All About Me Pop-Up Cards

With a new school year just around the corner, I thought I’d share an easy All About Me activity that is no prep and fits perfectly into your first week of school!  This post is brought to you by Go teach!, formerly Elmer’s Teacher Club. Go teach! is an amazingly loud and incredibly proud new community created to inspire, empower, and support teachers like YOU!

All About Me Pop-Up Cards

Helping your students get to know one another is an important part of the first days of school. Here’s a new take on a tried-and-true first week activity that all students enjoy. This simple All About Me pop-up card is easy to make and makes a fun partner activity for students to compare things about themselves with a new friend.  It’s virtually no-prep, which makes it ideal for your first writing center activity too.

Keeping tasks and activities simple is always a good thing when introducing center routines. As you teach your expectations, be sure to provide a variety of writing tools and paper in your center and teach students how to use them responsibly.  One of the go-to tools my students always choose is colored pencils. I like Prismacolor Premier colored pencils because the core is sturdier which keeps them from breaking. They sharpen easily and quickly too.  I definitely don’t want students spending their time sharpening instead of writing!

Making the Cards

To make these All About Me pop-up cards you’ll need:

• Prismacolor Premier colored pencils
• a black Sharpie marker
• 1 sheet of construction paper
• 1 index card (cut off about 2 inches from the bottom to form a square shape)
• Elmer’s Washable School Glue Stick

My second graders prefer colored pencils over crayons because they have more control while coloring the smaller pictures they tend to draw.

Making the Pop-Up Box

Teach your students to make the pop-up card:

1. Fold a sheet of construction paper in half.
2. In the fold, cut two snips, each about 1 inch long. A bit longer is OK too.
3. Open the paper and push out the box.
4. Make a crease at the top and bottom of each cut to form a box.

Next, have students open up the page then draw and write all about themselves.

Guide your students to include things like their age, siblings, favorite foods, school subjects, and colors.

Include Self-Portraits

Give each student an index card to draw their self-portraits. I cut about 2 inches off of the bottom of the index card so it would fit nicely into the card when folded.

Glue the self-portraits to the front of the pop-out box to complete the cards. And that’s it! You can display the cards too, for a fun back to school bulletin board!

If you like this idea, why not share? Be sure to pin it on Pinterest or share on Facebook with your teacher friends!

Happy teaching and have a wonderful school year, friends!

You may also like these posts for more back to school ideas. Click on the pics to read the posts!