🤔 “I don’t know any of these kids …”
My new “Question of the Day”
On the first day back to school, before first period started, I looked down the freshman hallway I was supervising. I saw students, lockers … lots of chatting.
I realized something …
I didn’t know any of these students.
In years past, I’ve been fortunate. My own kids have belonged to the Class of ‘24, ‘26, and ‘28 … and their cousins have filled in the gap years.
But this year’s freshmen? There’s only a few I recognize. I’m going to have to work on building relationships — especially if I’m going to have these students in class in a couple years.
So I tried something new … the Question of the Day.
I inherited a dry erase board on wheels with my new classroom. So I wheeled it out in the hallway and wrote a simple either/or question — dogs or cats?
As you can see, I had lots of participation … and after a while, some of them didn’t want to stick to only dogs and cats!
All of us have our ways of building relationships with students. (This is just one new tactic I’m trying.) And the beginning of the school year is a great time to build solid foundations.
Today, you’ll find 4 fun back-to-school activities in FigJam that’ll help you and your students learn something about each other.
Plus, our 💡 Big Idea shares 10 easy ways to get to know your students — with lots of “make a copy” templates and practical activities.
Inside:
🚨 HUGE sale on my books on Amazon
👀 DTT Digest: 4 resources worth checking out
💻 Tech Tip: 4 fun, free back-to-school activities in FigJam
💡 The Big Idea: 10 easy ways to get to know your students
😄 Smile of the day: Tomorrow’s national holiday 🏖️
👋 How we can help
🚨 HUGE sale on my books on Amazon
Grab a copy of one of my books at a discounted price!
Every once in a while, I check Amazon and they’re having a great deal on my books! (As an author, I don’t know when it’s going to happen — until it happens!)
If you’ve wanted to get one (or more) of my books, now is a great time — especially in paperback!
Prices in USD as of Aug. 9, 2026 on U.S. Amazon site.
AI for Educators — $11.78 (53% off)
Ditch That Textbook — $11.90 (52% off)
Tech Like a Pirate — $13.83 (49% off)
Don’t Ditch That Tech — $15.20 (39% off)
Ditch That Homework — $13.89 (44% off)
Do More with Google Classroom — $18.36 (16% off)
AI Literacy in Any Class — $26.95 (0% off, the new one!)
FYI: All books are also available in Kindle ebook for just $9.97!
👀 DTT Digest
4 teaching resources worth checking out today
🫙 FigJam cheatsheet — Download this FigJam shortcuts cheatsheet to utilize some of the most useful features instantly. Then scroll down to our Tech Tip section for some fresh back to school templates from FigJam.
📧 How to email links the RIGHT way — Learn a simple hack to effortlessly insert hyperlinked page titles into your emails.
🕹️ Use Blooket for fun gamified learning — My students LOVE Blooket. Use its games to help students practice new skills or content.
ICYMI 💵 Free Millionaire Template Pack — Grab this pack of gameshow templates, games and tools to help you get playing right away with your class or even your colleagues!
💻 TECH TIP 💻
🏫 4 fun, free back-to-school activities in FigJam
This message is sponsored by Figma for Education.
The first week of school is all about helping students feel comfortable, make connections, and start building a classroom community. FigJam makes it easy with free, pre-made activities you can use right away—no designing from scratch required.
Try one of these teacher favorites:
Pair students up to invent and document their own secret handshake. It’s a playful way to get students moving, collaborating, and making new connections—and it works in both in-person and virtual classrooms.
💡 Ideas for using this template in class:
Morning Meeting Greetings: After pairs document their handshakes on FigJam, rotate partners each morning so students can practice their custom greetings with different classmates to kick off the day with energy.
Procedure & Sequencing Warm-Up: Use the step-by-step handshake template as an entry into procedural writing or computer science, having groups swap templates to see if another pair can follow their exact instructions.
Students use emojis to share their favorite music, foods, hobbies, and more. An easy, low-pressure way for classmates to learn more about one another.
💡 Ideas for using this template in class:
"Guess Who?" Icebreaker Game: Project completed emoji boards anonymously and have the class guess which classmate created each set based on what they’ve learned about each other so far.
Emoji Storytelling: Ask students to pick 3–4 emojis from their board and present a quick 60-second story about them as a low-pressure way to introduce themselves to a partner, group or whole class.
Invite students to personalize a digital locker with the things they love, then explore their classmates’ creations to discover shared interests.
💡 Ideas for using this template in class:
Locker Scavenger Hunt: Give students a checklist (e.g., "Find someone with a pet in their locker") to complete as they explore their peers' completed FigJam lockers to discover shared interests.
Character Lockers: Reuse this template during ELA or Social Studies by having students design a locker filled with items that a historical figure or book character would own. You could even give an inanimate object a locker “What would hydrogen keep in their locker?”
Students create their own Croc charms and decorate an “All About Me” shoe before sharing their creations with the class.
