Getting to Know Your Middle School Math Students

Back to School Activities

Always looking for new ideas for the beginning of the year? Me too! 
I've got a few for you and your students, for when you head back to school:-) 

The Name Game
I used this game for many years.....many times I'd plan not to, but then I couldn't stand not knowing kids' names right away, so we'd play:-)

Students and I get into a big circle, and I ask students to come up with an adjective that describes them and begins with the same sound as the beginning of their first name, like 'Energetic Ellie." The first student to my left shares his/her name; the 2nd student repeats the 1st student's name and then shares his own. The third student repeats the first two names/adjectives, and adds her own. The activity continues in this way around the circle until we get to me, and I get to repeat all the names.

This game helps me to get to know all the students' names during the first class session. It also helps me learn about the students - it tells me who seems to have a good memory and who has more difficulty. I can see who appears to be confident and who is more hesitant; who's willing to accept help (I always prompt if they want/need) and who isn't. And of course, their adjectives usually tell me something about them:-)

Students get to learn a little bit about each other too.  They come from quite a few different elementary schools, so many of them don't know anyone....this helps them learn at least a few names and faces to start off the year.

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Getting to Know You Truth or Dare
Truth or Dare - students are intrigued when they hear the name!

​“Math Truth or Dare – Getting to Know You” is a set of 30 questions you can use to get to know your students and to help your students get to know each other.

​There are 15 “Truth” question cards and 15 “Dare” question cards. Most of them do not have a “correct” answer, so if more than 15 students choose to answer a “truth” question or a “dare” question, then the questions can be used again.

The Truth questions ask about the students, while the Dare questions ask students to complete math computations (some of the computations are based on facts about the student, so these can also be used again, as students’ answers may be different.) You can grab this freebie on TPT.

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Back to School Footloose
This particular Footloose version has two purposes:

1) It’s a short pre-assessment to see what students know coming into the year (geared toward 6th grade), AND
2) It includes getting to know you questions….even if students answer the math question wrong, you’re still learning a fact about them:-)

Students solve each of the 24 problems and record their answers in the corresponding boxes on their Footloose grids. Then, according to the answer, they respond to a getting to know you question and record that answer in the same box on the grid.
You can grab this freebie on TPT too.

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Math About Me 
This one is a series of math-related questions for students, to help you understand more about their math 'status' - how they feel about math, what they like/dislike, etc. 
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​Who Can You Find?
This one is a great to help students get to know each other and many of the questions tie into math. 

You can grab the free Math About Me and Who Can You Find here.

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Meet the Mathematician
This is an easy way for students to share a little about themselves in math land! They can work creatively, and take some time to color the background. These also make a great display! 
Students can get into small groups and share their mathematician facts:-)

You can grab this getting to know you Meet the Mathematician wheel on TPT.


I hope you can use a few of these activities when you head back to school!

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