25+ Low-Pressure Getting-to-Know-You Activities for High School

Getting to know your high school students starts on the very first day of school and leads to a successful year for you and your entire class. But teens don’t always like change, and they really don’t like being embarrassed. So how do you learn more about the teens in your classes in a low-pressure, non-spectacle way?

Use these getting-to-know-you activities for high school classes in any subject. With resources to guide your instruction on that first day and tips for starting the new school year or semester on the right foot, you’ll help everyone feel welcome. 

Activities to Introduce Classroom Culture and Expectations

Let students know what kind of class (and teacher) they’re signed up for with getting-to-know-you activities that introduce your class expectations and culture in non-cringey ways. 

• Syllabus Scavenger Hunt: Put up a set of questions or items in your syllabus on the board (such as “Late Policy” or “Grading Scale”) and have students scour their syllabus pages to find the information.
• Team Flags: Break the class into teams and have them choose a team name, motto, and symbol to represent on a flag.
• Snowball Fight: Let students crumple up pieces of paper with facts about themselves and host a “snowball fight” for them to throw the paper at the other team. Then, everyone gathers the snowballs and sees what classmates have in common.
• Question of the Day: Assign the first Question of the Day for your school year, and have students write or verbally respond with their answers. (Consider using “Would You Rather” questions for high school students!)
• Same Summer Challenge: Encourage students to find a peer in the class who did something they also did during the summer, such as going on a trip out of the state or seeing the same movie.

Learn about your students with an ‘About Me’ art project

You don’t have to teach art to incorporate colors and drawing into your first-day activities. Use artistically themed resources to reinforce creative expression for any classroom setting.

Back to School Walk a Mile in my Shoes Getting to Know You First Week Activity
By Mysteries of Middle School
Grades: 5th-12th
Subjects: For all subjects
Standards: CCSS W.5.10, 6.10, 7.10, 8.10, 9-10.10, 11-12.10

You know the saying: You don’t know someone’s experience until you’ve walked a mile in their shoes. And now’s your students’ chance! This engaging getting-to-know-you activity has students design paper sneakers with symbols, colors, and details that express who they are. Form groups to make this a team-building activity for teens, and then put up the sneakers for Back-to-School Night!

ELA Get-to-Know-You Activities for High School

Before you start that novel unit or research assignment, show students how your ELA class will incorporate literacy, love of the written word, and the art of writing. These getting-to-know-you activities for high schoolers are perfect for starting your class off on the same page.

• “About Me” Book Covers: Have students design a book cover that represents them, including their favorite colors, images, symbols, quotes, or interests.
• Riddle Me This: Use a list of high school riddles to intrigue and inspire high schoolers on the first day of school.
• First Journal Entry: Choose from a set of journal prompts for high school students to write their first journal entry while you take attendance.
• Guess the Character: Hand out cards with famous characters, and have students pair up to guess who each character is. 
• Name Your Summer: Have students “name” their summer using the convention of college courses (such as “Surfing 101:) or book titles (such as “The Best Summer Ever: My Experience in Yosemite”).

Practice descriptive writing on the first day of school

It’s never too soon to work on descriptive writing! Incorporate resources that reinforce descriptive writing with adjective activities that work up to longer pieces of work.

Adjective Worksheet Pack Middle and High School Getting to Know You Activities
By Kristin Menke – Integrated ELA Test Prep
Grades: 6th-10th
Subjects: ELA, Writing
Standards: CCSS W.9-10.3d, L.9-10.1

If your high schoolers can’t start their day without a trip to the coffee shop, they’ll love this coffee-themed getting-to-know-you activity. Using CCSS-aligned printables that ask “What Drink Am I?”, students list adjectives that incorporate the five senses to describe both themselves and their favorite drinks.

Rotate through ELA getting-to-know-you activities

Make your class introduction more thorough and helpful with getting-to-know-you stations. As students cycle through their groups, they learn more about how your class runs, your rules and expectations, and subjects your class will cover.

First Day of School Stations, Getting to Know You Activity, First Day Activity
By So We Teach On
Grades: 5th-12th, Adult Education, Higher Education
Subjects: ELA, For All Subjects

Shake up your high schoolers’ schedules and expectations with stations that teach them everything they need to know about their class. Stations include a syllabus study, information about the teacher, classroom culture, student biography assignments, and letter writing on character strengths.

High School Math Class Getting-to-Know-You Activities

Want to start your algebra or pre-calculus class without assigning a page of work right away? Use these fun activities for high school students to explore their relationship with math and relate to their peers right away.

• Math Card Games: Hand out a deck of cards to pairs or groups of students and encourage them to create a math game using only the cards.
• Math Friends Bingo: Create a Bingo card with phrases like “Find a friend whose digits in their birthday add up to a number lower than 30” or “Find someone who can graph the following equation.”
• Graph the First Day: Turn your whiteboard into a graph with four quadrants, and have students place sticky notes on the graph that best describes their first day so far (with the X axis representing “Boring” to “Interesting” and the Y axis representing “Reassuring” to “Scary”).
• Solving Problems: Put students into groups and give each one a real-world problem (such as “A bridge is too short to let a boat pass”) that they can solve with math skills relevant to your course.
• Math Hot Potato: Write a number-related question (such as “How many states have you visited?” or “How many inches tall are you?”) on each section of a beach ball, and toss it amongst your students as music plays. When the music stops, the student holding the ball can either choose one question to answer or toss the ball to a volunteer.

