Chairs or masking tape to designate space
The Truth about Me creates opportunities for students to connect with each other as they exchange information about themselves. Once the group has played this to get to know each other, The Truth About Me can also be played “in role” to activate connections to curricular content.
Invite students to stand in a circle. It may be useful to mark each person’s space with a small piece of tape or some other floor marker; the teacher stands in the center of the circle. Introduce the activity: One of our goals today is to learn more about each other. In this game the person in the center will share something about themselves by saying: “The truth about me is . . .” and then complete the sentence with a true fact. For example, the truth about me is that I like ice cream. If this statement is also true about you, you like ice cream too, then you must find a new space to stand in the circle. Explain that the person in the middle is also trying to get a spot so whoever does not get a spot goes to the center and the game begins again with a new truth. Play a number of rounds. Encourage students to choose truths that will get more people to move. If the same person ends up in the center multiple times, they can choose a replacement who hasn’t been in the center yet.
- What did you notice about yourself as you played the game? What did you notice about the group?
- Which statements made a lot of people move? Why do you think that is?
- What did you learn about our group/your colleagues? Why is this important to know?
- What guidelines can we use to be successful? Invite the group to build safety rules for the game.
- Remember your statement needs to be something that is true about you.
- After some playing time, encourage students to move past simple observational statements (The truth about me is I’m wearing red), to more personal opinions (The truth about me is I like scary movies), and onward (The truth about me is I have stood up for something I believe in).
- Try to say a statement that will also be true for many other members of our group.
- Have students play as someone/thing other than themselves. To help review key information, the teacher or students can create info cards listing key information to hang around students’ necks. The cards may be later removed from play.
- Math: Have students play as integers naming truths about their number.
- Science: Have students play as animals, habitats, planets, or geographic formations.
- Social Studies: Have students play as a US state or a geographical region or event in history.
- Reading/Writing: Have students play as different verbs/vocabulary words; or have students play as a character from a story.
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