"Getting to
Silent Line-Ups (Low Risk)
Without talking students do the following...
- line up by first name, alphabetically.
- line up by height.
- line up by birth date.
Whopper Game (Mid Risk)
Each group is supplied with a "whopper," a rolled up paper bag with tape forming a handle at one end. The entire group forms a circle in chairs or on the desks around a group member. (It is important that the legs of each participant can be reached, therefore sitting in the desks won't work.)
There is one person in the middle with the "whopper." They do not have a seat available to them.
One person calls out a name of someone sitting in the circle and the person with the "whopper" must hit that person, with the "whopper," before that person calls out another participant's name. This continues until the "whopper" holder gets to someone before they say a name. If the participant calls the name of the "whopper" holder they are automatically in the middle.
Once the "whopper" hits someone before they call out a name that person must get up and take the "whopper," but if the previous "whopper" holder sits down before calling out a name the new "whopper" holder can hit them and they return to the middle.
This may sound a bit boring, but it is incredible how slowly the mind works when you have someone coming at you with what looks like a club. The sound of the "whopper" is huge, but the sting is non-existent.
The blanket team (Mid Risk)
Split your class in half and put each team on a different side of a curtain, a blanket or tarp. The teams cannot see the other team standing behind the other side of the blanket. A student on each team walks forward in front of the blanket. The blanket is dropped and the student has to call the name of the student standing in front of him. The student who called the name last joins the winning team. Explain to the students that the goal of the game is to have all the students on the same size as quickly as possible.
Once all the students are on the same side of the blanket, remind the students what the goal was. Ask them if there was a way that could have been faster to have all the students on the same side and get them to understand that if one team voluntarily lost, everyone would have been on the same side very quickly.
Forced Choices (Mid Risk)
All students stand in the middle of the room. The teacher says: "Which of the following two words best describes you?" They must decide which word best describes them. No one may remain neutral. If they identify with the first word given they go to the left side of the room; with the second word given to the right side of the room. After discussing the commitment they have made they move back to the middle of the room for the next words.
Here are some examples of words to use...
lion-lamb winter-summer
thinking-asking
pillow-rock
group-individual
work-play
wisdom-luck
Alike/Unique (Low-Mid Risk)
Split your group into smaller groups of 3-5 students. Have each group come up with four or five things that they have in common. (Note: Direct your students to avoid the easy ones like they all love pizza or ice cream, etc.)
Then each individual must try to name something that is unique about him/her within the small group. No one should assume that it is a uniqueness until it has been discussed with the rest of the small group.
Have each small group report back to the whole group two of their commonalities and then have each individual report their uniqueness.
Know you"