Calculate students’ math identities on day one

An important part of getting-to-know-you activities for high school math is exploring students’ relationship with numbers and equations. Have them reflect on their math journeys with resources that highlight their math identities in creative ways.

‘My Math Tessellation’ | A Back to School, Get to Know You Activity
By Math Down Under
Grades: 4th-12th
Subjects: Math

Before students ever open their math textbook, they can examine their math goals, learning preferences, and anticipated challenges for the upcoming school year. Use a first-day-of-school math activity that directs high schoolers to create a tessellation tile all about them and their relationship to math, then put the tiles together to create a one-of-a-kind display.

High School Science Icebreaker Activities

You could spend the first day of science working through a long slideshow, or you could get right into the lab! Use these and other STEM activities for high school to show students exactly how fun and educational your science class will be this year.

• Plant Pot Decoration: Have students decorate ceramic pots with information and symbols that represent them, and pass out soil and seeds to begin a biology class or unit.
• Fingerprint Analysis: Start class out with an opportunity for students to analyze the details in their fingerprints.
• State of Matter Match: Hand out cards with “Solid,” “Liquid,” or “Gas” to half the class, and cards with items in these categories (such as “water” or “brick”) on the other half of the cards. Have students try to find a match with a peer.
• Murder Mystery: Set up a crime scene on the first day of school, and host a forensic activity for students to solve their first crime.
• Spirit Animals: Put up a photo of an ecosystem with different animals and have students write a short journal entry on which animal they relate to the most.

Color your interest in high school science topics

What are your high schoolers’ science questions and interests? Find out what they’re eager to learn with resources that use interest surveys to create brand-new assignments.

Chemistry First Day of School Activity| Science Getting To Know You Worksheet
By Wilz Got Science
Grades: 8th-11th
Subjects: Chemistry, Science

Do high school science and coloring assignments mix? When you use this get-to-know-you activity for high schoolers to learn more about each other, they do! This no-prep assignment encourages students to complete an interest survey on the upcoming year in science, then color another page based on their results.

High School Social Studies Activities for the First Day of School

If you find social studies to be a fascinating branch of academics, you want your students to learn this as quickly as possible, too. These get-to-know-you activities for high school are sure to capture their attention and get them working as a group before the first day of school is over.

• What Do You Know: Hand out cards with different time periods or historical events on them, and have small groups list everything they know about their era.
• My Biography: Encourage students to interview each other and then write a short, third-person biography about their partner as if they were a historical figure, complete with accomplishments and notable moments.
• Time Machine: Host a debate for high school students to argue which time period would be the best destination in a fictional time machine.
• Map Quest: Have students work with peers to fill out as much of a world or regional map as they can.
• Four Corners: Ask students to stand up as you read statements that they can agree or disagree with. If they agree, they move to one side of the room; if they disagree, they move to the other.

Start social studies and chronological thinking right away

How much do your students already know about history? Challenge their understanding and inspire groups to work together with history activities based on topics you’ll cover over the course of the year.

World History First Day of School Activities and Assignments for High School
By The Unraveled Teacher
Grades: 9th-12th
Subjects: Ancient History, Social Studies, World History

If you’re preparing to start teaching a world history class this year, this getting-to-know-you resource gets high schoolers thinking like historians on day one. Working in small groups, students put a series of world events in chronological order. Make it a fun competition to bring up the energy on the first day of school, or have students work quietly to get to know their peers.

Tips on Starting the Year in High School

Finding the right ice-breakers for high school students is just the first step in setting the stage for a successful school year. Incorporate these tips into your first-day plans, and avoid common pitfalls before they even begin.

• Get them engaged. It may be efficient to read out a lot of information about your course, but students aren’t going to remember much that way. Get them involved!
• Learn their names quickly. Try to call at least five students by name on the first day, and get them all memorized by the end of the week.
• Don’t make them embarrass themselves. No high schooler wants to talk about themselves in front of the class, so don’t make them do it.
• Set the stage for what they can expect. Establish your class routine (warm-ups, direct instruction, independent work, closure) right away rather than spending the whole period discussing your expectations.
• Reach out to parents ASAP. Reach out to all parents with a digital copy of your syllabus, link to your teacher website, best contact methods and hours, and information on any upcoming Back-to-School Nights or parent meetings.

Explore more getting-to-know-you activities for high school

Choosing the right getting-to-know-you activities for high school can be the difference between a shaky beginning and a strong school year start. Implement these activities for high schoolers to learn that they’re in the right place, and find more high school get-to-know-you activities that teach you more about your amazing new students.