Ice Breaker for Kindergarteners

Can you Choo, Choo?  Here's is an activity I do to learn student names and as an ice breaker the first days of school.  Whenever we have a new student, we play the game again to help him/her learn student names.

Note: I did not create this!  When I first started teaching, someone else taught me this game via a website called proteacher.net.  I love this person!  If it is you, please contact me!!  So, I have always used it, even when I was 7 month pregnant.  It's extra fun if you ham it up!

The students sit in their squares on the rainbow rug.  I walk around pretending to be the engine of a train, making all types of train noises, "Chug-a-chug-a, Choo, Choo!"  I stop in front of a child and say, "Who are you?"   The child needs to reply, "My name is _______."  Complete sentences on the first day!  Once they give me the whole sentence, they can jump on the train conga-line style.  I choose the most social, spunky students I can find to interact with first.  I save the ELL students or shy ones until the end.  I never force anyone to participate, especially on the first day, but they usually will by the end of the game. I like to pretend that we are going up a steep hill very slowly, and then down the hill very fast like Casey Jr. from Dumbo. Afterwards, we go to our seats to make a page for a class book. The students get a paper with a train boarder all around it.  I apologize that I don't have the ability to share it.  Its from really old version of Print Shop, and I don't have a digital file anymore!  I typed "Who are you?" at the top of the page, and "My name is _______." at the bottom.  They write their names to the best of their abilities on the line, then they draw a self portrait in the middle of the page.  If necessary, I write their names with pencil, and they trace them in highlighter.  These pages make our first class book, which I then disassemble and put the page in their memory books. No samples to share with anyone :(  I'll keep looking.