Games to Play With Teachers at a Luncheon

The classroom can be a lonely place for teachers. It is easy for busy educators to feel that they are alone in their struggle to educate their pupils and manage their often heavy workload. Schools can reduce teacher stress by allowing staff to join together to share their successes and commiserate over the tough times at a teacher luncheon. Staff enjoyment of this luncheon can be increased by selecting and implementing enjoyable, school-themed games.

Allow teachers to reflect upon the good times and consider the downright frustrating ones by engaging them in the completion of a “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly” teaching sort. To set up this activity, purchase three poster boards. Label one board “Good”, one “Bad” and one “Ugly”. When teachers arrive at the luncheon, present them with three self-stick notes. Ask each teacher to write about their teaching experience, placing something good that happened on one note, something bad on another and something ugly on the third. Ask the teachers to place their notes on the appropriate boards. As the luncheon gets underway, ask teachers to visit the boards and read over the notes. Tell each teacher to place an X on the bottom of the note on each board that they think best reflects teaching. Reward the teacher who composed the winning notes with a special prize.

Test teachers' knowledge by creating a school supply word scramble game. To create this simple game, compose a list of common school supplies. Use this list to create your scramble puzzle by mixing the letters and typing out each jumbled term. Fill your list with 20 or 30 words, some more challenging than others.

To play the game, pass the sheets out to teachers, and give them a set amount of time to unscramble the words. After the allotted time has elapsed, read off the answers and allow teachers to check their work. Reward the teacher or teachers who correctly unscrambled the most terms with a special prize.

Engage teachers in a rousing game of student B-I-N-G-O at your next luncheon. To prepare this simple game, acquire a roster listing all of the students in the school. Enlarge the roster to create larges copies of student names. Cut these names apart, fold them, and place them in a basket or hat. Next, create a blank grid that is five squares by five squares.

When teachers arrive, present them with the grids, and ask them to fill in each box with the name of a different student who attends the school. Once all teachers have filled out their grids, begin the game. Draw out student names, one at a time, and announce them. If a teacher has that student's name on her card, she can put an X through that box. The first teacher who creates a row of five X’ed boxes, calls out “Bingo!” and wins the prize.