#70 Days Thinking about Day ONE

I just read a couple of posts about icebreakers here and here.  The gist of both posts is that icebreakers can embarrass or at least make students uncomfortable.  Both authors suggest activities that are nonthreatening and yet still help students to get to know one another.

Here are three activities that I am considering ... I'm thinking I'll do just one of them.

• Hexagon Design Thinking ... each student will get one pre-cut hexagon.  I'll ask them to write a favorite activity on it.  Then students will gather around a table and connect their hexagons.  If we glue those down, we will have a map of favorite activities in each class.
• Speed Dating ... with easy to answer interview questions (could also be up and about with music - talk to someone new when the music stops)
• This or That ... students choose between 2 choices and move to one side of the room.  They share why they made that choice.  Example ... would you rather have a dog or a cat for a pet?  Would you rather play video games or a sport?

I also want to do math the first day!  I really like the How Many Hot Dogs Did They Eat 3-Act Math Task by Kaplinsky.  The math is easily within reach for my students but complicated enough to provide opportunity for conversation and thinking.  It will be interesting to see how students go about solving the problem ... will they make a table?  will they create an equation?  will they use some other strategy?

We'll only have about an hour on the very first A day and 90 minutes on the very first B Day.  I am still thinking about how I might modify for the shorter day.