A kajillion years ago, just before I was student teaching, I had a professor ask us to bring 3 things in a lunch bag that represented us. We’d be sharing it as an icebreaker.
I really liked this idea and filed it away in my brain, thinking it would be fun to do with my “someday” students.
Many “some days” have come and gone and I’ve since seen variations of the “me bags” all over the internet and on Pinterest.
When I was an aide, only ½ a jillion years ago, I did a writing prompt with my 2nd graders: “The Cat’s Out Of The Bag.”
I had an “all about me” checklist, written on a cat’s belly, that they filled out and then read to their classmates.
Later, they colored, cut and glued the cat, to the outside of a brown lunch bag and hung them on the front of their lockers, so passer’s by could get to know them.
I thought this would be a nice twist to the icebreaker bags of long ago.
Here’s what you do:
Make up your own personal “Cat bag” and share it with your students so they get to know a little bit about you.
I included a family photo, (my students always thought it was cool that I have an identical twin), a small stuffed poodle to represent our pet Chloe, a tiny book because I love to read, a pen because I love to write, and paintbrush because I love art.
No matter what grade I taught, I always made samples.
My students really enjoyed getting to know me this way, as well as being able to “see” something and refer to it, as they worked on their own project.
Run off the note to the parents, along with the cute cat and “The cat’s out of the bag” squares.
Attach them to a brown lunch bag and send them home with students on the first day of school.
This is an easy and fun way to get to know your students, as well as give them some practice sharing in front of their new friends.
Click on the link to view/download The Cat’s Out Of The Bag packet.
Thanks for visiting today. I hope you can return tomorrow, for more back to school ideas.
Do you have a getting to know you project you’d be willing to share with us? I’d enjoy hearing from you. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or post a comment here.
Feel free to PIN anything you think others might find helpful.
“Treat people as if they were what they ought to be, and you can help them become what they are capable of becoming.” –Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
