So my first day back today was fabulous! Our meeting that was scheduled to last until 2:30 ended up ending at 11:30! Then, I got to go to lunch with my teacher gals and finished the day working in my classroom -- though I'm not really sure I got much of anything accomplished.
You guys might know that I am completely obsessed with Nikki's clipart! You know Nikki, right?? The Melonheadz Illustrator! YEAH! Her! Well, she just opened up a clipart shop on TN and I am like jumping up and down with excitement over the instant download! This girl - ME - is impatient, especially when she's working on a project! You can check her out and follow her new shop HERE!
Anyway, I have been meaning to get some things done around my classroom, but realized that I kept forgetting to make them and print them home so that I could take them to school, laminate them, and you know...actually use them! Well, I needed some NEON months of the year signs for my calendar and so I came up with these, featuring the ever so talented Nikki's clipart! Just click the images to download each file!
Then, I made some birthday balloon toppers in different designs. And of course, they don't have to go on straws...you could use glow sticks, pixie sticks, pencils...anything really!
So I saw this cute idea on Pinterest.
And so I decided to make my own version to match my themed of course for meet the teacher night or the first day of school or whenever!
And last but CERTAINLY not least, I made it to 1500 blog followers sometime today! So, to celebrate, I will be giving away 3 items from my shop to one lucky winner! All you have to do is leave a blog comment telling me you favorite student "Get to Know You Activity" that you use in your classroom! I will use a random number generator on Saturday-ish to find a winner!
Good luck!
I love to have my kids interview each other then present their partner to the rest of the class!! Of course, I also love the Find a person who activities!!
ReplyDeleteNesli
Congrats on reaching 1500! I like to use a beach ball with a picture of a crayon, food, animal, book, animal, and a question mark. Students throw it and tell us their favorite whatever their thumb lands on. A question mark means you can share anything!
ReplyDeleteI LOVE the balloon toppers! I am definitely putting that on my list of things to do next year. My favorite get to know you activity I have my firsties do is a scavenger hunt. This gets them talking to each other and asking questions. They love it!
ReplyDeleteLindsay
For the Love of First Grade
I love to have the students grab lego pieces and however many they grab they have to give facts about themselves! It is cute because they love to share! :)
ReplyDeleteCongrats on 1500! I am absolutely love your blog!!!!!!!
Meg
buzzaroundinsecondgrade.blogspot.com
meagan.newbold@gmail.com
Congrats! I tried to download your balloons, but they would not open.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing!
I enjoy having students create "me bags" and share them.
ReplyDeleteI do something similar to the pster above, but they draw strips of paper from a bowl. I might have to try the beach ball, tho. Sounds like fun.
ReplyDeleteWendy Pittman
wpittman@bsisd.esc18.net
ps Congrats on the 1500!!!
Congrats on 1500!!! This summer I used a beach ball with phrases on it
ReplyDeletefavorite color
favorite animal
favorite food
favorite game
favorite season
pets
There were a few more but I can't remember them now :-) You can taylor it to any age group!
Cindy
allthingsteachery@gmail.com
Congratulations!
ReplyDeleteI like to play a bingo kind of game that gets them up moving around and asking questions about each other!
ReplyDeletefourth grade fanatics
I love having students do a "Find Someone who..." activity and of course Me Bags.
ReplyDeleteTracey
Third Grade All Stars
I have been doing a poll during morning meeting about random things to get to know them and to let them get to find out random things about each other.
ReplyDeleteLiz
Teaching in the Valley
I absolutely love your blog, graphics, posters...the list goes on! I have sent soooo many teacher friends your way. My favorite "getting to know you" activity is their writing a page in "The Important Book" highlighting their favorite things to do and the attributes they admire most about themselves.
ReplyDeleteRachel
thirdgradecupcakes@gmail.com
I love reading Chrysanthemum and having the student learn about the origins of their names. I love, love, love your blog!
ReplyDeletePitner's Potpourri
You are so creative and I always look forward to what new creations you come up with. What font did you use for your birthday balloons and the "You're so bright and smart" tags?? :) Love it!!
