FREE printable Paper Hats that kids can color and wear when learning about community helpers, occupations, or when doing dramatic and pretend play. Great for preschool and kindergarten!
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
Do you and I run in the same circles? Doubt it. Although we do share at least one circle: teaching. Right? And if you and I ha...
A Kindergarten blog about effective teaching and making learning fun.
Check out these great ideas for helping your students feel like part of a classroom community during distance learning & social distancing.
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!
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.
A class word search can help build a positive classroom community during the beginning of the school year. I'm showing you how to...
In the first month of school, teachers are usually focused on classroom setup, establishing procedures, launching routines, and digging into the first unit. Although we DO want students to be organized and to feel safe as individuals, we also need them to open up and collaborate as part of a bigger classroom community. Read on for 9 ideas about how to create bonding, shared experiences, and interactions that foster community-building. (By the way, you can check out a similar blog post of ours about community-building here.) The SuperHERO Teacher Teaching kindness and collaboration amongst students is such an important part of a positive classroom community! I love using interactive bulletin boards to encourage students to motivate each other. Recently, I created this nature-themed bulletin board using Polaroid frames with inspiring quotes, twine, and clothes pins. Basically, if students need a bit of motivation, they can take a quote from the board, but they must replace it with a new quote! At the end of the year, students will be exchanging quotes from each other-- making a strong classroom relationship! Here's the link. Addie Williams I work hard to create a collaborative and welcoming classroom community and one way I do this is through writing about kindness. I share a kindness quote with my students as a writing prompt and have them work on it individually before sharing their ideas with a partner and then with a larger group. I ask them to look for similarities in their responses. Demonstrating to my students that I value kindness and community early on in the year will hopefully create a sense of caring throughout the year. Use these free Kindness Quotes to get started! Secondary Sara One of the hurdles to community-building is when students aren't willing to be vulnerable, they try to be perfect, or they compete instead of connect. As much as strengths and growth mindset are important, we teachers also need to help students identify and tackle their weaknesses in an honest way. I like doing this in a humorous way by "curing" student diseases. I joke about students who have "Procrastinitis", and when students own that problem, it becomes a springboard for other areas of concern as well (like upset binders, high test pressure, and silence infections). Get the poster set AND activities to accompany them here. Danielle Hall One of the ways students build our classroom community is by working together to solve problems or puzzles. I use team trivia to start out our class at the beginning of the year, getting students used to collaborating and thinking critically. They develop a healthy sense of teamwork and competition. Here's a free week to get you started. The Classroom Sparrow A simple way to create a positive classroom community is to display work from students around a classroom. It doesn't necessarily have to be an assignment, even a collaborative discussion full of insight from everyone in a class adds positivity and shows that everyone's opinion/view is valued! If you're lacking in work to display, simply begin a class with a simple prompt, motivational quote, or question! Here is a collaborative poem I had students create to begin a poetry unit. Everyone took 10-15 mins to cut out 30-40 words, then I paired students and peers to create a beautiful and colourful example of poetry, which remained on my bulletin boards for the length of the unit! The Daring English Teacher I teach at a very diverse school, and there are 23 different home languages represented in our student body. Bringing together such a diverse group can sometimes be challenging, so I created Classroom Community Bell Ringers to help us all find a common ground. These bell ringers include quotes about love, acceptance, diversity, and tolerance and a brief writing prompt. My students take the first five minutes in class to read the quote and quickly respond to the prompt. Then we share our responses aloud. This exercise has helped forge new connections amongst students who once thought there was no common ground. Stacey Lloyd At the beginning of the year we always spend time thinking about positive and negative behaviors in the classroom: social, emotional and academic. Students come up with their suggestions by walking around the room and anonymously adding their thoughts to various prompts. I then compile these into a list and have students all sign their names on the document - which stays on the wall all year. Any time I find a student acting out or being unkind or unhelpful, I point to their signature and hold them to account. Room 213 We spend a great deal of time during the first few weeks building our classroom climate. I want kids to feel free to discuss their views and to know that it's okay to disagree with someone, as long as they do so respectfully. We develop a class code of conduct, and I put up posters to remind them to be empathetic, kind and understanding of differences. They are a good visual reminder of the things we discussed and the exercises we do during the first few days of school. You can grab them for free here. Presto Plans Building a positive classroom community is an intentional process. One way to do this is by having students complete short challenges that encourage kindness, collaboration, teamwork, expression, and the sharing of ideas and opinions. Start your year or semester by presenting short classroom challenges that can be used as bell-ringers, a class close-up activity, or a fun way to start or end the week. I suggest you set up a bulletin board that allows you to build suspense and reveal one challenge at a time. Make the challenges fun, collaborative, and stress-free. For example, you might consider getting students to write a thank-you card for someone, write a funny top 10 list, play a game of 20 questions, or interview a classmate. We hope you enjoy these ideas! Tell us what you think, or tell us more ideas in the comments!
