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!
Find activities and tips on how to build a classroom community, so each student feels welcomed, loved, and comfortable coming to school.
These are the 5 Procedures Every Classroom Needs. From hall passes to supplies to absent work, find the procedures to make your classroom work.
By Presto Plans With the pressure for secondary teachers to meet curriculum expectations in such a limited time, building a classroom community can sometimes be put on the back burner. What many teachers don’t realize is that by intentionally taking time to build a positive community in your classroom, you can ease the challenges of classroom management, improve student attitude toward learning, and create an environment where students feel welcomed and supported. Below are my 5 favorite ways to build classroom community in middle and high school. Establish a positive classroom community by having students complete short activities that encourage kindness, collaboration, teamwork, expression, and the sharing of ideas and opinions. These challenges don’t need to take up a lot of time. Have them last 5-10 minutes. They can be used daily as a bell-ringer, weekly as a fun Friday activity, or even randomly when you finish class a few minutes early! How it works: The teacher sets up a "Classroom Challenge" bulletin board display that includes 20 hidden activity prompts. Once a challenge is revealed, the teacher finds the corresponding activity, passes it out to the class, and they are ready to go! Here are a few of the prompts I include in my challenge to give you an idea of the types of activities can help build community: • Write a thank you card for someone you appreciate. • Talk for one minute to a partner about the topic you receive from your teacher. • Write a top 10 list on the topic of your choice. • Imagine you are stuck on a deserted island. Pick one book, one movie, and one other item to bring. • Play a game of 20 questions with a partner. You know that nostalgic feeling you get when you are reminiscing with your friends about times past? Bring that into your room with “Classroom Throwbacks.” Students use small cards to write down funny, interesting, and memorable moments that happen within the classroom and put it in the “Classroom Thowbacks” jar/box. You can have students fill out the cards randomly, or you can pass them out from time to time, put students in small groups, and have them fill the cards out with a couple memories. Once the throwback jar starts to accumulate some cards, you can begin sharing them in class. You might consider sharing one a week for a “Throwback Thursday” activity. Grab this free resource by clicking here. I once had a principal who left notes of appreciation (and a small treat) in teachers’ mailboxes for little things she had noticed them doing (staying late at school working, helping out at an after-school event, giving extra help at lunch etc.). It was such a small gesture, but it had a dramatic impact on the morale of the staff. Build this same kind of morale in your classroom by finding ways to celebrate your students for the things you see them doing that deserve some praise and appreciation. There are lots of ways you can do this. You can post student work in your classroom, call or email parents to brag up those students who don’t often get a pat on the back, or even have a student of the month/week display for those who deserve special recognition! I also like to keep funny cards tucked away in my desk for those occasions where a student surprises or impresses me. Ask for volunteers for “student paparazzi”. Their job is to take pictures of students in the classroom and send them to you via email to print and post. Of course, students should only take pictures when you deem it appropriate. They could take some before and after the bell rings or during a class activity (when appropriate and with permission) or at the end of the period if class finishes up a couple minutes early. When you post the pictures in your classroom, consider framing them! I pick up low-cost frames at the dollar store and put them in different locations in my classroom (on the wall, on my desk, on the desk at the front of my room, on a bookshelf). No need to go use expensive photo paper. Simply print the pictures on regular letter paper to fit the frame's size (pictures below from the classrooms of @CamilaCdipietro and @Tarafarah7) Framed photos create a home-like, family atmosphere where students feel welcomed and accepted. If you have a classroom website or social media account, you could also post the pictures there as long as you have parent media release permission forms. Providing students with an opportunity to reflect on the positive moments of the week and look forward to the next week is another way to help foster classroom community. One way you can do this is by starting a weekly tradition called “Friday 5-4-3-2-1”. Students fill out the sheet by jotting down 5 things that made them smile, 4 words to describe the week, 3 things they have planned for the weekend, 2 things they learned, and 1 goal they have. Give students a few minutes to fill it out and have them share with a partner, a small group, or have a whole class discussion. If you’d like to try this out with your students, you can download it for free here. You can also choose to make up your own 5 prompts, as a blank version is included! Just write the prompts on the board and students can fill it out. Looking for more ways to promote class community? Find more ideas below! Student-Teacher Conferences from The SuperHERO Teacher Classroom Community Bell-Ringers from The Daring English Teacher The Kindness Project from Room 213 Do you have any other ideas for fostering a positive classroom community? Click the comments button at the top of the post and share your ideas! SaveSave SaveSave
These are the 5 Procedures Every Classroom Needs. From hall passes to supplies to absent work, find the procedures to make your classroom work.
