Day 2: Movie Marquees and Google Classroom

Movie Marquee Activity

We started day two with an adaptation of an activity that I found in Activities That Teach by Tom Jackson. This activity requires students to draw, which can be painful for some students, but all students participated in the activity and had fun. This activity could also be an icebreaker, but I stuck to one of my goals: never use the word "icebreaker." It scares students away immediately!

Any guesses? Armageddon is my absolute favorite movie!

I started the activity by asking my students to think about their favorite movie but to keep it a secret from their classmates. Then, on a blank piece of paper that I provided, they had to draw at least three images that were either from the movie or that symbolized the movie. They also had to write the year in which their movie was released. A couple of students couldn't think of a favorite movie so I allowed them to draw their favorite TV show instead. I showed them an example of my favorite movie, which I drew that morning. I didn’t take too much time on it, as I didn’t want students to be nervous about drawing if they didn’t feel like artists. I encouraged the class to guess the movie and at least one person in each class was able to guess, even though my favorite movie was from 1998!

After students had a chance to draw out their favorite movies, they had to make a timeline with their movies. Once in the line students were encouraged to guess the movies of those around them. I then asked volunteers if they wanted to share their drawings with the whole class to see if others in the class could guess it. Quite a few people volunteered to share and we had a lot of fun with guessing!

This was another excellent opportunity for me to get to know my students on a more personal level, as someone's favorite movie can reveal a lot about a person. After the activity I allowed students to keep, recycle, or display their drawings. Many opted to hang theirs up on the walls. This was excellent, as they might not have realized it, but my students were already creating a positive culture. Laughing with each other, complimenting others' artwork, and creating a space where others were confident in sharing their drawings was a great start to the school year. Even some students that seemed nervous decided to post their drawing up in the classroom without hesitation.

Google Classroom

We only had a few minutes after the Movie Marquee activity, so I had students use that time to join the Google Classroom class that I invited them to earlier in the day.

I walked through Google Classroom with them--what is the stream, where to find classwork, etc.--and verified that everyone had joined the class before they left for the day.

Curious about the other activities that I did in the First Week of School?

• Day 1: Teacher Quiz and Student-Made Class Guidelines
• Day 2: Movie Marquees and Google Classroom
• Day 3: Play-Doh, Classcraft, and Student Questionnaire
• Day 4: Marshmallow Team-Building
• Day 5: Classroom Tour and Flexible Seating