{"id":250071,"date":"2024-08-01T11:35:23","date_gmt":"2024-08-01T11:35:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/2024\/08\/01\/10-team-building-games-for-the-first-day-of-class\/"},"modified":"2025-06-25T17:13:25","modified_gmt":"2025-06-25T17:13:25","slug":"10-team-building-games-for-the-first-day-of-class","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/2024\/08\/01\/10-team-building-games-for-the-first-day-of-class\/","title":{"rendered":"10 Team-Building Games For The First Day Of Class"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> [ad_1]<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\">\n<\/aside>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"756\" height=\"567\" alt=\"Team-Building Games For The First Day Of School\" class=\"wp-image-55634 perfmatters-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.teachthought.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/10-Team-Building-Games-For-The-First-Day-Of-Class.png\"\/><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"756\" height=\"567\" src=\"https:\/\/www.teachthought.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/10-Team-Building-Games-For-The-First-Day-Of-Class.png\" alt=\"Team-Building Games For The First Day Of School\" class=\"wp-image-55634\"\/><\/figure>\n<p>by <strong>TeachThought Staff<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Team-building activities are great\u2013especially for the first day of school or early in the school year,<\/p>\n<p>Not only can they help establish routines, tone, and expectations, they\u2019re also fun, and can help learners feel comfortable. Though many older students in high school and college may groan at their thought, they\u2019re usually fun, and great ways to help students feel at ease. Before you dismiss them as too juvenile, try one. You might be surprised.<\/p>\n<p>Note that which game you choose, your rules for the game, and any revisions to the rules depend on the nature of the class you\u2019re using them with. Certain students may feel overly liberated\u2014especially in middle school\u2014with the idea of a \u2018game,\u2019 and so expectations must be carefully given to younger K-8 learners\u2014and even 9-12\u2014to ensure that every student is set up for success.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-10-team-building-games-for-the-first-day-of-school-0\"><strong>10 Team-Building Games For The First Day Of School<\/strong><\/h2>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-1-me-too\"><strong>1. Me Too!<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Ideal Grade Levels: K-20<\/p>\n<p>The first student gives a fact about themselves\u2014I love basketball, I have two sisters, etc. If that statement or fact is true about another student, they stand up and say \u201cMe too!\u201d They can also stay seated, but simply raise their hand and say \u201cMe too!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-2-park-bench\"><strong>2. Park Bench<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Ideal Grade Levels: 6-20<\/p>\n<p>Two chairs are placed together to resemble a park bench. Two students volunteer\u2014or are selected\u2014to act out \u2018what happened\u2019 in a fictional news story. They are given one minute to prepare a scene where they discuss the \u2018event\u2019 without ever actually saying what happened. After given time period (1-5 minutes), peers guess \u2018what happened,\u2019 but they must give up all four important details: Who, What, Where, and When, e.g.:<\/p>\n<p>What: College Basketball game<\/p>\n<p>Who: Any two college or professional sports teams<\/p>\n<p>When: Early April<\/p>\n<p>Where: New Orleans<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-3-fact-or-fiction\"><strong>3. Fact or Fiction<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Ideal Grade Levels: 3-12<\/p>\n<p>In a circle, the first student offers two facts and one piece of fiction about themselves. Others raise their hand or are called on to identify which were facts, and which were fiction. The correct guesser goes next. Play is completed when all students have gone.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-4-green-door\"><strong>4. Green Door<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Ideal Grade Levels: 5-20<\/p>\n<p>A leader chooses a topic, but keeps it quiet, only saying that \u201cYou can bring a ____ through the green door.\u201d Students are then forced to deduce the topic by asking if other things can be brought through the green door as well, e.g., \u201cCan I bring a _____ through the green door?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The leader can only reply yes or no. When a topic is identified, topic resets. Topics can be content-related, such as parts of speech, colors, geometric figures, historical figures, etc.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-5-one-minute-talk\"><strong>5. One Minute Talk<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Ideal Grade Levels: 5-20<\/p>\n<p>Students are chosen to give 60-second talks on anything, from self-selected topics they are passionate about, have specific expertise in, etc., to topics given from teacher. Classmates can then follow-up with one thing\u2013no matter how innocuous\u2013that they can \u2018connect\u2019 to or is somehow related to their life.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-6-count-to-ten\"><strong>6. Count to Ten<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Ideal Grade Levels: 3-20<\/p>\n<p>All students stand in a circle. The first student says \u20181,\u2019 or \u20181, 2.\u2019 The next student picks up where that student left off and can say a maximum number of 2 numbers. The movement continues clockwise until it gets to 10, where that student has to sit, and the game starts back over at 1 at the next student.<\/p>\n<p>Note that there can be no pausing or silent counting\u2014any pauses or indications the student is counting\/calculating forces them to sit. Also, pouting or talking during counting results in elimination from future rounds. The big idea is to count strategically so that you can keep from saying \u201910.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>You can read more about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.teachthought.com\/pedagogy\/count-to-ten\/\"><strong>How To Play The Count To Ten Team-Building Game.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-7-i-never\"><strong>7. I Never<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Ideal Grade Levels: K-20<\/p>\n<p>Students form a circle. The first student says something they\u2019ve never done. Each student that <em>has <\/em>done the thing the other student has not steps briefly into the center. The game continues until every person has stated something they\u2019ve done.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-8-magic-ball\"><strong>8. Magic Ball<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Ideal Grade Levels: K-20<\/p>\n<p>Students form a circle. The first student is \u2018given\u2019 an imaginary magic ball. The student sculpts an imaginary ball into a new shape, handing it to the person to their right. The activity is silent. Any talking\/noise results in student sitting. After the game, guessing may be done to predict what \u2018sculpture\u2019 was.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-9-silent-line\"><strong>9. Silent Line<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Ideal Grade Levels: K-8<\/p>\n<p>Students are given criteria, and must silently put themselves in a line as quickly as possible, to meet a goal, compete against other classes, or receive some reward (free reading time, no homework, etc.) The criteria can simple (birthdays), or slightly more complicated (alphabetical order of college or career ambition).<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-10-inside-outside-circle\"><strong>10. Inside-Outside Circle<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Ideal Grade Levels: 3-20<\/p>\n<p>Students form a circle within a circle with (ideally) an equal number of students in both circles. Inside circle members pair with outside circle members. Activity leader (usually teacher, but can be a student) presents a topic, prompt, or question.<\/p>\n<p>Partners share for 10 seconds (or less), the leader asks inside the circle to move clockwise a certain number of spaces to collaborate with new partners directly across from them. This is usually content focuses and helps spur quick discussion on content-related topics, or even current events.<\/p>\n<p><em>10 Team-Building Games For The First Day Of School; <\/em><em>Source \u2018The Advisory Book\u2019 by Linda Crawford<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>[ad_2]<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.teachthought.com\/pedagogy\/team-building-games-first-day\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[ad_1] by TeachThought Staff Team-building activities are great\u2013especially for the first day of school or early in the school year, Not only can they help<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":250072,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[173],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250071"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=250071"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250071\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/250072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=250071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=250071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=250071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}