One Tired Teacher
One Tired Teacher
OTT 254: Break the Ice Without the Cringe – Fun Ways to Build Classroom Community
Ever found yourself cringing through yet another awkward icebreaker activity? You're not alone. As teachers, we know building classroom community is essential, but finding engaging ways to do it can be challenging. The good news? Creating meaningful connections doesn't have to be painful or embarrassing for you or your students.
When students feel safe, seen, and connected, everything improves dramatically. Behavior management becomes easier, learning deepens, and the classroom environment transforms into a space where everyone thrives. This episode explores practical, low-pressure ways to build authentic classroom community without the eye-rolling or uncomfortable silences that sometimes accompany traditional icebreakers.
From simple but effective "Would You Rather" questions that get students moving and sharing opinions to "Find Someone Who" activities that create natural conversation starters, we dive into options that work across grade levels. I share my experiences implementing these in both elementary classrooms and virtual settings during the pandemic, along with tips for making connection a daily habit rather than a one-time event. The episode highlights how teacher vulnerability plays a crucial role in building trust and creating a classroom where students feel comfortable being themselves.
Ready to create a classroom that feels joyful from day one? Download the free Would You Rather: Back to School Edition resource mentioned in this episode and transform how you approach community building this year. Your students (and your classroom management plan) will thank you! Subscribe for next week's episode on setting up strong reading routines without adding more to your plate.
Download Free Would You Rather Back to School Edition
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Welcome to One Tired Teacher. Episode 254, break the Ice Without the Cringe Fun Ways to Build Classroom Community. So welcome back. And today we're talking about building community, building rapport, building that really positive classroom family environment without that cringey. This is dorky. I hate this kind of feeling that sometimes can occur when we are doing icebreakers. So let's talk about that today. Hope you stick around.
Speaker 2:Welcome to One Tired Teacher. And even though she may need a nap, this teacher is ready to wake up and speak her truth about the trials and treasures of teaching here. She is wide awake. Wait, she's not asleep right now, is she? She is awake right. Okay, from Trina Devery, teaching and Learning your host, trina Devery.
Speaker 1:Hey. So, yes, my voice is still a little bit raspy. I'm batch recording, which means I'm recording all of this at the same time, so last week's episode I had a little raspy voice. This week it's going to be that way, probably for the month of August, unfortunately, so I'm so sorry about that. Eventually, my voice will be back All right.
Speaker 1:So welcome back to One Tired Teacher. Okay, I want you to raise your hand. If you've ever cringed your way through an icebreaker, yeah, same. But let's have some real talk here.
Speaker 1:Helping students feel safe, seen and connected early makes everything else go smoother. I feel like I need to say that again. When kids feel safe, seen, connected, loved, cared about, when this happens when we build this community, it makes our lives a thousand times easier. It makes everything better for the kids. It makes everything better for the kids. It makes everything better for the teacher. So today we're going to talk about how to build a classroom community without the awkwardness. I'm going to share some of my favorite low pressure ways to help kids connect and how to keep things light but meaningful during those first few weeks.
Speaker 1:Okay so, let's talk about it. Why icebreakers matter and why teachers hate them. Okay so, connection builds safety and safety fuels learning. It's like the Maslow, you know, the what is it that saying that they say about? You got to do? Oh, I don't know, it just went right out of my head, so just ignore that. It's just important for kids to have their basic needs met before any kind of learning occurs. So when they feel safe and they feel connected, they're able, their brains are able to actually learn. But we don't want to be cheesy or do these forced activities that make kids uncomfortable or like oh gosh or roll their eyes.
Speaker 1:I think this is easier in the elementary grades because I think most kids will think it's fun. I think when you're talking about middle school and high school it starts to feel more cringy, but I think we're pretty safe in elementary school. I don't know, maybe fifth grade starts to think it's a little bit cringey, but I think we're pretty safe in elementary school. I don't know, maybe fifth grade starts to think it's a little bit cringey. So we have to be a little, maybe even fourth grade. I found that my second graders were like okay, here we go and they were good. So you know, just keep that in mind. But they you know some of our ideas. They don't always land and sometimes kids are like what are we doing? And we? We don't want that. That's the opposite of what we want.
Speaker 1:The key is keeping it simple. It can be silly, it can be student-centered, it can be so fun. I know that I have had. I can't think of an example of when I had an icebreaker totally flop, thank goodness, like most of the time, every time I can actually think of kids actually loved it, whether it was like a find someone who, or a, would you rather, or you know a pair, you know a partner pair share, or a four corners or something like that, like the moving around any kind of Kagan cooperative learning activity. My kids really loved that. And I know I had a teacher recently in the last like five years tell me that that was so old school and I was like highly offended because I'm like maybe we need to bring some of that old school back because these kids look pretty miserable and they don't know how to work together. So that's just my two cents on Kagan. I love Kagan, I think Kagan was a game changer in the classroom and I think that we need more of that kind of thinking. Anyway, and that also brings me to the fact that I never had an icebreaker flop, but I would love to hear about an icebreaker flop because I think it would be an interesting examination. So if you have an icebreaker flop story, I think it would be an interesting like examination. So if you have a icebreaker flop story, I'd love to hear it.