ReplyDeleteWe sit around the carpet every morning and go around answering a silly ice breaker question while passing the talking stick! The kiddos look forward to sharing every day :)
ReplyDeletekristenkennedy5@gmail.com
I have a super cute "All About Me" book that I love to use with the kiddos and then have them practice buddy reading while sharing their books with a partner.
ReplyDeleteCurls and a Smile
lmorgart@lcisd.org
I like to the kids tell everyone 3 facts about themselves. Most of the time just their name, favorite color, and favorite thing to do. Then, after everyone has gone,we turn on some music and dance! What better way to get to know each other than with a little boogie!?
ReplyDeleteVera
abltadventure@gmail.com
A BLT adventure
Hmmmm. That's a tough question! I am at a new grade level this year and am having to find all new activities (because I was 4th, now 5th and they have done what I would give them!). This year we wrote about an alien but it was not really an activity about themselves. I will be reading your ideas! Please visit my blog at http://mrsjimison.blogspot.com and you can download the alien writing for free!
ReplyDeleteWow! 1500 is AWESOME! My favorite back to school activity is a scavenger hunt my students do at open house to find all the important things like lockers, mailboxes,etc. I use pictures and I don't know who does more leading, the parents or the kids.
ReplyDeleteI like to do an activity where kids have to go around and find people who math the item on a chart. For example, "has green eyes."
ReplyDeleteI love the Me Bags,but I also do a questionnaire called "Wacky Introductions" and has some fun questions such as: If you were a musical instrument, which one would you be? and If you could live anywhere, where would you live? Then the students write a short paragraph sharing some of the "wacky" information with the whole class. As we share, we try to remember if the current student had anything in common with any of the previous introductions.
ReplyDeleteI love the whole find the student activities...I also use the poem about crumbling paper and how crumbled paper can never be straightened just that similar to once you bully someone you can never take away the victims pain. It is a cute poem and then I use the Juice Box Bully as a follow up story. I am so happy you finally reached 1500 followers. Awesome!
ReplyDeleteWe do "comparing classmates" where I partner up students and give them a Venn diagram. They have a certain number of minutes to talk and compare things about themselves. If needed I give them prompts, such as "talk about your favorite school subjects" or "how many people are in your family?" After they have time to talk and fill out their Venn diagram, we do a go-around where each student tells something about themselves and together with their partner they tell one thing they have alike.
ReplyDeleteI love getting them to draw a self portrait and do some goal setting. Congrats on such a huge number!
ReplyDeleteBrooke
b_beynon@hotmail.com
I did a summer Find Someone Who today and the kids loved it! It was great! Congrats on 1500, I love your products!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on 1500! That is awesome! My favorite back to school "getting to know you activity" is to give the kids a sheet that looks similar to a bingo board. Each box says "find someone who...(i.e., Has 2 brothers or Has a dog as a pet, etc.". The students must find a friend that fits the criteria of the box. The kids love it!
ReplyDeleteœKaryn
A is for Apple B is for Blog
Kideducator@comcast.net
My favorite getting to know you activity is having the kids do an "About Me" book. It lets me know what they love and see some of their academic skills. I also like to have the parents fill out a survey about their child. It's very eye-opening.
ReplyDeleteSwimming into Second
I love your months...had already bought some, so will use yours next year...if I can hold off that long.
ReplyDeleteI like to do the Find Someone Who activity since it really gets the students focused on how to properly ask a question; listen for the answer and then say thank you...skills we use every day all year long!
tokyoshoes (at) hotmail (dot) com
One of my favorite Getting to Know You activities would be their "I am" Poetry. Congrats on 1500!!! That is an amazing accomplishment!
ReplyDeleteI like the get to know you bingo. The students interact with one another to fill their bingo boxes and then we play bingo!
ReplyDeleteI have the students pull a slip of paper out of a bucket. They pull out a slip and answer the questions(a). The questions are a way for us to get to know the children. I even have to pull a question from the hat. We also play some name games too like bingo.
ReplyDeletelraines78@gmail.com
I like the Find a Friend Who Bingo. I am excited to use it this year!
