A venture by BE_Design in Rwanda, the Komera Leadership Centre is a cost-efficient and flexible building for the local community to empower women and girls.
Our community theme is one of my favorites because there are so many fun things we can do. I could probably spend a month on this theme exploring lots of jobs, places and community helpers. Here were our plans for our community theme: And here are the details for each activity: Making Inferences: Madelynn loves […]
Make learning fun! A creative community mapping activity for children. Use simple materials to create an interactive map of local landmarks.
ALL ABOUT ME & MY COMMUNITY I absolutely love teaching All About Me and My Community ! In this unit we cover four themes that are so much fun: All About Me, All About My Family, All About Community Helpers and When I Grow Up. You all know that I love thematic teaching units , and this
Community Buildings Craft is a fun and engaging way to learn about the community. Students will enjoy creating and building a community using this product. Includes 10 different community building template, 10 buildings, 20 community helpers (10 girl & 10 boy version). Use paper bag or construction paper to build you buildings. The following community buildings/helpers are included: Post Office Police Station Bakery Veterinary Clinic Hospital Fire Station Bank School Library Farm (boy and girl version) Police Officer Farmer Mail Carrier Chef Veterinary Doctor Fire Fighter Banker Teacher Librarian You May Also Like: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle Needs and Wants Community Helper Buildings Craft- Build a Community Personal Hygiene Weight - Sort Heavy and Light (Cut and Paste) Five Senses Activities Write the room (Living and Nonliving things) Chicken Life Cycle Living and Non-Living Things Magnets
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!
Whether it's the beginning of the school year or anytime in the middle--this is one of my favorite activities to do with students. As much as school is about reading, writing, math, science, social studies, PE, art, music, and all the subjects--it's even more about the relationships that students build with their peers. No classroom is perfect because we are all learning! We start off with FRIENDSHIP TOWERS. At first I have some building blocks (you can use Jenga blocks, unifix cubes, really anything that you can build with) and we talk about what makes a great friend by asking questions like: What do great friends do? What do they sound like? What do they look like? (as in actions) What do they make you feel like? And with each response I build a tower. I have my students write down key terms that they say and add to their "Friendship Tower" page. A freebie printable is at the end of this post for you to use because #yourock. Then I talk about how all friends aren't perfect...and I take away a few blocks. We discuss how this doesn't mean that a friendship is over, it just means that you have to keep building. Now sometimes something might happen where you feel your friendship tower has been completely destroyed. Sadsville. We discuss cirmcumstances like this because students will encounter this--it's real life y'all. BUT then we talk about how it's okay to rebuild and refortify your friendship and how it is totally possible! Then students get to build their own friendship towers and encourage one another and cheer each other on for the "coooolest tower" or the "tallest tower" or the "funkiest tower" and so on. I'm allllll about simplicity with a big impact and my students alllllllways love this one. JUST had to share! Will you try this? I think you should! Let me know how it goes in the comments. Oh, and grab this handy dandy freebie printable {HERE} Over and Out!
Are you looking for preschool first week of school activities to help build classroom community from day one? The 7 engaging Get to Know You activities in this resource will help your pre-k, preschool and kindergarten students build connections with you and each other, while having fun together! ⭐️Download the PreK-first-week-of-school-activities-PREVIEW to learn more. Use this set of Preschool first week of school activities to: Learn more about your students To help build connection between your students To help you connect with your students To help build a positive classroom community To get your students talking to each other To help your students learn each other’s names
Learn about community helpers through play! See how firefighters, police officers, doctors, dentists, and mail carriers help us every day.
FREE Phonemic Awareness Activity for Kindergarten. Easy way to incorporate rhyming in Kindergarten. Fun rhyming activity!
Set a friendly tone in your classroom with these 30 "Get to Know You" games perfect for back to school or when welcoming a new student.
Construction themed activities and centers inspiration is HERE! Get out your planner, and let’s plan a ton of fun and engaging construction-themed activities your little learners (Preschool, Pre-k, and kindergarten)...
