Ice-Breaker for High School Co-op

[chessrascal]

Any ideas of how to draw new students into the group at our High School Co-op? We have a few newbies that really don't know anyone and our co-op is quite large - probably 50 or so. The kids are all nice and no clicky snobby ones, but it's hard to draw the new ones in. If asked to come sit with others, they may respond "no" just out of shyness. I was trying to come up with some kind of idea to do with them over lunch. That is the biggest break and it's only 1/2 hour. When it cools off (we're in the hot south), we may be able to do dodgeball or something, but it's not a lot of time - since they have to eat too.

 

Any ideas? Thanking you in advance!

[Kareni]

My daughter and her friends used to do an activity around the lunch table. As best I can remember, they would all begin with the same sentence or phrase. Let's say, "Judy was leaning against the kitchen table when ..." Each person would then write for a minute or so and then hand his paper to the person on his right while receiving a paper from the person on his left. Each paper would continue to move around the table for ten minutes or so until an appropriate amount of time had passed. The stories were then read aloud. There was usually much merriment as a result.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[chessrascal]

Thank you Kareni! That's a fun one. I was thinking more along the lines of actually making a connection - common hobbies, etc. How to draw them out and connect them to the other kids.

[Kareni]

You're welcome, chessrascal. I have a vague recollection of another activity.

 

Each student was asked a list of questions:

 

birth date

place of birth

hobbies

names and kinds of pets

number of siblings

favorite book

favorite color, music, etc.

unusual piece of information concerning this student

and so on

 

The facilitator created a list with some of these facts and it was up to the students to mingle and ascertain which facts pertained to other students. It was a way to find out points of commonality as well as differences.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Teachin'Mine]

I like Kareni's idea! Here's some more on this site:

 

http://www.cplrmh.com/icebreakers.html

 

3, 6 and 7 sound good. I also like the one about taping the name of someone - they use an author, but maybe a person famous in history would work better - on their backs.

 

Good luck with breaking the ice! :)

[chessrascal]

Thank you ladies! I like all of those ideas! Now I just have to administer them! Should be fun - thank you soooooo much!