Hey, friends! I’m teaming up with my good friend Elyse from Proud to be Primary to bring you a whole slew of classroom management tips and tricks… plus, a bunch of classroom management freebies! This
A positive classroom culture will impact both the way student's feel about school and how they learn - 4 ideas for creating positive classroom culture.
Love podcasts? Check out this post in the form of a podcast episode on The Classroom Commute Podcast !
These are the 5 Procedures Every Classroom Needs. From hall passes to supplies to absent work, find the procedures to make your classroom work.
Explore these fun and informative ideas to build a strong classroom community in primary grades! From student jobs to team building activities, foster a sense of belonging in kindergarten, 1st grade, and 2nd grade. These classroom community lessons to build friendship, respect, and kindness will help you create a learning environment where students thrive. Grab the FREE classroom community activities and respect scenario role play task cards to get you started!
It’s my first day of school! I love this time of year, all fresh starts and possiblities! Team builder games are one of my favorite things to do in the classroom during the first few weeks …
FREE Phonemic Awareness Activity for Kindergarten. Easy way to incorporate rhyming in Kindergarten. Fun rhyming activity!
Classroom community building activities and free ideas and lesson plans to kick off the school year or implement at any time.
Classroom procedures review can be dull and boring. This post is loaded with fun and engaging games that will make students want to practice the all important classroom procedures. The more they practice them, the more smoothly your classroom will run.
Hello songs and Name Games for elementary school to help teachers build classroom community and for classroom management.
This resource is a great student activity for back to school season! Students love bringing items from home and presenting their items to their classmates. I do this activity every year with my classes and it is an amazing way to build classroom community and get to know your new students faster. Ju...
Start off the elementary school year with these special back to school lessons and activities that are fun and important for K-2 kids: Participate in community building activities, get to know each other with All About Me activities, and build friendship and empathy with students.
We all know that research says students need to feel included, loved, and safe in the classroom to learn. They also need to move. Team Builders are the best way to incorporate both of these! Positive relationships with teachers are important in supporting higher levels of self-esteem, higher academic self-efficacy, and more confidence in future ... Read More about Fostering Relationships in the Classroom
Build classroom community this back to school season with this year long writing project that will engage and connect students all year long! Building classroom community and teaching letter writing has never been easier with these simple steps.
Whether you're meeting with them formally or just saying hello, discover a scientific way to build instant rapport with individual students.
Building community in your classroom is critical to a great year! Students who feel safe, valued and a sense of belonging are infinitely more willing to take social and academic risks in your classroom. So how do you build that sense of community? Well, I have gathered up 10 of my favorite activities to share with you today.
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 […]
This is a great activity that teaches how to build classroom community and mindfulness in the classroom. It's perfect for a variety of ages.
Class community building activities and ideas to build positive student relationships during back to school time.
A positive classroom community can make your job as a teacher easier. It will help your students enter the room each day engaged and calm. Building a strong classroom community is done through everyday actions and activities. While it happens over time, it is something you can be purposeful about. Let's explore seven ways to
These are the 5 Procedures Every Classroom Needs. From hall passes to supplies to absent work, find the procedures to make your classroom work.
