I don’t know about you, but the first few days of school always amp up my nerves. Despite doing this for over 10 years, I still get mad anxiety when it is time to start planning the first few days with my students. Something about the new faces, the fresh pencils, and the yet-to-be-decided-upon seating chart makes my heart race.
I have a few tried and true activities that help set the tone to our class (a little whimsy, a little rigor) and allow me to get to know my students better (Are they good at collaborating or want to be a lone wolf? Do they get to work immediately or take time to think?).
Below are my top 3 favorite activities that meet both these goals and help me sneakily assess my new students.
To get kids thinking about themselves…
One Pagers, duh!
Asking students to create a One Pager on one of the first days of class is a great way for them to creatively show a little about their interests and it also allows you to introduce One Pagers as a regular feature of the class. I know I am obsessed with these gems and Betsy Potash at Now Spark Creativity is the queen of creating these! Check out her blog and her TpT work. A One Pager Activity: About Me for $1? Um, yes please!
Are you a Nick or an Amy?
While students work on this project, I can sneakily assess their work skills and observe how comfortable they feel being creative. Some years, I am overloaded with kids who despise drawing, loathe coloring, and could never ever imagine creating a collage from old magazines. Other years, I have students who I legit want to throw a craft party with because their creativity is inspiring. Doing this One Pager on an early day of the new school year helps me assess if I have tiny Nick Offermans (super awesome crafty guy) or Amy Poehlers (admittedly not at all a crafty gal). Side note: If you haven’t watched Making It, finish reading this blog post and check out this feel good show immediately!
To get kids thinking collaboratively…
from The Teacher Studio
Harry Needs a Home is a great activity to observe students as they share their individual ideas, collaborate to establish a group idea, and problem solve a STEM challenge. I love not only seeing what they create with their limited supplies (pipe cleaners, foil, tape, or whatever you can scrounge up!), but I also like to informally assess some of their soft skills. As we all know, teaching is way more than the standards and getting kids to successfully present their ideas, become comfortable with making concessions, and problem solve with others is just as important as writing a coherent sentence with ZERO comma splices. This activity is a great way to see the baseline and design future activities that target their needs.
To read more about this activity and see my original source, check out The Teacher Studio.
To get kids thinking with a Growth Mindset…
It only seems impossible…
Twist up their little brains with this incredibly challenging but ultimately simple paper folding trick. All you need is:
Paper
Scissors
A willingness to try and fail multiple times. Like, many times.
The trick is appropriately named “The Amazing, Stupendous, Impossible Paper Puzzle” and once you follow the tutorial, you will see why.
For this activity, I observe students to see if they give up easily or keep trying new techniques. I notice if they work alone, talk with their classmates, or immediately ask me for help. I watch as some students carefully consider the model from up close or strain to see from their seats. While students try and fail and try and fail (often upwards of 10 times!), I get to see a host of skills and strategies they possess. This informs future lessons I design and helps me access students’ strengths and areas for growth.
I love being sleuth-y like this. It makes me sort of feel like part-detective, part-teacher, and the only thing better than that is having a firm grasp of who my students are before we even crack open our first book.
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