Name Game

This game is a great introduction game for the beginning of the year. Getting students to feel comfortable in your classroom can be difficult but this activity is a good ice breaker to start student bonding. This game is much like a Tribes acitivity but incorporates actions as well as language to define it as a drama exercise.

Students get in a circle and the teacher asks students to think of an adjective that students with the same letter as their first name. For example Chatty Chelsea. The teacher then goes around the circle in about 5 students groupings. After a group of 5 introduces themselves the class will repeat the names with their adjectives all together then continue with the next 5 and so on till the whole class has gone. The class will then review all the names in the circle in a row. Secondly, the teacher will now ask students to add a movement to their name and adjective. For example making your hand talk like a puppet for Chatty Chelsea. Once again the class will follow the same exercise introducing 5 actions at a time until the whole class has introduce their own. Thirdly, the teacher will stand in the middle of the circle and spin around until they stop and point to one of the studnets. The whole class is to then say the persons adjective and name as well as perform their action all at the same time. Many adaptions can be made to this exercise for example the teacher could choose a student to go in the middle and be the one to spin and point. Or the class could play and if someone does the wrong action or says the wrong name they are out of the game until there is one person left with the middle pointer choosing faster and faster.

I will use this game in my future classroom for building classroom environment at the beginning of the year. I think this is a great way to get students relaxed as well as a terrific way for everyone, including the teacher, to learn student's names.