The start of a new school term brings muchexcitement, joy, and anxiety.  Will I seefamiliar faces?  Will they remembermine?  Will anyone speak to me?  Will they tease me for starting pubertybefore them?  How many new faces will Isee?  What will they be like?  How much homework will I have?  There was too much homework before!  Who will be my teachers this term?  What will they be like?  The questions are endless and likely includethe worrisome, “What if…?”

There is so much to discover and adjust towithin the first week!  The initialmysteries reveal themselves to be our new realities.  No more trips to the refrigerator, sleepingin, or using electronics as we please.  The ability to go to school again this school year makes school feellike school.  It’s easier to put thevirus reality to the side of daily concerns when we’re on campus.  On the other hand, those who started onlinethis year also have a sense of some familiarity… of what school suddenly becameafter a pandemic impacted our planet.  The desire to be offline will surely be satisfied before long,right?  Regardless of our beginning thisterm, there are new things, and people, to acquaint ourselves with. 

We can easily connect with those in any learningspace through games and simple art projects.  The opportunity to engage the shiest to most outgoing personalities in anew setting can be more fun than expected.  How?

A teacher can create an invitingenvironment in the classroom or in their own video background.  That initial contact with the space around uscan calm anxious nerves and ease the ability to receive new information andfaces - breathe, smile, begin!

From this place, self-expression can flowby sharing ourselves on an Introduction Board.  How one chooses to decorate, design or share is all their own.  A tangible snapshot of who we are.  The format is the same.  It shows a picture of ourselves (actual oravatar), three facts about us, our favorite quote, and book titles weenjoy.  Before we post our boards, let’sget personal!  Learners will presenttheir board, one thing to everything, and allow for questions.  It’s fun for everyone to learn how popularour interests are or find a new book.

Another connecting opportunity needs a deckof cards- minus the cardinals, and cut outs for each suit with questionswritten on the non-showing side.  Everyone picks a number 1-10, and the top card is revealed.  Whoever was first to choose that number, orthe closest to it, finds a matching suit cut out and reads the question totheir classmates.  The questions shouldbe simple and fun, nothing personal, so no one feels uncomfortable.

Both activities were done in ISD Elementarywith great success!  The Connect withCards game was a fun time of bilingual Q & A with ISD teachers too.  The fun never ends!