Hey everyone! It's Anna from Hanging with Mrs. Hulsey! The school year is officially in full swing-- and my students are definitely feeling more comfortable with me and each other! One thing I've decided we need to focus on more is our classroom community! Here are some quick ideas to help you promote a positive climate in your classroom! Use Team Builders Team building activities are easy to implement! They don't take a lot of time, students find them to be engaging, and they are often FREE! Here is a quick list of some of my favorite student team building activities: Human Knot (Students stand in circle, reach for hands of people across the way, and then they must untangle themselves without letting go. This can also be done as a spiderweb using a ball of yarn) Tallest Tower (Divide students into groups and give them supplies like straws, tape, blocks, etc. The team that can make the tallest tower wins!) Minefield (Set up a "minefield" that students must navigate a blindfolded partner through) Hula Hoop Pass (Can be played whole class or in teams. Students hold hands and must pass through a hula hoop as quickly as possible) Switch Sides If... (Use a chalk line, rope, or tape line. Have students stand on one side of the line. Read off items like "switch sides if you like to bake", etc.) The internet provides an infinite source of team building activities! I've included a few links below: http://www.ventureteambuilding.co.uk/team-building-activities/ http://www.momjunction.com/articles/team-building-activities-will-keep-kids-busy-summer_0074763/#gref http://mommieshobbies.blogspot.com/2014/01/switch-sides-if.html?m=1 Hold Morning Meetings Time is precious in my classroom because we departmentalize. It feels like we are always on the go. However, I feel that even something as small as a weekly morning meeting would help my students develop a more positive feeling toward one another. You can read more about morning meetings for older elementary students here! I also love this product from TPT! Write Daily White Board Messages I think this is a such a simple way to start the day off with a positive vibe! The night before (or morning of) write a simple prompt on the white board/chalkboard and have students respond on the board. This will foster another sense of ownership and community. You can find white board messages by searching google or Pinterest! Here are some quick ideas to get you started: 1 Thing Wednesday-- name one thing we've done this year that you'd like to do again! I Think I Can Thursday-- what is one goal you want to achieve this year? Flashback Friday-- what is one new thing you have learned this week? Write a compliment for a classmate by their name (no repeats!) Name 3 traits of a great friend What is your favorite book you've read this year? Thankful Thursday-- what is 1 thing you are thankful for? Make it Monday-- what is 1 thing you've always wanted to create?' Top 2 Tuesday-- write your top 2 favorite things about the school year so far Compliment Circles This activity would pair well with morning meetings! You and the students sit in a circle with everyone's legs out straight. Begin the compliment circle by giving a compliment to someone. Once someone has been complimented they cross their legs. Compliments continue until everyone has received 1. I think this is a great way to encourage students to see each other in different ways! Create a Kindness Board I created this one for the visual it would provide to my students. Plus, I wanted them to point out kindness when they see it in others! This one is easy to implement: 1. Print out the letters and hang on a wall or bulletin board. 2. Print the "caught being kind" strips on various colors of paper (I used Astrobright paper). 3. Cut the strips apart and keep on hand for when students catch others being kind. 4. When students experience a kindness or act of friendship, they come and ask you for a "caught being kind" strip. They write down their experience. 5. Start a paper chain and add a new link every time someone catches others being kind! You can find this HERE in my TPT store! Here is another type of board with a similar theme (kindness): You can find these fall themed board HERE in my store! I hope you found these ideas to be useful to implement in your classroom! If you have any questions-- feel free to leave them in the comment section!
Start building a strong foundation for math and reading by introducing sequencing skills to your preschoolers. These free printable sequencing cards will get you started.
Music Builds a Strong Foundation Music Advocacy Bulletin Board This construction themed bulletin board for music class is just what your classroom needs! In this download you’ll get everything you need to construct your bulletin board including title letters and tips for displaying your bulletin board. You’ll get: 20 benefits of studying music each colorfully presented with construction clipart on a full sheet Title letters and a single title sheet that say “Music Builds a Strong Foundation” Some examples include: Music performance builds confidence. Studying music can improve your reading skills. Studying music improves listening skills. Music helps us connect with other cultures …and more! The picture shows a partial display. Get this product for nearly 40% off in Music Class Décor BUNDLE - Construction Theme! More CONSTRUCTION THEMED items for your classroom: Music National Standards-Construction Theme Supply Labels - Construction Theme Your Future is Always Under Construction Bulletin Board
Building a strong team is attainable once we have the intentional steps. In this blog post, learn the 6 foundations for achieving this goal.
