New y7 form

[Its2oclockinthemorning]

Come on and give me your top tips!
I’ve been teaching 7 years and never thought form time was my thing. I try really hard don’t get me wrong but some people do it so well.
Any tips for ice breaker stuff or just general tips would be greatly appreciated!

[Lenny1987]

I'm head of year 7 and was a year 7 ft before that, I love it! Ice breaker stuff I always find works is bingo, e.g. they have to find a different person in the class who has: been abroad, is a vegetarian etc. I always join in too as they love getting to know you. We also do a tour of the school with a twist, they have pictures of different places in the school and have to go to find them. Games like ordering themselves oldest to youngest, or tallest to smallest, some without speaking are fun too.

'What to do if' scenarios work well too, e.g. what to do if i forget my work/ get lost etc. It's great having year 7, you establish and set all the boundaries, and can really mould them. They're also normally super keen!

[CraftyGin]

Be prepared to help them with school routines for the first half-term -what they need to take to lessons for each segment of the day, what their homework is, when to bring in their PE kit.

Look out for students who carry all their books in their backpacks for the entire week.

Try to see all of them at the end of the day.

As for icebreakers, there are many. I like to use an alliterative name game, or possibly something involving a beach ball.

[Olivo]

Love tell truths and a lie as an ice breaker. It's odd, I have just been a HoY and now stepping down and will be a tutor for the year I dealt with, but I'm a still anxious!

[Cathpot]

They will mostly be in a flap on day one so reassuring calmness and very clear instructions- we’ve got our forms lesson 1-4 on the first day and lots of that for year 7 will be timetables , checking uniform and equipment, guided tours , welcome assembly and lockers .

Some ideas- I’m planning lots of getting to know you / name games. Eg Get them to line up in order of birthday month/ shoe size etc and then they have to ask the person on their right what their favourite cheese is etc , then go down the line and they say to you ‘ this is x their favourite cheese is y’ . Do it again different order different question- time limit to keep it busy. ( My plans are complicated by a student who is a selective mute - so I would be up for suggestions on how to sensitivity involve them without causing trauma! )

Get them all to write 3 facts about themselves and then pull them out of a hat and we all have to guess who it is. If you’ve got more time you could do team games put them in groups provide them with bin bags and paper and get them to design and create a ‘fashion outfit ‘ using one person as a model. Get the group across the classroom not touching the floor using only 3 chairs . Lots of that stuff around online. . I’d have a sheet of dingbats / PowerPoint of quiz stuff in case you have 20 mins to fill. Mostly they want to feel safe with you and know where to go at lunch and break .

[Acopyofacopy]

Fab ideas! I will have my first Y7 form this year after yonks as a 6th form tutor and am quite nervous about it.

[Its2oclockinthemorning]

Thanks

[seven201]

This is very useful as I'm a year 7 form tutor this year too.

[noblegiraffe]

formtimeideas.com

[LockedOutOfMN]

Offer to take a spare locker key off of each of them (if your lockers use padlocks). Get them to avoid using the lockers with combination codes as other students can come along and change the combinations. They mark the spare key with a blob of Tippex or nail polish or a tiny sticker then put it in an envelope marked with their name.

2 facts and a fiction is a good game - each person announces 3 "facts" about themselves and the others have to guess which is false.

Can you give the selective mute a mini-whiteboard? (Sorry, I've little experience of this in school).

[Gardenpicnic]

@craftygin
Look out for students who carry all their books in their backpacks for the entire week.

Why is this an issue? DS1 did this so he didn't forget anything!

[Acopyofacopy]

@Gardenpicnic Did his bag not become far too heavy?

[Gardenpicnic]

He is 16 now and strong, he did this all the way through as he preferred it to forgetting anything. Paranoid there is some 'code' now!!

[Cathpot]

I did think about white board but thought that might be too much attention. Maybe I could do a silent version and give them all white boards