By Marianna Monheim – Updated June 21, 2024
Many teachers use All About Me activities during the first week of school to build classroom community while getting to know their students as individuals. However, by the time your students are in upper elementary, they might be bored with doing the same type of poster again and again. Adding student choice to your All About Me posters will bring a new level of excitement and engagement to the task!
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Table of Contents
Why This Activity Matters
Your first week of school is a whirlwind, and it’s essential to be prepared with quality activities that will set the tone for the rest of the school year. By adding in an element of student choice, these All About Me Posters will show your class two things: you’re committed to creating a positive environment where students feel confident to express themselves, and you value including student voice and choice in your assignments.
What Makes This All About Me Poster Unique
It's Customizable
Rather than answer the same questions and color in the same pictures, this activity allows students to choose what they’d like to share with their new classmates. The directions page provides them with 18 categories, from which they need to select 8 to make their poster. They can also come up with their own categories!
There's Still Structure
Even though students have the freedom to personalize their categories, the layout is organized so that students have the structure they need to complete the task independently.
As an added bonus, they’ll look cohesive and classroom-ready if you choose to display the posters on a bulletin board!
You Can Differentiate Easily
It takes a few weeks to get a handle on your class’s unique needs. What worked last year may not work with this group of students. Fortunately, you can easily differentiate this activity to meet the needs of many different learners. Students can use the provided space on the posters to write or draw about the things they’d like to share.
How to Use the All About Me Poster Activity
This is a great activity for the first few days of school. There’s enough scaffolding provided for students to work independently, so you can take care of those back to school tasks like sorting supplies or filling in paperwork.
Just select the poster template that makes sense for your class, and print out the directions (or project them onto your whiteboard).
Once students are finished with the activity, encourage them to share their posters with their new classmates. This will show students that you are creating a classroom climate where speaking, sharing, and listening are encouraged. Afterward, use the posters to make a display that students can look at over the next few weeks. It will also look great for Open House!
Simple Activity, Many Benefits
This activity provides a lot of positive benefits for teachers as well. Just like your students are learning about each other, you’ll be able to find out details about your students that will help you quickly make connections and start building relationships.
In addition, just from assigning this simple activity, you’re showing students:
- you value them as individuals, and think their input is important
- your class will provide lots of opportunities for creativity and choice
- you expect the students in your class to work together and get to know each other
A Great "Choice" for Back to School
Find this done-for-you activity, complete with student-friendly directions, examples, and multiple poster templates, in my TPT store!
