Icebreaker 7/29

Recipe Card Mix-Up Icebreaker

Provide each student with a recipe or index card. Ahead of time choose about five questions that you might ask of students. Be as creative as you want with the questions. Possible questions might include the following:

What is the title of a favorite book?

What do you like doing in your free time when you're not at school?

What is your favorite board game?

What is your favorite candy bar?

If you could request your favorite meal for your birthday, what would that meal be?


When students -- and the teacher -- have written their answers to the questions (not their names!), collect the recipe cards. Shuffle the cards. Then pass out a card to each student; be sure students do not receive their own cards. When everyone has a card, then the job of each student is to find the student in the room who belongs to the card the student holds. When everybody has found the person who wrote the answers on the card they hold, they must make sure they know how to pronounce that student's full name and that they understand everything that is written on the card. Then it is time for introductions. The teacher can begin the activity by asking the student on the card s/he holds to come to the front of the room. As that student stands by, the teacher introduces the student to the rest of the class by saying, "Class, I'd like you to meet ___. Her favorite book is ___. Her favorite board game is Please welcome ___ to our fourth grade class!" (Classmates then give the student 4 claps [for 4th grade]). The student that the teacher introduced continues the activity by calling up the student whose card he or she holds. The teacher can say the welcome to each student or the student introducing the new student can say the welcome. Continue until all students have introduced someone to the class. When everyone has been introduced, take all the cards, shuffle them, and call out responses on one card at a time to see if students can remember who belongs to each card I would just do a few of these or spread them out over the week to see what the students remember.
 The main part of the activity can be broken up throughout the day if it is too long for the kids.

(Taken from: http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/lesson/lesson346.shtml)