ReplyDeletermariemuniz@hotmail.com
I use brown bag riddles with my kiddos. They choose one item from home that best describes them! They Pluto the item in the bag and then they write down clues to help us figure out what is in the bag. The class then spends a few minutes making guesses and then, there is a BIG reveal of what is in the bag. It's a great activity because we all learn something about each other.
ReplyDeleteEileen
eileengriffin14@yahoo.com
My favorite back to school getting to know you activity is for the students to decorate, fill and present a ME box. I start on the first day by showing my ME box items to the class. Inside is a family photo, my Panera Bread card, a bracelet I made...all things that represent something I like. We spend the next week presenting our boxes to classmates and leave them on display for a while.
ReplyDeleteGreat giveaway! Thanks so much!
Jeannine
creativelessoncafe@gmail.com
Creative Lesson Cafe
I have kids interview a partner and then tell us what they learned about them! They love it! I learn a lot too:) Congrats! Missthirdgrade.com
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on 1500! I like to have the kids make "All About Me" books. I also try to talk with each one about their books.
ReplyDeleteSpotted Around the School
Oh I just tried to click on the balloons and they wouldn't work? :( Everything else did though :)
ReplyDeleteThe Hive
I have the kids draw pictures of all of their favorites, compare with a partner, and present their partner to the class. We made venn diagrams last year with all of the info. They were an excellent visual.
ReplyDeleteRita
rita@serendipityschool.com
Congrats on all the followers!!! I like to use the "Find Someone who..." activity and this year I am going to be doing drama circles to get my students having fun!
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Terri
Terri's Teaching Treasures
terrilefler@shaw.ca
Love your blog! I use the snowball activity (kids write facts on a piece of paper, ball it up, we throw them around the room, then you pick up the closest one. As a class we try to figure out whose snowball it was!)
ReplyDeleteEvie
erin.m.varley@gmail.com
I love people bingo as a "get to know you" activity. Works a treat!!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for the great opportunity. I love "getting to know you" activities.
ReplyDeleteYvonnee
yvonneeyrg@gmail.com
I love "Find someone who..." Thanks for the opportunity!
ReplyDeletesixbeachbums@yahoo.com
I love to do the Scavenger Hunt Bingo activity where the students have to find someone who did each item on the page. It helps them find out about each other but also gets them to talk to new people!
ReplyDeleteBrittany
Stickers and Stamps
brittany.knechtel@gmail.com
I do "find a friend" with my first graders as well as pass out an all about me t-shirt at open house to display in the room. I love watching them discover what they have in common!
ReplyDeleteMandmyoung@chartermi.net
I love the interview a friend page from Abby's Fun with Firsties unit! I used it this year and the kiddos loved it!! :)
ReplyDeleteSandra
Sweet Times in First
sweettimesinfirst@gmail.com
I add a question for my kinders to answer at the end of each day's Morning Message during the first week. We begin with "What is your name?" We also use the old standby Cookie Jar and we're doing a new Guess Who I Am book this year.
ReplyDeleteDonna W.
I'm an intervention specialist so I see the same kids every year. I do like to have them write/draw about their summer vacation, it helps me to know how their interests have changed.
ReplyDeleteLisa.cain.sped.teacher@gmail.com
We do an activity where they roll a die and talk about different "favorites"! Congrats on 1500! :)
ReplyDeleteKate
dancinqueenks23@aol.com
I love to do the Find the Fiction activity. The kids love it and get to know each other well.
ReplyDeleteKristen
www.teacherplayground.com
(my blog)
I love to use a "Find a Friend" activity. The kids love it and it gets them out of their seats. :) Thanks for the opportunity to win!
ReplyDelete~Nicole
nicoleshelby@hotmail.com
I love to use the "All About Me Bags." The students have to bring in up to five items from home that describe them.....BUT, they have to fit inside a brown lunch sack!
ReplyDeleteJenefer!
jeneferpate@yahoo.com
I love the "All About Me" bags as well. Students bring in such interesting items and they love having the spotlight on them for a few minutes!
ReplyDeleteajmacintosh@edu.pe.ca