Speaker 1:All right, so let's talk about easy, engaging options that actually work. So one of my favorites is would you rather they're? Would you rather questions? They're silly, they're quick, there's no wrong answers. They're fun because kids have to, like, give their opinion. I also love to do a. Would you rather, as like two corners instead of four corners, like you know, would you rather hop around on one leg or would you rather whistle when you speak? And who you know? Would you rather hop around on one leg? You're going to go to this side of the classroom If you'd rather whistle when you speak. You're going to go to this side of the classroom if you'd rather whistle when you speak. You're going to go to this side of the classroom and then kids go to their. You know their choice and then they have a discussion with the people that are there about why they picked that and then they have a cross communication with each other like why did you pick this, why did you pick this? And I just think that's can be really fun. It gets kids up and moving. It also gets kids thinking. It makes. It adds an element of you know, of fun to an already fun.
Speaker 1:Would you rather? Also I love, would you rather I created, would you rather? During the quarantine for my online kids because I couldn't get them to talk and I was like, oh my goodness, now isn't that funny? Like in the classroom we can't get them to be quiet, but in online I couldn't get them to talk. And but I think that they work in all settings. I just think they're so fun. I even wrote a, did a book, a workbook. I have a workbook of Would you Rather that I sell on Amazon and it is so much fun. I'm not plugging that I, I'm just saying like that was a really fun thing to do, to actually create a physical book. All right, what's another one? Easy, ongoing options. So we've got would you rather? Partner interviews with a fun twist.
Speaker 1:I love things like find someone who like the. Find someone who bingo is really fun. Find someone who is a Kagan cooperative I feel like it is. Maybe it's not, anyway, I love would find someone who. I love to put those. I always put those in my back to school packs Because I think they're so such a great another great way to get kids up and moving. I usually like play music and by the time the song, a song or two songs end, then you know basically your time's up. So they're walking around trying to find a person that you know who, who drives a black car, who has you know three siblings, or who went to the beach this summer or whatever.
Speaker 1:Just really fun things for find someone who another one is low pressure, sharing like circles with prompts, like one thing that makes you smile. I think you could also do like an inside outside circle. For these you don't necessarily just have to be in a circle. Like an inside outside circle is a cake in cooperative learning. So you've got an inside circle and you've got an outside circle and you rotate however many times you decide and then, wherever they that person you know, maybe it's the inside circle that rotates and the outside circle stands still, and then when they, you tell them to turn five times and then they get to that new partner and then they share, like one thing that makes you smile and the other person shares one thing that makes them smile. Another fun one is a book-based community builder. Like a read aloud, a discussion, maybe art. I like to do makerspace, I like to add in some makerspace with books so that they are thinking critically and problem solving. I think that can be really fun. I always, always, always, do a find someone who. That is my actual go-to one.
Speaker 1:But I think that there are, you know, a million different fun, easy icebreakers that we can do in the beginning of the year and we want to make them as enjoyable as possible. And also, if there's any chance of getting movement in, it really, really helps younger kids. I think it helps everyone. I feel that way as well. All right, so building routines around connection. So we want to make connection a daily habit, not a one and done. We don't want to just do like a team builder or a class builder one time and that's it Like we want to make this a regular occurrence. We can do things like morning meetings, buddy chats, check-in journals. All those kinds of things are really great about, you know, building in the connection as well as like breaking the ice for the day. It can be breaking the ice at the beginning of the year. It can be breaking the ice, you know, every single day. We want to let students see us also model vulnerability and joy, and I think that when we allow ourselves to share our personal stories or share our personal feelings, it helps build trust early on and it makes classroom management 10 times easier. And that is oh, that is such key.
Speaker 1:Okay, so, if you're looking for something fun to get started, I've got a free, would you Rather Back to School edition. This is a shorter one. I do have longer versions. I do have, you know, a long packet. And then I do have that workbook on Amazon that I guess is a plug, but anyway, I do have that workbook on Amazon. That, I guess is a plug, but anyway, I do have a free one for you. It's Would you Rather Back to School, and it's great for morning meetings, it's great for transitions or just bringing a little laughter into that first week of school. And I'm going to try to tell you an easy URL, but I'm also going to drop it in the show notes. So it's Trina Debrie, teachingandlearningcom. Forward slash.
Speaker 1:Would you rather BTS? Would you rather BTS? All one word. Would you rather BTS? I feel like I'm rhyming, anyway. So that is an option and you can grab that. It's a little freebie for you to get you started at the beginning of the year, so hopefully that helps. All right, so let's wrap this up. So back to school doesn't have to mean stiff name games and groans. A little lightness goes a long way and you deserve a classroom that feels joyful from the start. Thanks for hanging out with me. Next week, we're talking about setting up strong reading routines without adding more to your plate. Next week, we're talking about setting up strong reading routines without adding more to your plate. Until then, sweet dreams and sleep tight.