A strong classroom community is integral to students' success.
One thing that I never did much of until this year was focus on building a strong classroom community. I felt like I had good relationships with my students, but I realized I wasn’t very good at fostering my students’ relationships with their peers. How important that is! If students aren’t valuing and respecting each other, then it can be really hard to get much accomplished during the day. So this year, after learning more about Responsive Classroom and building classroom community, I decided to put that at the center of my planning. Allowing time for my students to interact with each other and encourage each other during class was a priority for me. I took some aspects of the Responsive Classroom approach and adapted them for my classroom. I also took some things I’ve seen or heard about from other teachers whom I admire and adapted those ideas for my classroom as well. NONE of the following ideas are my own brain child; I am pretty much the queen of taking others’ ideas and changing them to fit my needs. That being said, I wanted to share the different ways that I help build a strong classroom community in hopes that it will inspire you to do the same. I also HIGHLY recommend researching Responsive Classroom and their approach to building classroom community. It was super eye-opening for me! The only reason I am not 100% implementing Responsive Classroom is because it was just too much for me to possibly take on in one year. However, I think adding a few aspects at a time is enough to make a difference and still be manageable. Building Classroom Community Monday Meeting This is adapted from the Responsive Classroom’s Morning Meeting. Having a meeting EVERY morning was overwhelming to me and something I’m not sure I have the time for at this point; but I did feel a regular class meeting would be instrumental in building that strong classroom community. The Responsive Classroom approach has 4 different components to the meeting: greeting, sharing, group activity, and morning message and is a daily 15-20 minute meeting to start the day. In my class, I do my meeting on Monday mornings. I create a short PowerPoint to go with it. First, I share a quick summary of my week and my favorite part, because I feel it is important for students to be included in our life outside of school. Second, I do a question of the week. This is sometimes an easy, get-to-know-you question that most students will answer. Other times it focuses on a trait or character quality I want to talk about – questions like “How can you persevere today?” or “Tell about a time when someone helped you.” I let as many students as want to answer. Third, I do a student share time. I have a schedule set and 5 students share each Monday. I have 20 students so each student gets to go about once per month. Lastly, I use this time for any important announcements for the week. It was important to me that students get the opportunity to stand up in front of their classmates, full attention on them, and talk about literally whatever they want. I have kids talk about something fun they did, or they bring in items for show and tell, or they tell about something they’re looking forward to. I don’t provide any guidelines for this time (other than keeping it under 2 minutes and 2nd grade appropriate). Students who are not speaking are to listen attentively, and we clap when the sharer is done. This is my students’ favorite part of the week! Quote of the Month On the first Monday of each month, I skip my question of the week and we talk about our Quote of the Month instead. I like to choose quotes that encourage a growth mindset or focus on another quality that I think is important. I choose the quote each month and display it on my letter board. Then, on the first Monday of the month, we talk about it during Monday Meeting. We read the quote together, I explain any words they may not know, and then I ask them what they think it means. I love hearing their ideas! Seriously, 2nd graders can be pretty insightful. After hearing their thoughts on the quote, I proceed to tell them what it means to me and what that means for our classroom. I refer to the quote often throughout the month but otherwise don’t do anything with it. I think it would be fun to once a month reward students who really showcased the qualities talked about in the quote, but I have not done that. This idea is adapted from the Keep the Quote trend. I only do once a month because it’s hard for me to keep up with it weekly, but Keep the Quote is another great alternative to this community building strategy. Table Points I love doing group work in my class, but unfortunately with the way our curriculum is set up, it doesn’t lend itself very well to doing group work often. So, I provide students opportunities to work together in a different way – table points. This is super casual. Each table has a number (1-5) and I keep a tally on a chart I made on my board. Anytime I think an entire table has done a great job working quietly, cleaning up, keeping their desk neat, working together well, etc. I give them a table point. Tables accumulate points throughout the week, and the table that has the most points at the end of the day Friday wins! The winning table gets to keep the VIP Caddy at their table the following week in place of their regular caddy. In the VIP Caddy I keep fun pencils, markers, pens, and pretty-colored dry erase markers. They LOVE it! I switch up their seating once per quarter so they have opportunities to work with different students. I love watching them help each other and encourage each other so they can earn table points. Closing Circle This is also taken from the Responsive Classroom. I try to end each day with a closing circle. My students absolutely love this time of day and are sad when we don’t get to do it (because of time). It takes only about 10 minutes! After cleaning up and getting ready to go, I have all students come to my gathering area and we sit in a circle. Then we go around the circle and answer a quick question (similar to our question of the day, but everyone gets to answer). This could be a simple “What was your favorite thing that happened today?” or a more thought-provoking “What challenged you today and what did you learn from it?” The point is, whatever the question, you are ending the day on a POSITIVE note. So, stay away from questions like, “What did you NOT like about today?” It can be hard to come up with questions to ask, so I created this FREE resource to help you out! Simply print, cut, and keep on a binder ring near your gathering area. Then, if you’re stuck, you can just grab these cards and find a question! These cards are available in my TpT store, or you can click the link below to download now. How do you build a strong classroom community? Share your ideas by commenting below!
