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15 Aug 2017

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Kick off the school year in Kahoot!-style! Tips from 3 Edu heroes

Need some back-to-school inspiration? Look no further! Check out these cool, creative tips from 3 Kahoot! ambassadors and Edu heroes for making back to school awesome.

Last week, we looked at some simple ice-breaker ideas for kicking off the school year. Now, we’ve gone beyond the basics and asked seasoned Kahoot!’ers to share their signature back-to-school tips. And guess what, the response from teachers of awesome was… awesome! Just look at all these creative ideas they came up with!

Play Kahoot! with parents – they can win a “No Homework” pass!

Steve Auslander, teacher at Allisonville Elementary School:

“First, after the first week of school, when we’ve sufficiently learned about each other (favorite food, vacations, bands, hobbies, etc.) we play a kahoot and have a friendly competition to see who knows their classmates the best.

Not only classmates, actually – once I created a kahoot to encourage my students to learn our cafeteria staff members’ names.

Also, I involve parents in back to school in a big way. At the end of the Back-to-school night, we play a kahoot summarizing my key points of the evening. The winning parent earns a free “No Homework” week pass for their child. Of course, I tell the students in advance, and it gets them to encourage their parents to attend the important parent event.

Here’s my Back-to-school night kahoot I made last year.”

Collect interesting facts in a survey

Natalie Krayenvenger, teacher at St. Paul’s School:

“I would say the most important thing about ice breakers is to give all learners a way to share information that is comfortable for them. Some learners are a bit more private or shy, so I don’t want them to feel forced to share facts about themselves in front of everyone.

Instead my approach is to ask them questions in the form of a Kahoot! survey. Think of it as a glorified game of “Would You Rather”? This method allows them to answer questions anonymously, but still see there are other people in the class who share similarities, or differences. Usually this helps to melt away some of the first day jitters, and excited chatter ensues.

Later I’ll also encourage them to create kahoots to introduce themselves. This way they get to decide what they want to share, rather than me coming up with arbitrary questions they need to answer. And to be honest, the freedom to choose has resulted in far more amazing facts and ideas shared than my questions could have ever yielded!”

Encourage students to work on the ground rules together

Steve Sherman, Chief Imagination Officer and Executive Day Dreamer, Living Maths:

“Every teacher knows how important it is to prepare a classroom and make it look inviting and exciting. Remember that each student needs to feel that their classroom will be a safe space, a learning space, a fun space and also a space that will require them to climb out of their comfort zone. You as the teacher will be their guide and custodian on that journey!

When the journey starts, break the ice through engaging games. For example, name games or a scavenger hunt with classmates. I’d recommend to work as a group: the whole class can develop their own ground rules. By contributing to the conduct rules, students will feel like they played an important part!

And, of course, these activities can be shaped as a fun kahoot. Here are just a few ideas:

  • every student can create one question about themselves – hand them in to the teacher and then the teacher will create a full quiz for the class.
  • create a Jumble kahoot where the students have to arrange their classmates in order of height, age, proximity to the school, proximity to the teacher’s desk, etc.
  • create a kahoot about your class with each question giving clues about a person’s name.”

 

Masterfully played, guys! I seriously wish I was on your class and could play those kahoots 🙂

What’s your signature back-to-school recipe?

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