💡 Ideas for using this template in class:
Charm Trade Gallery Walk: Have students explore their classmates' digital Crocs and leave "compliment charms" or positive sticky notes on each other's designs.
Class/Group Mascot Shoes: Assign the class or student groups a single Croc to decorate together with charms that represent the class or team values, interests, and even a fun name.
Pick an activity, open it in FigJam, and start building your classroom community!
💡 THE BIG IDEA 💡
❤️ 10 easy ways to get to know your students
Image created with Google Gemini
Building learning experiences students love starts with one non-negotiable: relationships.
When you genuinely work to learn about your students' passions, hobbies, and quirks, you build trust. That trust creates rapport, gives you the ability to craft relevant lessons, and fuels their motivation to succeed.
So, how do you find out what makes your new group tick without boring them to tears? Give them creative, low-stakes opportunities to share!
1. Interest Surveys
Want to build instant lesson-planning power? Learn what your students care about so you can craft engaging analogies and examples. When you connect brand-new concepts to things they already understand deeply (like gaming, sports, or music), the learning sticks!
Make a copy of this Google Forms template. Once you make a copy, you can edit and adjust it however you'd like before sharing it with students.
2. Two Truths and a Dream Wish
If you want a totally screen-free activity that gets kids talking and builds deep empathy, try this creative twist on the classic icebreaker. Students share two true facts about themselves and one "dream wish"—something they wish were true but isn't yet!
3. Trading cards
Turn your student introductions into a fun, collectible game! Students design personal "trading cards" featuring their picture, a cool stat, a fun fact, and an answer to a wildcard question.
Copy this customizable Google Slides Character Trading Card to let students trade and read each other's cards.
4. Google Classroom banner quilt
Build a tangible (and digital) symbol of your classroom community. Share a link to blank digital square to each student (template below), let them decorate it with images, WordArt, and colors that reflect them, and then stitch them all together into one giant header for your LMS.
Make a copy of this blank digital square and share it with students then use this Google Classroom header template to make your quilt.
5. Collaborative classroom playlists
Music is one of the fastest ways to understand your students' culture and personal tastes! Ask every student to contribute one school-appropriate song to a class playlist and tell you why they picked it. You get instant insight into their personalities, and you gain a personalized soundtrack for work time all year long.
Use our virtual Spotify Playlist Template that includes some deeper thinking: a way for students to explain why certain songs make their list and their criteria for the list.
6. The top 3 list
Our brains are hardwired to love ranked lists. (Rankings force criteria, justification, and reflection—hello, high-level thinking!). Keep it super low-stakes by asking students to share their top 3 favorite summer moments, top 3 songs right now, or a general "Top 3 Things About Me."
Snag this editable Top 3 Graphic Organizer Template to get your students listing and justifying their picks instantly.
7. "All About Me" digital posters
Ditch the standard paper-and-crayon get-to-know-you worksheets! Let students use digital design tools like Google Drawings or Canva to build a visual poster that highlights their personality, favorite things, and unique goals.
This ready-to-use Design a Poster About You lesson from Google Applied Digital Skills walks students step-by-step through introducing themselves to their classmates by creating a poster you can print (or "hang up" digitally) with Google Drawings.
8. The “About Me” unboxing video
People love watching unboxing videos online. Tap into that culture by asking students to curate a physical or digital "mystery box" (or paper bag) filled with 3–5 items that represent who they are. Then, have them film a quick 60-second video unboxing and explaining each item!
Have students use this planning template for their video then record their unboxings in a video tool like ScreenPal, Screencastify, Loom or Canva so classmates can watch, comment, and find common interests.
9. Share your hopes and dreams
Want to help your students set meaningful goals while introducing them to engaging media? This interactive lesson guides kids through inspiring videos, read-alouds, and motivational quotes. Students reflect on what they want to accomplish, create a visual quote using Canva or Google Drawings, and write a letter to their "future self" to open at the end of the year!
Grab this ready-to-assign Hopes and Dreams HyperDoc Template to make a copy for your Drive and drop it right into your LMS.
Note: This activity is and “oldie but a goody” so some of these videos are old, they still work, but if you want to swap them out just make a copy and add links to videos you want.
10. Code a "Me Project" in Scratch
Who says code is just for computer science class? Have students explore basic block coding to animate a story, a digital avatar, or a mini-game all about themselves. It combines creative self-expression with foundational logic!
Check out the free, step-by-step unit The Me Project from Experience CS to help students sequence, animate, and share peer feedback.
😄 Smile of the day
An invitation to all who celebrate 🏖️
Source: @TeachersFollowTeachers
👋 How we can help
There are even more ways I can support you in the important work you do in education:
Read one of my six books about meaningful teaching with tech.
Take one of our online courses about practical and popular topics in education.
Bring me to your school, district or event to speak. I love working with educators!