This bright book by the creator of Love Makes a Family celebrates acts of kindness big and small.Kindness is a friendly hello. A roaring cheer. A quick boost. Kindness is what makes us strong! This joyful board book shows various children as they extend kindness in all kinds of situations: on the playground, at lunchtime, on a bike path, and on a neighborhood street. This sweet preschool read-aloud shows the way kindness helps build friendship and community. Recommended for ages 0-3 years. Board book. 24 Pages. ISBN: 9781984816399.
Classroom community building activities and free ideas and lesson plans to kick off the school year or implement at any time.
Start the school year with these 11 fun classroom community activities to help build social-emotional skills and positive relationships!
A strong classroom community is integral to students' success.
Building a classroom is so much more than desk formations and pretty bulletin boards.
3D Printed Ultimate Biplane 10-300S (RC Plane): I have designed this plane from scratch using the software Catia. This plane was specificly designed for 3D printing, which means that it is very light (about 400 grams without electronics). There are .stl files of every part that is used on this pl…
There are a few elements to building influential student relationships. Keep on reading to find out the six keys to fostering strong connections in your classroom.
Practice building multiples of tens using the Golden Beads.Printable Ten Bars provides the ability to practice at home!A clean design makes this accessible to kids with learning difficulties.Click on the ⭐️PREVIEW⭐️ for a visual walkthrough of what's included and how it all works together!Building Mul...
Preparing for marriage is an exciting and transformative chapter in life, filled with dreams, hopes, and a vision for the future. It is essential to embark on this journey with a deep understanding of one another, ensuring compatibility and shared values that will contribute to a strong and enduring partnership. To aid in this process,
Building a strong team is attainable once we have the intentional steps. In this blog post, learn the 6 foundations for achieving this goal.
Check out these 3 secrets to building better leaders and stronger women’s ministry teams.
German: Let's Talk About Beauty Board Game Transport students to Germany with this engaging board game that builds language skills! Students strengthen German vocabulary and conversation abilities related to beauty and personal care. The printable game board features questions about makeup, hair, skin care, and more. Educators can implement it in pairs, small groups, or whole class. Roll dice to advance and answer questions aloud or write responses. Adapt it as a friendly competition, traveling farthest along the beauty-themed path to win. Alternatively, turn it into an assessment by tracking student progress. This versatile German resource benefits middle schoolers studying the language or English Language Learners grasping terminology. Watch the vocabulary blossom with this simple, customizable board game! German: Let's Talk About Beauty Board Game
One thing that I never did much of until this year was focus on building a strong classroom community. I felt like I had good relationships with my students, but I realized I wasn’t very good at fostering my students’ relationships with their peers. How important that is! If students aren’t valuing and respecting each other, then it can be really hard to get much accomplished during the day. So this year, after learning more about Responsive Classroom and building classroom community, I decided to put that at the center of my planning. Allowing time for my students to interact with each other and encourage each other during class was a priority for me. I took some aspects of the Responsive Classroom approach and adapted them for my classroom. I also took some things I’ve seen or heard about from other teachers whom I admire and adapted those ideas for my classroom as well. NONE of the following ideas are my own brain child; I am pretty much the queen of taking others’ ideas and changing them to fit my needs. That being said, I wanted to share the different ways that I help build a strong classroom community in hopes that it will inspire you to do the same. I also HIGHLY recommend researching Responsive Classroom and their approach to building classroom community. It was super eye-opening for me! The only reason I am not 100% implementing Responsive Classroom is because it was just too much for me to possibly take on in one year. However, I think adding a few aspects at a time is enough to make a difference and still be manageable. Building Classroom Community Monday Meeting This is adapted from the Responsive Classroom’s Morning Meeting. Having a meeting EVERY morning was overwhelming to me and something I’m not sure I have the time for at this point; but I did feel a regular class meeting would be instrumental in building that strong classroom community. The Responsive Classroom approach has 4 different components to the meeting: greeting, sharing, group activity, and morning message and is a daily 15-20 minute meeting to start the day. In my class, I do my meeting on Monday mornings. I create a short PowerPoint to go with it. First, I share a quick summary of my week and my favorite part, because I feel it is important for students to be included in our life outside of school. Second, I do a question of the week. This is sometimes an easy, get-to-know-you question that most students will answer. Other times it focuses