Icebreakers, Bell Ringers, Activities, and Games Bundle for Classroom Community

Use these back to school (BTS) activities to review classroom management, reading, writing, and grammar. Designed for the beginning of the school year, this bundle includes an icebreaker activity, a combining sentences game, task cards, memoir writing lesson, Trashketball review game, and problem-solving writing prompts that are designed to get your students reading and writing right away!

Icebreaker Activity

Use these cards as a team-builder activity at the beginning of the school year. Much like the classic “21 Questions Game,” students walk around the classroom asking one another questions in order to use critical thinking and guess the people on the cards on their backs. Each card has information on the cards’ athletes, musicians, actors, icons, and historical figures to help students respond to the questions.

Task Cards

Review routines, expectations, and procedures with back-to-school task cards that encourage students to review their syllabus, handbooks, and other classroom resources. Besides helping students review classroom management, the Twitter response handout requires students to write concise answers and makes their learning relevant.

Choosing Novels Activity

Help your students choose appropriate novels for independent reading. This activity uses a strategy called IRA in which students evaluate their book choices by interest, readability, and appropriateness and guides them to a “tease to read” presentation.

Memoir in 100 Words

Get to know your students better and encourage them to use precise word choice with a memoir lesson. Originally inspired by The Washington Post feature “Life is Short: Autobiography as Haiku,” students write 100 word memoirs. It teaches students to “show” themselves in vivid details and carefully chosen words.

Combining Sentence Game

Help your students review sentence structures and improve their sentence fluency by combining sentences in this engaging back-to-school game! The game includes three rounds. In the first round, students write compound sentences. In round two, they write complex sentences, and finally, in round three they write compound-complex sentences.

Classroom Management Trashketball Game

Although reviewing expectations, rules, and routines isn’t always fun, it is vitally important for classroom management. This Back-to-School Trashketball Review Game helps to engage your students and also contributes to a positive classroom culture.

Problem Solving Writing Prompts

Create a positive classroom culture with 64 writing and discussion prompts that encourage students to think critically about situations requiring problem solving. The back to school prompts can be used as bell ringers, journals, or task cards. They can also be used for learning stations or cooperative learning.

Community Building Bell Ringers

Build classroom community with these 74 writing and discussion prompts that engage students and create a positive classroom culture! Available to print or to use digitally, these writing prompts can be used as bell ringers, journals, or other activities. Perfect for back-to-school, they can also be used for learning stations or cooperative learning. Suggestions for use and teacher instructions are included.

This 215-page and 128-slides resource includes six PDF files (some with links to Google Drive) and two PowerPoint presentations. If you would prefer to purchase these activities separately, click on the links below:

Icebreaker Activity for Any Secondary Class

BTS Task Cards

Choosing Novels for SSR

Memoirs

Combining Sentences

Classroom Management Review Game

Problem-Solving Writing Prompts

Meaningful and Memorable English Language Arts by © OCBeachTeacher

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Group licenses available.

Not for public display.