What’s Sticking With Your Students? Six Simple (and Sticky) Strategies for Checking Comprehension
Try These 7 Easy Icebreakers You Can Do With Post-It Notes
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1
Hidden Treasure
Write several icebreaker questions on the sticky side of post-it notes and stick them to the board. Have each student take turns choosing one sticky note and answering the question on the back. He can then choose another student in the class to answer the same question.
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2
Two Truths and a Lie
Give each student three post-it notes. On two notes, she writes something true about herself. On the third, she writes something false about herself. Students share in groups of four to five and try to guess which statement is each player’s lie.
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3
Question Mixer
Write the name of one well known person on a sticky note, and write enough so everyone in class has one. Stick a note to each persons back. Students ask classmates one yes/no question at a time until they have figured out who is on their back.
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4
Where Are You From
For a class of internationals, give each person a post-it note flag to place on their home country on your classroom world map. After everyone has placed their post-it, students try to guess whose note is whose.
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5
Get to Know You
Have each person write five facts about himself or herself on a post-it note, and then put the notes on the board. Make sure you write one, too. Then, choose one post-it and read it aloud. Try to guess which student wrote it. When you get the right student, that person takes a turn with the remaining notes. Continue until all the notes are gone.
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6
A Matched Set
Have your students write five fun facts about themselves and turn the paper in to you. Then, write each fact on a post-it along with a matching one with that students name. When your students are not in the room, put the post-its all around your classroom. Students must then race to match the names with the correct facts (they cannot match their own name). The person with the most matches at the end of the game wins.
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7
All-Star Class
Once your students are beginning to get to know each other, have each person draw a self portrait and display them on a bulletin board in class. Each person writes a positive adjective describing each of his classmates on a star shaped sticky note and sticks it to the self portrait. Do this activity in one day or over a period of time, and then let students take their portraits home.