on a trait or character quality I want to talk about – questions like “How can you persevere today?” or “Tell about a time when someone helped you.” I let as many students as want to answer. Third, I do a student share time. I have a schedule set and 5 students share each Monday. I have 20 students so each student gets to go about once per month. Lastly, I use this time for any important announcements for the week. It was important to me that students get the opportunity to stand up in front of their classmates, full attention on them, and talk about literally whatever they want. I have kids talk about something fun they did, or they bring in items for show and tell, or they tell about something they’re looking forward to. I don’t provide any guidelines for this time (other than keeping it under 2 minutes and 2nd grade appropriate). Students who are not speaking are to listen attentively, and we clap when the sharer is done. This is my students’ favorite part of the week! Quote of the Month On the first Monday of each month, I skip my question of the week and we talk about our Quote of the Month instead. I like to choose quotes that encourage a growth mindset or focus on another quality that I think is important. I choose the quote each month and display it on my letter board. Then, on the first Monday of the month, we talk about it during Monday Meeting. We read the quote together, I explain any words they may not know, and then I ask them what they think it means. I love hearing their ideas! Seriously, 2nd graders can be pretty insightful. After hearing their thoughts on the quote, I proceed to tell them what it means to me and what that means for our classroom. I refer to the quote often throughout the month but otherwise don’t do anything with it. I think it would be fun to once a month reward students who really showcased the qualities talked about in the quote, but I have not done that. This idea is adapted from the Keep the Quote trend. I only do once a month because it’s hard for me to keep up with it weekly, but Keep the Quote is another great alternative to this community building strategy. Table Points I love doing group work in my class, but unfortunately with the way our curriculum is set up, it doesn’t lend itself very well to doing group work often. So, I provide students opportunities to work together in a different way – table points. This is super casual. Each table has a number (1-5) and I keep a tally on a chart I made on my board. Anytime I think an entire table has done a great job working quietly, cleaning up, keeping their desk neat, working together well, etc. I give them a table point. Tables accumulate points throughout the week, and the table that has the most points at the end of the day Friday wins! The winning table gets to keep the VIP Caddy at their table the following week in place of their regular caddy. In the VIP Caddy I keep fun pencils, markers, pens, and pretty-colored dry erase markers. They LOVE it! I switch up their seating once per quarter so they have opportunities to work with different students. I love watching them help each other and encourage each other so they can earn table points. Closing Circle This is also taken from the Responsive Classroom. I try to end each day with a closing circle. My students absolutely love this time of day and are sad when we don’t get to do it (because of time). It takes only about 10 minutes! After cleaning up and getting ready to go, I have all students come to my gathering area and we sit in a circle. Then we go around the circle and answer a quick question (similar to our question of the day, but everyone gets to answer). This could be a simple “What was your favorite thing that happened today?” or a more thought-provoking “What challenged you today and what did you learn from it?” The point is, whatever the question, you are ending the day on a POSITIVE note. So, stay away from questions like, “What did you NOT like about today?” It can be hard to come up with questions to ask, so I created this FREE resource to help you out! Simply print, cut, and keep on a binder ring near your gathering area. Then, if you’re stuck, you can just grab these cards and find a question! These cards are available in my TpT store, or you can click the link below to download now. How do you build a strong classroom community? Share your ideas by commenting below!
Practical and heartwarming ways to nurture social skills development in children through play, empathy, and family traditions. Join us and share your tips!
Anti-rotation exercises are a secret weapon when it comes to building strong and sculpted abs. Learn how and why to use these exercises in your routine.
Are you a morning person, or not so much? Whether we like them or not, mornings set the tone for the day. A lazy, sluggish start usually translates into a
Easily integrate ELA, math and/or social studies with these purposeful back to school crafts for preschool, kindergarten and first grade!
Friendship is such an important part of growing up, but for neurodivergent kids, it can be especially challenging. Building and maintaining friendships often depends on one key skill: conversation . Understanding how to help your child develop this skill can make all the difference in their soc
Build a strong, toned upper body with my favorite dumbbell arm exercises. An at home workout that targets the shoulders, back, chest, biceps and triceps. Each circuit includes a strength exercise, a power exercise and an isometric hold. Burn out the entire upper body at home using a set of dumbbells.
