "snowball fight." Tell students they cannot begin until you say "go" and that they
must stop when you say "freeze." Remind students not to throw "snowballs" at anyone's face.
When you say "go," give students 30 seconds to a minute to toss their "snowballs." When you say
"freeze," every student should pick up one snowball. Each student should open up the snowball
and find the student it belongs to. Students should chat with their partners about the information
on the sheets. Then students will be responsible for introducing the students whose snowballs
they "caught" to the rest of the class.

12. Animal Quiz 

This icebreaker works well in a middle or high school science classes. It presents a humorous quiz
that emphasizes that students often think too hard in science; sometimes the answers are much
more obvious or easy than students might initially think. Start the activity by providing students
with a sheet of scrap writing paper. Announce that you are going to present a little quiz about
material they should already know. Preface the questions by saying that the events in the question
are all happening concurrently (at the same time). Following are the quiz questions:
1.How do you get a giraffe into a refrigerator?
2.How do you get an elephant into a refrigerator?
3.The Lion King is having a meeting and has invited every animal on Earth to the meeting. What
animal does not show up?
4.There is a lake full of angry crocodiles and you need to get to the other side. How do you do it?

Answers to the quiz:

1.You just push it in.

2.First you have to pull out the giraffe in order to push in the elephant.
3.The elephant doesn't show up, because it is in the refrigerator.
4.Just swim across, because all the animals are at the meeting.

Reiterate your earlier point that sometimes answers in science,  as in life, are much easier than we
make them out to be!

13.Opening Day Sing-Along

Are you familiar with the song Getting to Know You, from the Rogers and Hammerstein
musical The King and I? Write the lyrics to the song on chart paper and hang it on an easel. Talk
about the meaning of the lyrics and some of the vocabulary that might be unfamiliar. What does it
mean to get to know someone? to get acquainted? What does it take to get to know someone and
let that person get to know you? What does it mean to get someone to like you and how do you go
about that? Then introduce the tune, by playing it on a piano or sharing a recording. Finally, sing
the song together during the daily class meeting for the first week or so of school.