When you are visiting Lithuania, it’s very likely that Palanga will be on your list. If you want to explore a bit around Palanga, not only stay on the beach, he
If you're tired of digging into your own pockets to find ways to motivate your students, you need to check out these FREE reward coupons. You can even use the editable option to add your own coupons.
Blog pages designed by Louis Saville. Connect with them on Dribbble; the global community for designers and creative professionals.
Earlier this year, my co-worker Jayne found the idea to make a collaborative school-wide paper mural based on the artwork of Thank YouX. The idea for a student mural originally came from Jenell Novello and you can see the lesson plan write-up on Artsonia. She also so generously provided the lesson plan and templates on Google docs. Thank You X got his name by accident. In 2009 Andy Warhol’s spray painted portrait was spotted on a city street in L.A.. … Read more... →
Come play to learn with a fun (and safe) BUBBLY FIRE experiment for preschoolers! Great addition for fire safety week or a community helpers theme.
Grab this FREE tens of friends booklet for your students to explore combinations for making ten using ten-frames.
I saw this on Design Sponge over the weekend and was so wowed by it — both as a public art project and as a bit of DIY inspiration. It’s the brainchild of architect Tali Buchler, who describes herself on her blog like this: “I don’t design houses so much anymore. I use my design […]
Laugenbrötchen, ein Rezept der Kategorie Backen herzhaft. Mehr Thermomix® Rezepte auf www.rezeptwelt.de
Sunset at Tatooine designed by Patryk Wojciechowicz for Fireart Studio. Connect with them on Dribbble; the global community for designers and creative professionals.
The first week anxiety and nerves are real! Help your new students with some beginning of the year team building activities and ice breakers.
Ronda, Spain is a popular day trip from the cities of Seville or Málaga. This pristine white village perched atop a cliff is enchantingly memorable. With jaw-dropping views, history, and a charming allure that is
A take on why generalization should be avoided when dealing with water preferences and/or other preferences of autistic individuals.
Everything you need to know to hike the Grand Canyon rim-to-rim. How to do it as a day hike, how to stay safe, packing list, shuttle.
Here’s an easy tutorial that will show you how to add a fun bartack detail to your shirts using your sewing machine.
Let me share these Top 10 Places to Visit in Castellon Province since this Spanish region has been my home for more than 10 years.
The first week of school generally consists of getting to know one another, in addition to discussion and practice of classroom procedures and routines. We also got our creative juices flowing by creating summer reflection writing pieces, squiggle stories, and "All About Me" mini-posters. Students are getting to know one another and me, and we are learning to work together to build a successful and positive classroom environment. On Wednesday, I wrote out six questions, all having to do with how to make our classroom and ourselves function to the highest level, on six pieces of chart paper. Students, in groups of three, spent two minutes at each chart, collaborating and responding to each question on a sticky note. After all groups visited each chart paper station, I hung all of the charts up and we discussed each answer and noticed some very interesting trends. Here's the finished product, which you can click on to enlarge: Inspired by Life in 4B To tie into the previous activity, I was inspired by my wonderful teammates, Mrs. Fadden and Ms. Mattox, to develop at class pledge with my students. We reviewed our responses to the above questions, and then we put all of the ideas together to form a cohesive paragraph that we have all agreed will help us to remember why we are here at school and what our common goal is. Below is the rough draft of our class pledge (which I will type up, make pretty, and have all of my students sign): Since we were able to develop a class goal (to achieve success in third grade), I also had each student determine an individual goal after reading the story Matthew's Dream by Leo Lionni. I displayed our "Hopes and Dreams" for third grade near the classroom door, so that we can refer to, and revisit, them throughout the year. Lots of students are interested in learning how to sharpen their cursive skills, multiplication and division skills. I was very impressed by the number of students ready to take on our 40 book challenge! More on that later! Here's our class display of our hopes and dreams for third grade: Lastly, I read a book called Have You Filled a Bucket Today? The premise is that everyone carries an invisible bucket everywhere they go. When your bucket is "filled" you feel happy.When your bucket is "empty" you feel sad or upset. People can fill buckets by lending a helping hand, smiling, being kind, including others in games, and more. People can empty buckets by teasing, being ungrateful, acting disrespectfully, and more. I encourage my students to recognize the actions of bucket-fillers by writing them quick note and sticking it in their bucket display. This helps make everyone feel good. When we feel good, we want others to feel good. Therefore, kindess is passed from person to person. This is our bucket-filling display, complete with ways we can fill buckets and ways we can empty buckets: I look forward to more of these types of meaningful activities that promote teamwork, kindness, and achievement with your child!
