It's your first day and theirs as well. I'm sure they are nervous. I would suggest doing something that offers reassurance that they can succeed in their new endeavor. How about some kind of listing activity that would generate a profusion of language on a given topic. Propose a rich and open topic: communication, college, science... and have the students brainstorm its nouns (first concrete, then abstract), adjectives, verbs, and adverbs. Do something fun that gets them talking to each other.

Amy