We as teachers know that it's important to do or play something that breaks the ice. It's not something we usually leave up to the students to decide how to do. Somehow, someway, we as teachers know it's our job to make our students as comfortable with each other and with us as quickly as we can. It always seem best to do something that may produce a giggle or two from the students.
A game I did last year that I'll do again this year was Candy Introductions (I love anything with candy involved). I bought a bag of gummy bears (you can use m&m's if you prefer or any other colorful candy) and assigned a different question to each color. For instance, red might be tell everyone your favorite color and green might be tell us your favorite thing you did this summer. The student closed their eyes and picked out one gummy bear and answered the question that went with that color. I let them each go 2-3 times. They got to eat candy and meet each other in a fun and easy way that didn't make them uncomfortable. I also did it because it involved COLOR which as you know is a big an important theme in my classroom. :-)
I'll post again in a couple more days with another back to school post. Let me know if there is something you specifically want to know about what I'm doing for "back to school" with my class.
Until the next pickin'
Mrs. L
