Find Your Seat Challenge

• Ahead of time, create a seating chart on paper with pencil (because it will change), assigning students to seats alphabetically by last name up and down the rows or tables.

• Greet students as they come in and direct them to sit anywhere they want, "but don't get too comfortable because we'll be moving soon."

• Once class starts, let students know that their first task is to find out where they are going to sit.

• Tell them that they are supposed to sit alphabetically by last name, and they will be timed.

• The period with the best time and fewest errors will get a prize. As far as the prize goes, maybe go with some negligible extra credit (like 1 or 2 points out of 0) that will look good on day one, but will be a drop in the bucket after a few days.

• Once they are all sitting, go down your seating chart list, correct errors in seating. If a student has a special need for seating you can fix that (remember, you used pencil).

• If you have older students, you might even throw in an extra challenge like you can't use words.

Ultimately this will help you learn their names, it will productively eat up a good chunk of day 1, and sets a tone for what students can expect.