Print pdf file with over 37 community helpers for kids to learn about with 3 different hands-on activities with the free printables.
The Importance of Building a Classroom Community The Benefits of Classroom Community Building
The Hill and Valley Wall Track stimulates young minds to think about motion in a playful and educational setting.
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.
One of the first projects or themes I find fun, simple and engaging is learning about Communities (2 weeks) and making a map as the culminating activity to end the unit. (For a total of 3 weeks on Community) This week, I started by reading the class a book on maps I got on Amazon. The book was chunked over a period of 2 days to ensure understanding. Maps - Kindergarten Unit After the story, the students were shown real maps that I had saved from going on little road trips. We sat in a circle and talked about what we noticed on them. I had a few kids share out about a time they used a map with their family. Real maps - San Diego, San Francisco I also had some maps from the San Diego Zoo and and some play maps for kids from a teacher supply store. We watched a video on maps and models from the United Streaming's website. Our district purchased user licenses for all teachers to access their videos on our Promethean Boards. I pulled out our old ELD song for communities from Rigby. The red car is on velcro and sticks to the different places in the community. So we fill in the sentence frames depending on where the car lands. On Tuesday, I read the last chunk of the Map book. Then, I pulled out our Writing Web for the power word "go." (The laminated web is from a district purchased program called Learning Headquarters). I taught the sight words "go" under my own structure however as a part of this writing unit in my TPT Store called Rebus Writing using Sight Words. The word "go" is week 5 of the 8 week unit. With a pointer I pointed to the word web and we orally filled out each sentence frame from the word bank. I allowed the kids to draw their own interpretation of a map on a half sheet of drawing paper as a pre-assessment to see where they are. Most kids drew standard pictures of places but some surprised me and had some streets and people walking in the map to different places. On Wednesday, I read them a book on map keys/legends. Map Keys and Legends I put up a class legend on the Promethean board that had four requirements. The sample legend was pre filled and colored and drawn and labeled. I asked the kids to draw a map on a full sized drawing page that had a: school, police station, neighborhood of homes, and a park. The symbol for each was a: building with flag next to it, building with a car next to it, triangles to symbolize a neighborhood, and a slide to symbolize the park. I set the kids to work and could see them looking up and referencing the sample key as they drew their maps. I noticed an improvement in their pictures from the day before. Once all the required components from the class key were on their maps I passed out markers and let them fill in the blanks and put more detail in the map. I cut out small legends that were identical to the one I had on the board and had kids glue it on the corner of their map. They were allowed to take it home. By Thursday, I brought out the colorful construction paper! The neat piles of color coded paper soon got a little messy! I had pre cut them into squares or rectangles. The first to go was blue because everyone was required to put a body of water on their map somewhere. It could be a river, lake, ocean or backyard pool. Also, the black strips I precut were the first to go because those were the streets and kids were allowed to use up to four. Building community maps 1 Building community maps 2 Children got right to work. They were so excited. Each map came out truly unique. As the kids were finished up I had them set up on the rug so the glue could dry and so kids who needed inspiration could come do a carousel walk around the rug and get ideas. Finished maps One of my late finishers added a church to her map even though we never discussed it. Cute! She made her map look like quadrants! She added sand to the beach and a church! The early finishers were doing literacy centers and reading books from the community tub. Building maps was a busy day. On Friday, I handed back their maps and a blank legend key. I asked them to make a legend for their map. Each was different. map key/ legend I had them glue the legends on the back of their maps. I made them a word bank so they could copy. However, some were ready for inventive spelling and didn't need to reference it. If this were done at the end of Kindergarten I would not even offer a word bank on the board. I would ask all kids to use inventive spelling to fill out their legend. If you'd like the free blackline master for the legend see the link at the bottom of this post. IF I HAD IT TO DO OVER AGAIN... I would not have them glue the legends on the back of the maps. I would display it next to the maps because once I mounted them all on the wall I realized they were hidden. LOL! Oh well. Next year I'll have learned my lesson. Wall of Maps! Almost done. Just need to add their name tag underneath each map. After reflection, I wouldn't have just had the kids draw on blank drawing paper. So I created these blackline masters as well. Enjoy! MAPS BLACKLINE MASTERS
