And whether you are face-to face or virtual, making connections with your students is vital.
Here are a few digital ideas for getting to know your students and/or letting your students get to know you.
1. BINGO.
The great thing about BINGOBaker is that there are thousands of ready-made cards or you can create your own BINGO. You can post images, text, and numbers on the BINGO card.
There is a $14.99 LIFETIME fee if you want all the extras. I chose to go with the extras, which are very cool! There are also very simple directions on how to set it up and play on the site. (Looking at my old posts I realized I had written about Bingobaker in 2013)
You will want to generate your own card for this one. If you are creating a teacher card, you can post numbers, images, and text that apply to you. As you and your students play, talk about some of the things so your kids get to know you. It is a lot of fun! You can also create a student one using information you gather from your students. Use Google Forms, Padlet, or Google Slides to get information from them. You will learn a lot about them in a short amount of time, and have fun doing it!
Sample of a 3 X 3 grid.
I like making these so my kids could see how much they actually think they know about me.:)
These three games all have the same quiz game format.All of them are FREE, but Kahoot and Gimkit have a premium version. FREE works.
When you play Kahoot, you will have to share your screen during a a live game.
Quizizz and Gimkit can be played live by sharing the code.
They can all be played by students on their own.
After you look them over, you can decide which one is best for you.
My students love Gimkit because they can "make" money.
After playing the Teacher game, make sure you give the students a chance to ask you questions about what they learned.
Here's a sample of my "How Well Do You Know Mrs. Mims?"
And of course, these games can be adapted by inputting student info so the kids could learn about each other.
Teachers and students do not need an account. This makes it easy to play a game with your students. The students just input the required code.I love the fact that I could add rounds. Reminds me of Jeopardy in quiz form. If you want to use it for quizzes, keep in mind that it doesn't save data. I created a "How Well Do You Know Mrs.Mims?", but using rounds. The first round is "Favorites", next round is "Numbers", etc...
4. JeopardyLabs - Online Jeopardy
Who doesn't love Jeopardy?
JeopardyLabs has thousands of pre-made games. There is a $20 LIFETIME fee, which I feel is worth it.
This is more of a "Getting to Know the School/Class" game. I usually don't play it until the second week of school.
I add classroom procedure, staff, etc...
I let the kids work in teams, (team-building), and they have a great time.
Of course, if you are virtual, you will have to share your screen.