Lucky Duck {A Classroom Community Routine} No comments Classroom Community, Classroom Management, Classroom Routine, Daily News, Lucky Duck, Teaching Ideas Teachers spend a great deal of time building classroom community at the beginning of the school year, but really, this is something that should go on throughout the year. I'm so excited to share with you a tried and true favorite community building activity of mine: Lucky Duck. I have used this routine in my classroom for many, many years. It dates all the way back to my student teaching days (almost two decades ago). I'm going to break down how "Lucky Duck" works in my room, but please know that it can be modified and used in a million different ways. So, feel free to tweak and customize these ideas to meet your needs and teaching style. What is Lucky Duck? Lucky Duck is basically the student of the day. Each day a new student gets to identify as the Lucky Duck. When you're 7, it's a pretty big deal. How does it work? Each day, after school, I select a new Lucky Duck. I have a small tray with my students' names printed on them. I rotate through the stack of names and place the daily name up on the board using the sign pictured below. Doing this right after school means that it's all set up for the morning (when there are always a million and one distractions). These are the names in their little container. You can easily cut up index cards or cardstock to write students' names. You can grab my sign here for FREE (you'll need to handwrite your students' names). Rotating through the stack of names means that each student gets the chance to be Lucky Duck several times throughout the school year. Tip: Don't want to mess with a sign and name cards? Then, just write it all on your whiteboard. Same effect and the kids will still love it! Once I identify the Lucky Duck, I place a rubber ducky on the student's desk. When the kids walk into the room in the morning, they can see who the Lucky Duck is by either reading the board or looking for the rubber duck. What does the Lucky Duck get to do? What I'm about to share is what makes this such a big deal to my students. Daily News First, they get to share some Daily News. Usually, I ask the students a question and they have to answer by restating the question. You can grab a similar set of questions here (freebie). I write their statement on a piece of 12x18 construction paper using the this format: ______ said, "_________." I don't rely on the question cards 100% of the time. I often times invite the students share any random thought they'd like. This love this. Daily News is so great for learning how to write the date (long and short) and how quotation marks work. It's also great for talking about parts of speech, capitalization, phonics, or whatever your teacher heart is drawn to in the moment. I frequently ask students to identify compound words, words with a specific number of syllables, words that rhyme with ___, to identify nouns or verbs or adjectives, we discuss capitalization and commas in a series, and so on. Daily Cheer Second, the Lucky Duck gets to pick the cheer of the day. I have a collection of Dr. Jean chant/cheer cards. They choose one from the designated box and we use it throughout the day. Sorry, no pic but if you search Dr. Jean chants on TPT you can find some great freebies! Calendar Third, they help lead calendar. Again, no pic. I really have got to get better about snapping pics in my room! Anyhoo, we use a digital calendar which can be manipulated using a special pen for the whiteboard (I do not have a smartboard, it's just some pen that connects to my projector/computer and has some sort of magical powers I do not fully understand). The Lucky Duck leads us through the calendar slides and calls on people to share answers. They also get to prompt them to show their whiteboards. In my classroom, we use the signal, "3-2-1 show!" when using whiteboards. I never thought that being able to say those words would be such a hit, but they are. Haha! Daily News Part 2 Fourth, the Lucky Duck gets to decorate/illustrate their Daily News. They can do so in their free time, or during reading group time that day (if their group isn't meeting with me). At the end of the month, I put all the Daily News pages together into a special book and add the books to our classroom library. They absolutely love reading the Daily News books over and over again. They enjoy seeing their own pages, and delight in reading about their classmates. This allows them to learn more about each other and find commonalities. As you can see, the book doesn't look special, but I'm telling you, they are always the most popular books in the classroom library. The cover is simply two pieces of colored 12x18 construction paper with the simple title written in Sharpie. I have started laminating the covers due to the popularity of the books. Line Leader Finally, the Lucky Duck gets to be the line leader for the day. Enough said, we all know that's like the BEST classroom job/privilege in the whole wide world. This routine is a beloved one. The students absolutely love being Lucky Duck. They all get their moment to shine (several times throughout the year), and they get to know more about one another through Daily News. When we sit on the carpet to hear what the Lucky Duck has to report, the students are at full attention. It's an easy way to help students feel special while fostering community in the classroom. The only cost involved with this routine is the one time cost of a rubber duck. Mine cost like $3 on Amazon. Can't beat that! I hope you enjoyed reading about this special routine. Please share your favorite ways to build community throughout the school year in the comments below. DON'T FORGET IT, PIN IT! Share It:
Promote collaboration and build classroom community with this easy table group management strategy that can be done two ways!