When you need wide pieces for a project, a wood glue up is your best bet. This video will walk you through each step of the process of gluing up big slabs.
Stop teaching surface level place value skills and GO DEEP. Learn 3 simple tips for helping students understand place value concepts and making them stick!
Daily Morning Meeting Prompts for building a strong Classroom Community These digital morning meeting slides are perfect for kicking off your day with a fun community-building activity! These prompts will help students get to know each other, connect, and provide a positive start to your day in the classroom. Each set provides 50 daily prompts of meaningful and fun questions to get students talking with and getting to know each other. You'll also get a list of all of the prompts if you wish to write them on a white board instead of projecting them each morning. This is a PowerPoint file that can be projected to a screen or board, or used digitally with students during distance learning! ⭐ Try two weeks for FREE here! ⭐Save 25% by purchasing the year-long bundle of Community Building Slides! ⭐ -OR- Try these Morning Meeting Digital Class Games! Check out all of the Morning Meeting Prompts sets: • Morning Meeting Prompts - Quarter 1 • Morning Meeting Prompts - Quarter 2 • Morning Meeting Prompts - Quarter 3 • Morning Meeting Prompts - Quarter 4
Weight training for women over 60 builds lean muscle, reduces fat, improves bone density, prevents chronic disease and improves mental health and cognitive function.
By Becky Cummings Teachers have you thought about your current classroom management system and what it’s doing for your students? Is it set up to allow children to reflect on their behavior in a compassionate, calm way? Or does it call children out and shame them in front of peers causing shame and guilt? The […]
Strong-willed child? Say this!
Learn all about the Pont du Gard, why arch shapes are strong and try to build a sugar cube arch for an engineering STEM challenge
WHAT IS SUBITIZING? Subitizing is not a term that we use often, but it is an important mathematical concept that can greatly benefit student
Today I'm sharing one of my favourite tasks for building community in the classroom. Students are able to share an important aspect of themselves (the story of their name) with the class and with me, their teacher. Through this task we are also working on important skills, like reading comprehension, writing, and reflection. Day 1 To begin, I asked my students to write any name they wish they had on a sticky note. They then placed it in a mason jar. I read my class the story "The Name Jar" by Yansook Choi. We stopped at several points in the story to predict, make connections, infer, and ask questions. At one point, we paused in the story so that students could journal about the name they wrote down on the sticky note earlier: - Did they choose their own name? Or another? - Why? - If you chose another name, where did you hear that name before? Day 2 At the end of Day 1, students were given homework. (Stick around to the bottom of this post for a chance to get your own copy of this sheet.) I make it very clear, that while names all have meanings, your family may not have chosen your name for that reason. They might not know the meaning, and you can choose to look it up with your family if you wish. I also focus a lot on nicknames and your own feelings about your name. While I've never taught a student in foster care, or one who was adopted, I do think it's important to mention that this could be a touchy task in those situations, so be sure to know your students first, and modify as needed. Students use the homework task, and the journal write from the previous day, to write "The Story of their Name". Some possible options to include are: - who you are named after - the meaning of your name - a name you'd rather have - your feelings toward your name - nicknames you may have - the person (or people) who chose your name - how your name was chosen This piece of writing is then self, peer, and teacher edited, and a "good" copy is made. Day 3 I found this excellent step-by-step self-portrait from "Art Projects for Kids". I modified the task so that instead of drawing the left or right side of their face, they would draw the top half. Students find that folding their page into quadrants as she suggests is very helpful. Under the document camera I demonstrate each step, and students copy, adapting to their own facial features. Each student gets a mirror to look in to help them personalize. The final pieces are put on a bulletin board for display. Students also coloured in a bubble letter version of their names to complete the display. (I used the font KG Red Hands Outline for this.) Day 4 Once we've completed the task, the last job is to reflect on our work. I pulled some elements from our Arts Education curriculum (very relevant regardless of where you teach) for students to self-assess on. I've used the proficiency scale language our school has moved to for all reporting. A few students found it helpful to complete their reflection while looking at the finished product on their bulletin board, but most didn't need this. Want a copy of both my homework and reflection pages? Follow the image or button below to grab your copy. Take Me to the Free Download Pin this post.
The Free to Discover blog will give you strategies and tips for teaching math to middle and high school students using differentiation and discovery.
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Let me save you time and costly mistakes building your own online presence using these 5 methods that are tried and true.
