Pamela M. Fowler
Getting to know us is designed to help the teacher acquaint him/herself with his/her class as well as letting the children find out about each other by interacting. These activities will be beneficial for the student as well, because they will start to know you in a way other than in a teaching role.
Many of the activities are done in a circle. The circle allows for everyone to see each other and also creates the feeling of the class as a whole. When a student is absent the circle will feel incomplete. This is noticeable by the size of the circle and by the difference in the amount of space between its members.
Getting to Know Us is a three day section. Day one begins the first day of school after Rules, Rules, Rules.
DAY ONE:
Title: SPACE FLIGHT APPLICATION
Goals
1. To begin to develop relationships.
2. To establish a positive group setting.
3. To develop listening skills.
Materials
1. Copies of Space Flight Application for each student and teacher.
2. Pencils.
3. Name cards of each student on desks facing inner circle.
CLASSROOM SET-UP
All desks placed in a circle.
CLASS SIZE
8-10
SPECIAL NOTES:
Mainly a teacher directed activity.
PRESENTATION
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1. Explain to the class the reason for doing this exercise. Focus on the goals. You may want to remind the students to be mature and supportive of their classmates.
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2. Direct the class to place their finger or pencil on the top part and find “Name”.
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3. Instruct them to fill in their name, first and last.
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4. Have them fill out the entire section of information, phone number, today’s date, their home address, teacher’s name, grade, birth date, and place of birth. Reassure them that their spelling does not count. Just do the best they can.
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5. To begin the application, you are going to read each line aloud to the class and help them think.
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‘There are ___ people in my family.’ Have the children count those people who live in the same house with them and write the number in the blank.
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‘In my family we have ___.’ This could be anything from ‘fun’ to a new sofa.
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6. Continue down the application from #1-12.
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7. Guide the class through. Get them thinking.
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8. Allow enough time for everyone to think and write their answer.
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9. If there is someone who can’t quite seem to come up with an answer, give him/her some help, suggest something, then no on.
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10. Once the application has been completed, the sharing portion can be done in a variety of ways. Each will be explained and you can use portions of each to fit your own teaching style and personality.
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TYPE A (Teacher Directed)
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11. Begin at the top of the application and go around the circle and ask each student to complete the statement.
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12. Start with name and address information in this format: I’m going to start and I want you to listen to the information. I want you to tell us your name, where you live, how old you are, when your birthday is, and what grade you are in. My name is ______. I live ___. I am ___ years old. My birthday is ___ and I am in the ___ grade. (teacher fills in the information about him/herself) Now we will no around the circle. “Tell us about yourself.” Begin to your right, prompting as needed.
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13. After everyone has finished their introductions, ask each student how many people are in their family. You may even want them to tell you who they are. (2 brothers, a sister and mom)
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14. Pre-empt the share time by saying, “I have ___ people in my family, how many do you have, ___?”
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15. Continue around the circle until everyone has answered.
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16. Proceed down the list in the same manner.
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17. Always begin by completing the statement yourself then ask the students.
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18. Discussions may begin to arise. Be sure to keep them short. Using this procedure, time is of the essence.
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TYPE B (Student Directed)
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11. Begin at the top of the application.
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12. Start with name and address information in the same format as states in the teacher directed procedure.
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13. After everyone has finished their introductions, explain to the group the following information.
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14. Say, ‘Look at your application and put your finger on a statement you want to know about another person in this room.’
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15. ‘Now we are going to go around the circle. Each person will choose someone and ask them to complete the statement.’
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16. ‘You should say it like this: “___ (name), What do you like to do during your free time?”
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17. There are a few rules,
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l. The same person cannot be asked twice. Everyone must get a turn. Me included.
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2. Your questions must be asked in complete thoughts.
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3. Your answers must be complete thoughts. No one word answers.
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4. Every question must begin with the name of the person you are asking.
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If you do not know or forget someone’s name, you have to ask them to tell you/remind you of their name.
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5. No one can ask the same question.
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6. And above all, WE MUST BE POLITE!!!!
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Any questions?
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18. You can begin to model what you want.
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19. Go around the circle until everyone has asked and answered three questions.
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TYPE C (Mix and Share)
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11. Partner the class.
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12. Explain that each pair is going to share three things about themselves with their partner.
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13. Their partner is going to then share three things about themselves.
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14. The class will then come back to the circle.
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15. Each pair is going to tell the group two of those three things they learned about their partners.
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16. They will introduce their (new) friend in the following manner: “This is ___ (name of partner).
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She/He likes ___, ___, ___
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She/He has ___ people in her/his family.
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17. The partner will then introduce their partner to the class.
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18. Continue in this manner until everyone has introduced their (new) friend to the class.