Creating a safe and supportive classroom culture is supremely important. However, pleasing the pre-teen set can be challenging as they often have the “Been There, Done That, You’re Boring” attitude.
I used a great set of icebreaker games that are perfect for this age level: Icebreakers That Rock by Cult of Pedagogy. She explains why many back to school games and activities can be problematic for students, especially at this age. While I certainly could have created my own format of conducting these games, I opted to purchase Icebreakers That Rock: Three Game Bundle by Cult of Pedagogy on Teachers Pay Teachers. Each game features a really nice, animated Powerpoint presentation with 20 editable questions that are to be presented to the whole class. Students get to move around the room while striking up conversations with one another. The questions are very appropriate for the intermediate level and not cheesy. They are also a lot of fun!
These games are meant for a crowd and work best with a group of 10 or more students. I used these in Math Lab which is a weekly enrichment math class.