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School will be starting soon, though it seems like it ended just a week or two ago!

Community building will be on the minds of many teachers.  Having fun prompts ready to students can respond to can come in handy.  Most of the ones on these lists are fairly light, though still can do the job of beginning to make connections.

More substantial and serious questions have a place in the classroom, too, though I think those might be more appropriate for Restorative/Community Circles (see The Best Resources For Learning About Restorative Practices – Help Me Find More).

Here are links to some lists for prompts we can use to help students get to know each other in our classes (I’m adding the link to this post to Answers To “What Do You Do On The First Day Of School?” and to The Best Resources For Planning The First Day Of School:

160 ORAL LANGUAGE PROMPTS I USED IN MY ELL NEWCOMERS CLASS THIS YEAR

Here’s a good list of prompts designed for Community/Restorative Circles, but can be used anytime.

Back to School: 3 Question Activities to Connect Students is from Edutopia.

50 Icebreaker questions for kids is from Prodigy.

Fun icebreaker questions to bond with your students is from Poll Everywhere.

66 Unexpected Getting-to-Know-You Questions for Students is from Your Dictionary.

105 Icebreaker Questions for Teens is from Lindsay Ann Learning.

Here’s a list of video icebreakers from Tolentino Teaching.

The Smithsonian has a nice collection of “icebreaker” prompts.

Are Attendance Questions the Best Unkept Secret in Secondary Teaching? is from Jessica Kirkland.

170 Hypothetical questions

If you’re teaching remotely, you’ll find Virtual icebreakers: 42 fresh activities from top facilitators useful.