Create a positive classroom culture in your classroom with these five activities
This post contains affiliate links. All opinions are my own. Thanks for supporting TheCompelledEducator.com To all the jeep drivers out there... Do you do this when you pass another jeep on the road? When my husband first started driving his Jeep, he noticed that other drivers would wave or lift a couple of fingers as they passed him. He looked it up online and found that it’s a “thing” for drivers in jeeps to acknowledge each other when they pass on the road. He also found forums and thriving community devoted to Jeep owners. He was excited to be a part of this new group, and he always looks for other Jeeps on the road so that he can acknowledge them. His reaction was a reminder to me that people want to be a part of something bigger than themselves. As educators, it’s important for us to create an environment where students and staff feel connected, important, and valued. In today’s post, I’ve gathered up 20 powerful community building ideas to share with you. Feel free to leave a comment and share yours! In an article by Edutopia, they share 10 strategies and some of them take less than 5 minutes to do. Below, I’m sharing 3 from the article, one for each at the elementary, middle and high school levels. Friendly Fridays Elizabeth Peterson is a fourth grade teacher who created “Friendly Fridays” as a way for her students to lift each other up. “Peterson has her students write a friendly, anonymous note to a classmate, practice using positive self-talk, or use storytelling to give a peer a pep talk.” Group Salutes At the beginning or ending of class or an activity, this teacher-led activity is a quick way to build community. “The shared gesture can be physical—like a high five—or social—a teacher could ask students to express gratitude to their group members.” Don’t think this is a powerful enough strategy? The NBA did some research on their teams and how many times the players touch each other early in the season - high fives, fist bumps, etc. The ones who did the most touching early in the season had the best records as the season progressed. Rose and Thorn Check-in While it may seem that high school students don’t need “morning meetings,” the Rose and Thorn check-in is a quick way for teachers to gauge students’ moods, promote empathy, and understand that every voice matters. How it works: At the beginning of class, the teacher and students share something positive (rose) and something negative (thorn). Students are allowed to “pass” on their turn, but every student is given the opportunity to be heard every day. “When teachers deliberately foster a sense of belonging by greeting each student at the door of the class, they see ‘significant improvements in academic engaged time and reductions in disruptive behavior.’” (Source) Collaborative Classroom Norms and Expectations Susan Norris, a Hoover High teacher, facilitates students in her classroom as they create class expectations and norms. By doing this, she encourages student voice and increases ownership of the expectations by the students. Send a Welcome Letter Even before students step foot in the classroom, teachers can start to build community by making students feel welcome and reduce fears by letting them know what to expect in the classroom. (You can read about 7 more community-building strategies in the article on ThoughtCo.com) Class Read-Alouds There are a lot of books that can be used to build community in a classroom. There are two that I am recommending to be used for a read-aloud at ANY level. Yes, you read that right. Even at the high school level, a children's book can be a wonderful resource to build a culture of kindness. My friend Jeff Kubiak wrote One Drop of Kindness. The story is about Gus, a one-time orphan, who believes that the only way to communicate is through hurtful words and actions. The town Gus lives in has a secret - and unlocking it, a ripple effect of kindness is felt throughout the town. The Invisible Boy is another story that can help to create a shared experience and a foundation for a sense of community in the classroom. The book is about a quiet student named Brian, who feels invisible at school until a new boy, Justin, "sees" Brian. From then on, Brian starts to feel less invisible and the other students begin to notice. It's a story about friendship, belonging, and the power of being "seen." Here are some conversation starters and/or writing prompts: What responsibility do we have to each other? What actions can we do to help others feel like part of a community? How can you reach out if you are hurting? From the links and ideas above, you can find 20 ideas for building community in the classroom. What do you do at your school and/or in your classroom? I would love to hear from you in the comments below or reach out to me on twitter. Pin now to share later >>
Too many classroom icebreakers require students to take big social risks with people they barely know. Or they don't really help students get to know each other. Or they are just plain cheesy.
This back-to-school resource was made to help your students build connections with each other. These are great get-to-know-you activities for the first weeks of school or when you get a new student. Building a strong classroom community plays an important role in classroom management. Each resource ...
