Get students moving, talking, and making connections with this engaging Classroom Missions Back to School Icebreaker Activity! This first week of school activity transforms a traditional Find Someone Who game into a fun social scavenger hunt where students interact, ask questions, complete challenges, and discover interesting facts about their classmates.
Instead of sitting and answering the same old icebreaker questions, students are actively moving around the room, building relationships, and practicing communication skills while completing engaging classroom missions.
What’s Included
- 30 Classroom Mission Cards
- Student Recording Sheet
- Teacher Directions
- 3 Different Ways to Play
How It Works
- Place the mission cards around the room or on a table.
- Give each student a recording sheet.
- Students take cards one at a time and move around the classroom completing missions.
- Students record the name of the matching classmate and what they discovered.
- The student with the most completed missions wins!
Example Mission Types
- Find a classmate who matches a specific description
- Ask questions to learn something new about someone
- Complete a quick challenge together
- Discover common interests and experiences
- Practice conversation and listening skills
Skills Students Practice
- Speaking and listening
- Question formation
- Social communication
- Relationship building
- Active listening
- Classroom community skills
Why Teachers Love It
- Low prep and easy to explain
- Gets students moving around the room
- Helps students meet new classmates
- Encourages meaningful conversations
- More engaging than traditional icebreaker worksheets
- Works well with classes of 20–25 students
Perfect For
- First week of school activities
- Back-to-school icebreakers
- Classroom community building
- Morning meetings
- ESL / ELL speaking practice
- Team-building activities
- Middle and upper elementary classrooms
Perfect for Teachers Searching For
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You May Also Like
Pair this activity with another back-to-school resource:
- Getting to Know You Icebreaker Task Cards – continue building classroom community with collaborative challenges, discussions, and team-building activities.
Read more about this
Looking for more classroom community ideas? Read: Back-to-School Icebreaker Activities Students Actually Enjoy for additional first week of school games and community-building activities.
Also Available on TpT
This Classroom Missions Back to School Icebreaker Activity is also available in our Teachers Pay Teachers store for educators who prefer purchasing through TpT.
