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Where Speech-language Pathologists find ideas, activities and materials.

Easy Beginning of the School Year Activity

DiceHere is a great and easy activity to do the first session with your students, especially if you are just getting to know them.  The only thing you’ll need is a die and something to write on (e.g., dry erase board, piece of paper) that the students can all see.  Write the numbers one through six vertically.  Next to each number, write a topic such as:  family, sports, school, holiday, hobby/activity, song/musical group, movie/actor, vacation.  The students take turns rolling the die and telling something about the topic for the number they rolled.  For most of the topics, have them tell about their favorite thing in that category.

This is a great way to get to know things about the students that their files won’t tell you.  It also gives you a chance to hear them speak conversationally.  If you can, take notes on a card or page for each student that you can refer to later.

Here’s to a great school year!

Becky Wanca

This Post Has 21 Comments
  1. I like this! I will post the information on a paperdoll cutout of each student as well to show ‘the whole child’…

  2. i love this idea.I feel its important to talk to ur kids and this makes it fun for everybody,with out drilling them.thank u

  3. Thanks for the activity. This came just in time for the start of the new school year. Our students start on Aug. 9th. New ideas are always welcomed, especially after working in the schools for many years!

  4. Great idea. It is amazing how a small idea like rolling a dice keeps students much more focused and motivated.I love the first few weeks of school and discovering the strengths and challenges of the students.I enjoy your ideas, Thank you, Mary

  5. This is a great idea…often times we are so overwhelmed with other beginning of the year tasks…that some of us have no clue what we are going to do with the kids for that 1st session.

  6. Thank you, Becky. I like the idea too. I may use it with my new intermediate students this year. Perhaps I will use magazine pictures as a visual for each topic to be selected.

  7. I usually encourage them to tell us more the second time they roll the number, but after that you can just have them keep rolling until they get a different one. There are no hard and fast rules for this game, just a great get-to-know-you activity.

  8. I really like this idea!! I used this activity with several students today, ranging from k-3, and they all loved it! I’m thinking about using this idea throughout the year with other topics. Thanks for sharing!!!

  9. I love this idea! I use it in conjunction with some other “Getting to know you” ideas! Thanks for all the great ideas!

  10. I Love this idea! I will be seen my students for the first time on friday and I will definetly used this as an activity for our first session. Thank you for sharing

  11. I am a new speech therapist and going to be working with middle school children, I can’t wait to do thsi with them so we can all get to know one another!

  12. I have been so worried about finding an activity for my first day with my groups. This is perfect ! Hopefully I will get the enthusiasm and responses from all myngroups. Really nervous! First time in a school and a caseload of 60! Your site will be a big help to me this year, thank you!!!!!

  13. I hope you have a fantastic year! The students will be able to see your enthusiasm and excitement. As much as I try to always have a plan, there are always those days when you need a great, easy activity that can work for any group. I’ve always found success with the Penny Toss game. Pull out some stimuli cards (for sounds, vocabulary words, etc.) and have a fun, easy session. There are also great seasonal games too, such as the Snowman Game, that can be used with many different groups in the winter months. Have a great year!

    Becky

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