Back to School: Games For Teachers To Play To Bond Before The School Year Starts
Posted: Friday, July 25, 2008
by Stephany Springer
It is that time of the year again when kids come in full force ready to be taught by teachers who are prepared. There is nothing more awkward then starting a new year sitting in the middle of teachers you do not know. As a new teacher, orientation can be overwhelming. Sitting in staff meetings with a new team that you just met can bring even the veteran to a stomach full of nerves. As a principal or director, you know how important it is to have a united front and a staff who loves being together. It is important to facilitate bonding fast among your teachers so that tricks, resources and planning can be done in time before school starts when the kids outnumber the teachers.
Paper Bag Game
Mail a paper bag to the teachers before the first day with the following instructions. 1. Decorate bag to signify who you are or your style. 2. Place in bag three personal items that tell something about yourself. 3. One item needs to be something that nobody knows about you. 4. Be prepared to share in small group or large group.
This game really gets teachers to open up. Some will bring pictures of family. Some will share about religious beliefs. Be sure you have tissues handy because before long you might have some women crying but that is part of the process of learning about one another.
Baby Picture Game
Have a bulletin board set up for teachers to pin up their baby pictures as they enter the first morning of staff meetings. Have the heading, Guess the Teacher! Offer a prize at the end of the conference for the teacher who can guess the most baby pictures correctly. This would be fun to move to the halls and let students see as well when school does start.
Toilet Paper Game
This is a classic game so be prepared that some teachers may know the game. Pass a roll of toilet paper around and ask each teacher to tear off as much as she might need throughout the day. Then when they least expect it, ask each teacher to tell one thing about themselves for each sheet of toilet paper.
Truth or Lie
Pass out a sheet of paper for each teacher. Have the teachers write two things that are true about themselves and one untrue. Then let the other teachers try to guess what was untrue.
Talent Show
Teachers love to perform and be the center of attention. That is why they are teachers. Break teachers up into teams or grade levels. Have them write, create and perform a cheer for the school year. Teachers can get as resourceful as they want borrowing items from the resource room or home. Schedule the time at the end so they can be prepared. It will be fun to see your staff's creativity and craziness. Be sure to have small prizes for the best team.
Commonalities
Create a survey of five basic questions such as Birth place, favorite food, favorite vacation spot, siblings and color. Then allow the teachers throughout the day to find as many teachers as possible who have the same favorites as they do. Make sure they have names by each question of people who do have the same likes. At the end, have them count how many people they found with the same likes. The person with the largest total gets the prize. You will be surprised at how fast people can bond when they know commonalities to discuss with one another.
Push the nerves aside and enjoy these games. It is important to be friends by the time the kids arrive in order to model friendships to the kids. Enjoy these years together. You will be surprised at how fast you will make life long friends. I am sure some veteran teachers out there have some great games as well. Feel free to leave them in the comments so others can benefit as well.
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Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)they are very nice games and trust me playing them is a lot of fun.thanks and have a lovely day.
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