Here are 180 questions for a question of the day in middle and high school. Most American school years run about 180 days, so there is one for every school day.
They are grouped by how you will use them: quick attendance questions, this or that questions, fun questions, warm ups for the start of class, morning meeting and advisory questions, check-ins, and bigger questions for older students. Every question is free to use as it is, with nothing to sign up for or download.
If you would rather not choose, there is a form at the bottom of the page. Once a month we send one email with a question picked for every school day of that month.
AttendanceThis or thatFunWarm upsMorning meetingCheck-insOlder students
How to run a question of the day
A question of the day works because it is short and it happens every day. Students know it is coming, so it gets easier to answer as the year goes on. A few things help:
- Put the question on the board before students walk in, so they can think about it before anyone has to speak.
- Answer it yourself first. Your answer shows the length and tone you are hoping for, so nobody has to guess.
- Say at the start that "pass" is a fine answer. A student that knows they are allowed to pass usually finds it easier to try.
- Keep it to two or three minutes, so it does not take time away from the lesson.
- For anything longer than a one-word answer, take answers in any order, or let students tell a partner first. Going around the room in order means a nervous student spends everyone else's turn worrying about their own.
- Keep the routine the same: same time of day, same way of answering. Students answer more easily when they know what is coming, even when the question changes.
We left out questions that depend on money, travel or home life. Not every student has an answer to "Where did you go over the break?" that they want to say out loud. Every question below can be answered by any student in the room.
Quick attendance questions
Students answer when you call their name, instead of saying "here." One or two words is plenty. Attendance takes only a little longer, and every student has said something to the class before the lesson starts.
- What is your favorite snack?
- What is the best pizza topping?
- What is the best breakfast food?
- What is the best ice cream flavor?
- What is a food you refuse to eat?
- What is a vegetable you actually like?
- What is the best sandwich?
- What is the most underrated fruit?
- What is the best kind of cookie?
- What is the best day of the week?
- What is the best month of the year?
- Which season would you keep all year?
- What is your favorite kind of weather?
- What color should this classroom be painted?
- What is your favorite word?
- What is a word you say a lot?
- What is a sound you love?
- What is a sound you cannot stand?
- What is a smell that puts you in a good mood?
- What animal would make the worst pet?
- What animal would you be for a day?
- What is the best name for a dog?
- What would you name a goldfish?
- What is the most useful invention ever?
- What is a job you would be terrible at?
- What is a job you would be great at?
- What is a sport you would like to try?
- What is the best game to play with a group?
- What is the best thing to do on a rainy day?
- What subject would you add to the school day?
- What should our school mascot be if we had to change it?
- What superpower would be most useful at school?
- What is the most useful emoji?
- What is the best thing to doodle?
- What is a place in this school you like?
- What is one word for your morning so far?
- What is a song that everyone knows?
- What is the best thing about being your age?
- What is your favorite number?
- What is your favorite shape?
This or that questions
These are the easiest questions on the page, because the answer is already in the question. They work well in the first weeks of school, with a tired class, or for a student that does not like speaking yet. Ask "why?" only when the class is ready for it.
- Pizza or tacos?
- Morning or night?
- Cats or dogs?
- Summer or winter?
- Books or movies?
- Sweet or salty?
- Call or text?
- Pancakes or waffles?
- City or countryside?
- Flying or invisibility?
- Numbers or words?
- Comedy or scary movie?
- Sunrise or sunset?
- Breakfast or dinner?
- Inside or outside?
- Plan everything or make it up as you go?
- Talk or listen?
- A big group or a few people?
- Rain or snow?
- Music or quiet while you work?
- Pen or pencil?
- Cook or clean up?
- Spicy or mild?
- Video games or board games?
- Popcorn or chips?
- Ask for directions or figure it out yourself?
- Lead the group or help the leader?
- Early or right on time?
- Front row or back row?
- Draw or write?
Fun questions to ask students
For a Friday, or any day the class needs a laugh. Each one takes a sentence to answer, and none of them has a wrong answer.
- Would you rather be able to talk to animals or speak every human language?
- If you were principal for a day, what is the first thing you would change?
- What would be the most annoying superpower to have?
- If animals could talk, which one would be the rudest?
- What is something popular that you do not understand?
- Would you rather have a pause button or a rewind button for your life?
- What is the strangest food combination you actually like?
- If you could only eat food of one color for a week, which color would you pick?
- What would you do with an extra hour every day?
- Would you rather be the funniest person in the room or the smartest?
- What everyday object would be the scariest if it were giant?
- If you opened a store tomorrow, what would it sell?
- What everyday skill should be an Olympic sport?
- Would you rather explore the bottom of the ocean or the surface of Mars?
- If you could instantly be an expert at one thing, what would you choose?
- If your life had a theme song, what would it be called?
- What job should robots do instead of people?
- If you could invent a new holiday, what would it celebrate?
- Would you rather never need to sleep or never need to eat?
- Which animal do you think would be the best student?
- If you could have any view out of this classroom window, what would it be?
- If you were a kitchen appliance, which one would you be?
