Finding the “first day” activities (the lessons before we start the content) always invoke both stress and excitement for me. Exciting, because I love creating lessons that engage and get to know students after a whole summer off, but stressful because what if I don’t “hook” them?! What if they walk away from my lesson thinking “oh, I will not be able to learn anything in this class” (we know students are this dramatic!).

Because of my Type-A attitude towards first day activities, I have PLENTY ready for you to use in your classroom! I love all of these I’m about to present to you, and I’ve used them in various classes throughout the year. Sometimes I only have one day before I start content, and sometimes I have 3 days! It just depends on how the school year is flowing that year. Feel free to use any of the activities below in your classroom and on any of those “before content” days.

The Polar Bear Game

I love this game as a first day activity! I usually only use it in my AP computer science classes, because it is heavy problem solving on day 1, but it is always a hit.

Set Up:

• Make groups of 3-4 students. They can be socially distanced if necessary.
• Pass out the “Polar Bear Handout” on Slide #27
• If you have enough dice, give each group 5. If you don’t have enough dice, this can be done without it.

Objective: Students will engage in problem solving to determine the rules of the Polar Bear game. They will then be given a small “quiz” at the end of the class period to determine if they figured out the rules to the game.

Overview:

To play The Polar Bear Game, I roll 5 dice. Looking at the values of the 5 dice, they will tell me how many polar bears, fish, and plankton are present. Their goal is to figure out how I am getting the number of polar bears, fish, and plankton. I will give them 3 riddles to help them start thinking about the rules of the game. Then, we will go through 5 sample rolls and see how many polar bears, fish, and plankton there are.in each roll.

After than, they will brainstorm with their groups what the rules could be. They will use dice to set up certain scenarios and then tell me how many of each there are. I will tell them if they are correct or not for each of them. Towards the end of class, we will discuss how this relates to computer science and then I will give each group a small “quiz” to see if they have solved the puzzle!

Modifications:

I have polar bears, fish, and plankton in this activity, but you can edit it to make it just bears/fish or even just bears. This would reduce the amount of time you spend on the activity as well as the high level of problem solving too.

Click here to travel to TPT to download this FREE activity!

Stations Activity

I use this resource in all of the high school math classes, but you can easily easily edit it to fit other subject areas or grade levels.

Students will move through “stations” around the room to get to know the class, as well as letting the teacher get to know them. They will be able to collaborate and work in groups in a low stress, first day, introduction activity.

I also use this on the second day of class and replace this activity with my usual “go through the syllabus” day.

Set Up:

• Print off the station instructions from the Google Slides, and put them around the room.
• Make copies of the worksheet that students will write on and complete as they move through the stations.
• Randomly assign groups of 4 students when they walk in!

Overview:

There are 7 stations I created and each of them have the students completing an activity.

Reading the Syllabus – students get a copy of the syllabus at this station and read through it. They will then answer some questions asking about the key points they read.

Classroom Investigation – this station has students write down what they notice about the classroom. Whether it is my obsession with Rae Dunn and farmhouse decor, or if they notice where the pencil sharpener is, it lets them look around and become familiar with the space.

Student Survey – in my class, students scan a QR code that takes them to a Google Form where they answer some questions about themselves. I also make sure to have some hard copies of the survey, because there is always some students who can’t use their phone.

Numbers About You – this station is included because I teach math! 🙂 students come up with 4 numbers that are important to them or numbers that describe them. For example, I would choose 714 (my wedding date), 57 (birth of my first daughter), 226 (birth of my second daughter), and 31 (my age, yikes!).

Brain Teasers – there are 4 brain teasers in the worksheet that students will work through in their groups.

Teacher Expectations – at this station, students will brainstorm 6 expectations they have of me. A few examples of what students have said: “Be kind and understanding”, “Don’t give a lot of homework”, “Understand when we don’t get assignments done”, etc.

Last Year’s Class – this station is an open book! I ask students to write down everything they remember from their last math class. This isn’t so much to see what they remembered, but more for me to get a first look at their work eithic. There are students who leave this blank and students who use every part of the page. By getting a good idea of their work ethic the first days of school, I can see who I need to sit down with right away when I get into content.

Modifications:

While the PDF of the worksheet is not editable (I made it in Canva, so I didn’t have an editable copy), the student survey and stations are! You can easily make this a smaller activity, or change the activities to match your subject and grade level.

Click here to travel to TPT to download this FREE activity!

Get To Know You Slides

Ways to use this:

• As an in class activity the first day of school
• As their first assignment to be completed at home
• They can present their slides in class to their peers

Once you have it on your drive, make a slide for each student and put their name as the title. Then, assign it so everyone can edit it. Students will go to the document and find their slide. They will then edit the slide with their information!

I like using this instead of a google form or even an in class paper “get to know me” activity because other students can see the slides and get to know their classmates more.

Click here to travel to TPT to download this FREE activity.

Sign up for my newsletter so you know when I add more “First Day” activities! I have a bunch I plan on modifying and posting; like I said, I’m so obsessed with them!

Let me know in the comments, what is your favorite first day activities?