Getting To Know Each Other

In this Remarkable Idea, each student is given the opportunity to tell their classmates and teacher interesting facts about themselves.

This activity addresses:

  • Turn taking
  • Social skills
  • Cause and effect
  • Alternative methods of access

What you need:

Preparation:

1. Send home a pre-made student interest inventory sheet for students and parent(s)/guardian(s) to fill out and return to school. Include three to five questions on the student interest inventory sheet. Here are some sample questions:

  • What is your favorite activity?
  • What is your favorite food?
  • What is one thing you did over the summer?

2. With the student interest inventory sheet, send home one piece of construction paper labeled with their name. The student and parent(s)/guardian(s) will write the answers to the student interest inventory sheet questions on the construction paper, and then decorate the construction paper with pictures representing those answers. The student will bring this completed work back to school.

What to do:

1. Start by explaining to the class what you are going to do. A common script would be, “Today we are going to learn a little bit about each other. We are going to take turns using the All-Turn-It Spinner and answering questions about ourselves. I think you will find some of your classmates are interested in some of the same things you are.”
2. Place each student’s name or picture on the All-Turn-It Spinner.
3. Teacher selects a student to spin the All-Turn-It Spinner. For students that are unable to activate the All-Turn-It Spinner a wired or wireless switch can be used as an alternative method of activation. When the All-Turn-It Spinner stops, the student it lands on is the student that gets to share their student interest inventory responses. For students needing assistance with speech, pre-record their responses to a Step-by-Step, which they can then use to communicate with their classmates.
4. Once a student has taken their turn, remove their name or photo from the All-Turn-It Spinner. Repeat steps two and three until each student has had a chance to participate.

Extensions:

1. Teachers can help build student relationships by pointing out which students have similar interests, and promote learning from each other by designating class experts.
2. Older classrooms can graph their results and determine class favorites.
3. To extend the activity into a week-long event, the teacher can write the responses from each student’s interest survey onto note cards and place them on the All-Turn-It Spinner; the name of the student it belongs to should be on the back. Each day a student will take a turn activating the All-Turn-It Spinner to select a note card. The student will look at their classmates posters to try and figure out who the note card belongs to. The student will guess who the note card belongs to. For students needing assistance with speech a Step-by-Step can be recorded with the script, “I think you are the owner of this note card”. The student would place the Step-by-Step in front of the student they think the note card belongs to and activate it. If they are correct everyone cheers and if they are wrong they try again.

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