Coming Back from Vacation

I just finished a short trip to Iowa to visit my grandparents, aunts, and cousins. It was an incredible time! On the trip back, I texted some of my closest friends, telling them about the highs and lows of my short "vacation." This got me thinking about how people like to tell their stories. I wondered how I could use this in a classroom as a community building exercise as school is about to begin. Here are just a few ideas for icebreaker activities to address this:

• Surprise Highs: Ask students to share their favorite part of the summer. This can be done in multiple ways in groups or individually. Grouping students, like in a think, pair, share type of format, would help students get used to this classroom practice and working with classmates using a very simple prompt.
• Dream Vacation: Have students draw a picture of their dream vacation spot on blank side of an index card and write why this is their dream vacation on the lined side of the index card. Again, a think, pair, share type activity could be used. This would also provide some good insight into strengths of your students. For example, which students are artistically talented and which students have an eloquent way with words.
• Interview: Pair students up and give them a "vacation" related theme. Have students share their partner's story about their vacation with either the rest of the class or another group of 2.

Here are some other resources to consult that might have some ideas about how to break the ice on the first day back from a vacation. These sites also help us think of other important issues surrounding the start of a school year:

• The Critical First Week of School: This site gives a few general ideas about how to establish a positive classroom atmosphere and classroom guidelines with a class. Also discussed is creating goals and a few icebreakers to use.
• Back-to-School Planning Guide: This site offers a ton of information regarding different units, icebreakers, activities, bulletin board/decoration tips, etc.
• 101 Things You Can Do the First 3 Weeks of Class: This site offers a list of good things to think about when approaching a new school year. Interestingly, it separates purposes for ideas in categories such as, helping students transition, challenging your students, providing support, building community, and more.
• Activities for the First Days of School: Here is a list of more things to think about and further resources to consult to help begin a successful school year.

Hopefully we will all be able to start a new school year off positively. We have heard how important the first few weeks of school are, which is why all of these things need to be thought through and prepared for in order to start a successful and positive school year!