- Would you rather travel 100 years into the past or 100 years into the future?
- What would be the best surprise to find on your desk tomorrow?
- If you could make one chore disappear forever, which one would it be?
- If you could rename this town, what would you call it?
- What would be the worst flavor for toothpaste?
- Would you rather sing everything you say or dance everywhere you go?
- If you could shrink to the size of an ant for an hour, what would you do?
- What is a word that sounds funny to you?
Warm up questions for the start of class
These ask students to think for a moment and give a reason. They work as a bell ringer: students write an answer first, then a few share. Most of them can also become a five-minute discussion if you have the time.
- What is something you learned outside of school that everyone should know?
- What is a question you wish people asked you more often?
- If you could ask anyone from history one question, what would you ask?
- What makes a good teammate?
- What is something that is harder than it looks?
- What is something that is easier than it looks?
- What would you put in a time capsule for students 50 years from now?
- What makes a place feel welcoming?
- What is something you used to be scared of that does not scare you now?
- What should every student learn before they graduate?
- What advice would you give a new student at this school?
- What does a good listener do?
- What invention do you think will exist in 20 years?
- Which is more important, being liked or being respected?
- Should students pick their own seats? Why or why not?
- What is something you are proud of that you never got a grade for?
- What makes something funny?
- What is a small thing a stranger could do to make someone's day better?
- What problem in the world would you most like to solve?
- What skill do you think will matter more in the future than it does now?
- How can you tell when you really understand something?
- What is a rule that makes sense, even if you do not like it?
- If you wrote a book, what would it be about?
- What makes a good apology?
- What is one thing everyone in this room probably has in common?
- What is a good way to start a conversation with someone you do not know?
- What is the best way to remember something important?
- If you could add one new room to this school, what would it be for?
- What is something you think is worth waiting for?
- Why do you think people enjoy scary movies?
Morning meeting and advisory questions
These help a class get to know each other over the year. They work best when a few students answer each day instead of everyone, and when you ask one follow-up question about what a student said. A follow-up shows the class you were listening, and it shows students how to do the same with each other.
- What is something you figured out on your own recently?
- What is something you want to do before the end of the school year?
- Who is someone that deserves a thank you this week, and why?
- What is a skill you have taught someone else?
- What is something you are curious about right now?
- What helps you calm down when you are stressed?
- What is one goal you have for this week?
- What is something kind someone did for you recently?
- What is something you are better at now than you were last year?
- Where is a place you feel most like yourself?
- What do you like to do when you have nothing to do?
- What is something you want to learn how to do?
- What tradition would you start at this school?
- What made you laugh recently?
- What would make this class better for everyone?
- What is something you do that helps other people?
- What is a question you would like to ask this class?
- What is something you are not good at yet?
- What does a good day look like for you?
- What have you been practicing lately?
- What is one thing you know now that you wish you had known last year?
- What is a book, show or game you would recommend to this class?
- How do you like to celebrate when something goes well?
- What is something that is easier to do with other people than alone?
- What is a compliment that would make your day?
We are a nonprofit that offers social skills workshops, free to schools that could not otherwise pay for them. If some of your students find it hard to speak up or make friends, see what a workshop involves →
Check-in questions
A quick way for students to tell you how they are doing. Tell the class that no explanation is needed. Students answer more honestly when they know nobody will ask them why.
- If today were a kind of weather, what would it be?
- What color matches your mood today?
- What is one thing you need to have a good class today?
- For a Monday: what is one word for how you are starting the week?
- For a Friday: what was the best part of your week?
- Which emoji matches how you feel right now?
- What would help you focus today?
- Ready, unsure or need a minute: which one are you today?
- What song title describes your day so far?
- Chatty or quiet today?
- What do you need more of this week: rest, help or time?
- Is today a "go fast" day or a "go slow" day for you?
- What is one thing you are proud of from yesterday?
- Water, snack or nap: which do you need most right now?
- What did you notice on your way here today?
Questions for older students
Bigger questions for high school classes that are used to the routine. A few of these will start a real disagreement. If the lesson can spare the time, let the discussion keep going.
- Is it better to have a few close friends or a lot of friends you know a little?
- What makes someone a good leader?
- Can a person be confident and humble at the same time?
- Is it ever right to break a rule? When?
- Does social media bring people closer together or push them apart?
- When you cannot be both, is it better to be honest or kind?
- What would make it easier for new students to make friends here?
- Should people always say what they think?
- What makes a conversation feel easy instead of awkward?
- Is it more important to be good at something or to enjoy it?
Why a question every day helps
Speaking up in front of a group is a skill, and skills come from practice. A question of the day gives students a short turn to speak, with very little at stake, most days of the year. For a student that rarely speaks in class, a one-word answer each day is practice they might not get any other way.
It helps the rest of the class too. Students find out small things about each other, like who else likes the same food or the same game, and those small things are often how a conversation between two students starts.
When a student will not answer
Some students will pass every day for a while. That is fine, and it is still worth asking them each day. Our list of icebreaker questions for students has a section on the student that will not answer, with what to try instead.