Meet the Teacher Two Truths and a Lie – Back to School Activity Icebreaker Game

Description

Kick off the school year with this fun and interactive Meet the Teacher icebreaker game! Using the classic Two Truths and a Lie game format, your new students will learn about their teacher while practicing critical thinking during this engaging back to school activity.

Included with this Meet the Teacher Two Truths and a Lie Icebreaker Game:

• Two Truths and a Lie Slideshow – Microsoft PowerPoint® and Google Slides®
• • 35 ready-to-use question prompts about travel, food, pets, hobbies, and more
• Editable Two Truths and a Lie Slideshow – Canva®
• Blank Two Truths and a Lie Slideshow Template – Microsoft PowerPoint® and Google Slides®
• • Personalize this back-to-school ice breaker by creating custom slides
  • Adapt the resource for different grade levels, classroom themes, or subject areas
• Student Predictions Sheets – Digital & Ready-to-Print

How to Use This Two Truths and a Lie Back to School Activity:

Start the activity by presenting the Meet the Teacher: Two Truths and a Lie Slideshow. Each slide displays three statements about the teacher – two are true, and one is a lie. Students are challenged to identify the false statement using context clues and their own reasoning. This makes the activity an engaging way to introduce yourself without requiring students to sit through a traditional teacher introduction. As students listen to each statement, they can make connections, ask questions, and begin learning about the person who will be guiding them throughout the school year. Two Truths and a Lie also gives students a low-pressure opportunity to participate during the first days of school, even if they are still getting comfortable speaking in front of their classmates.

The ready-to-use slideshow includes prompts about travel, food, pets, hobbies, and more, helping your new students connect you in a fun and personal way​. These prompts are general, but if any of them do not apply to you, feel free to skip them or replace them using the editable template provided. The variety of topics makes it easy to reveal different sides of your personality and give students plenty of details to remember and discuss. You might discover that you have traveled to places students recognize, enjoy some of the same foods, have an interesting hobby, or share a love for animals. These little details can become conversation starters throughout the year and help establish a welcoming classroom environment from the very beginning. By using Two Truths and a Lie, you can introduce personal information in a playful format while keeping students actively involved in the process.

To personalize this slideshow, make a copy of the editable Canva® template and swap in your own answers for each question! Customize the statements so they accurately represent your experiences, interests, preferences, and personality. You can make the truths surprising, humorous, or relatable while creating a lie that is believable enough to challenge your students. Think about experiences that students might not expect you to have had or everyday preferences that could spark a conversation. Personalizing the questions also ensures that the activity feels authentic to you rather than like a generic introduction. The more your statements reflect your personality, the more opportunities students will have to discover common interests and learn something memorable about their teacher through Two Truths and a Lie.

To recreate this back to school icebreaker, use the blank templates for PowerPoint® and Google Slides® for creating custom slides. You can add your own “two truths and a lie” questions directly into the template, tailoring the game to reflect your personality and interests. This customization option makes it easy to adapt the resource for different grade levels, classroom themes, subject areas, or virtual introductions. Teachers can also adjust the number of slides, change the order of questions, or create statements that connect to a specific classroom theme. For virtual classrooms, the slideshow can be shared on screen while students submit their predictions through the chat or another digital response method. Because the templates are flexible, Two Truths and a Lie can easily become part of your first-day or first-week classroom routine.

Before playing, hand out the Prediction Sheets to each student. As the slideshow progresses, students will mark their predictions for each slide, checking A, B, or C to indicate which statement they believe is the lie. This sheet not only adds structure but also encourages careful listening and engagement throughout the game​. Instead of simply watching the presentation, students have an active role in every round and have a reason to pay close attention to each detail you share. The prediction sheet can also encourage students to think critically about which statement seems unusual, unlikely, or inconsistent with the other information provided. Students can work independently or discuss their predictions with a partner before the answer is revealed, making Two Truths and a Lie a flexible activity for different classroom settings.

After all slides have been shown, reveal the correct answers and share a brief anecdote or explanation for each statement. This final step builds classroom rapport and creates opportunities for laughter and conversation as students react to the surprising truths and clever lies. Take a moment to elaborate on the true statements when appropriate, especially when an answer connects to an interesting experience, hobby, place, or personal story. You can also invite students to ask follow-up questions, which can naturally turn the activity into an informal class discussion. Revealing the answers gives students a chance to see whether their reasoning was correct while learning more about you in a relaxed and memorable way. The conversational nature of Two Truths and a Lie helps transform a simple icebreaker into an opportunity to begin building trust and classroom community.

This activity can also serve as a starting point for getting students comfortable with participation early in the school year. Once students have seen how the game works, you can invite them to create their own statements as a follow-up activity. Students can write two true statements and one believable lie about their interests, experiences, or preferences and then share them with a partner or small group. This extends the introductory activity beyond the teacher and gives students an opportunity to learn about one another while practicing communication and reasoning skills. Two Truths and a Lie can therefore be adapted into a student-centered community-building activity that continues beyond the first presentation.

Whether you use the ready-to-use slides or customize the editable templates, this activity is an easy way to make your first interactions with students more personal and engaging. It provides a structured introduction while leaving plenty of room for humor, curiosity, and conversation. Most importantly, it helps students see their teacher as a real person with experiences and interests outside of the classroom. Starting the year with Two Truths and a Lie can help create an atmosphere where students feel comfortable participating, asking questions, and getting to know the people around them.

✨ Kindly note that due to copyright restrictions, this resource is not editable, except for the files specifically labelled as editable. This is a common practice within the online marketplace in order to protect the clip artists and software providers that have authorized their intellectual property for the development of this resource.

⭒ For classrooms utilizing Google Classroom® ⭒

To access the digital version of these worksheets, simply follow the instructions within the resource to copy the files directly to your Google Drive®.