Hands-on community helper theme math activities and counting fun. A perfect addition to your math centers and math work stations. Children can practice 1-10 counting and 1-10 numeral recognition with this set...plus there are opportunities for categorizing. This set is perfect for your preschool or pre-k classroom and community helper theme, my community theme, occupations theme units and lesson plans. *Please note that this is a digital product. You will be able to download the PDF file upon your purchase. Nothing will be shipped to you. Due to the nature of digital downloads, your purchase is not refundable. This resource is part of the Community Helper Bundle. If you purchase the money-saving bundle, you do not need to purchase this resource. This set includes two levels of color-coded counting cards: 15 counting clip cards with dot patterns and numerals 33 counting clip cards with numerals 2 clip book covers printable community helper arrows directions and ideas for use Younger children who have not mastered numeral recognition can use the 1-6 dot pattern set. The set with numerals contains 1-10 counting practice and is a bit more challenging. You will need at least one clothespin clip to complete this activity. Kids enjoy using clip cards plus they provide fine motor practice. The printable arrows in this set each contain an image of a community helper. Children can practice the following concepts: Object Counting: Children count the objects on a card and attach the clip to the correct numeral or dot pattern on the bottom of each card. Numeral Recognition: Children match cards with the same numeral or dot patterns on the bottom. Subitizing: Hold up a number of fingers and ask children to find the card with that number of objects on it. Construct the Same: Ask children to count the same number of objects as pictured on the card using coins, buttons, or other thematic objects. More/Less/Compare: Select two different cards and ask children to tell you which one has the most, the least, the greater, or the fewer number of objects. One More or One Less: After counting the objects on the card, ask children to tell you how many there would be if you had one more or one less. How Many Pairs: Several of the cards contain pictures of pairs of boots, pairs of socks, or pairs of mittens. Ask children to count the objects individually and ask them to count the pairs. Classification: Ask children to all of the firefighter related cards, etc. These cards are suitable for use in your preschool, pre-k, special education, early intervention, speech therapy or homeschool classroom. Bundle a set with a cute clip to make a great busy bag activity. Use them in your math centers or take-home math bags ❓ DO YOU HAVE QUESTIONS? Are you looking for some answers before making a purchase? Or maybe you have some questions about an activity you've already bought. Whatever it may be, feel free to reach out to me HERE. I'd be more than happy to assist you in any way I can.
It's time for some fun geography hands-on learning! I love mapping activities and have put together a fun printable set to build a city map. This fun printable set is 15 pages long and includes 5 different
How to set up the blocks center in your early childhood classroom (with ideas, tips, and book list) plus block center freebies!
Classroom community building activities and free ideas and lesson plans to kick off the school year or implement at any time.
Extend your students' knowledge of associating community workers with community buildings to associating items to the correct community building. This set targets 12 community buildings and includes 48 sorting pictures (4 for each building) that tuck away nicely and store inside each file folder (not included). Students place the correct picture from their picture bank below the correct building it is associated with. *This set makes 3 file folders. Buildings included: Fire station Police station Gas station Bank Garage Hospital Movie theatre Restaurant Grocery store Post Office School Library *Check out the preview to see each building.
Activities that develop early math skills are our favourites! We love working on our number recognition, counting skills, subitising and 1:1 correspondence. This “Build a City” activity…
Introducing our DIY Tomato Trellis Instant Download! Grow healthy and abundant tomatoes in your garden with our DIY Tomato Trellis Plans. Designed to provide sturdy support and maximize vertical space, this trellis will help your tomato plants thrive and produce an impressive harvest. What's included: - 6-page detailed booklet: Our comprehensive guide offers clear step-by-step instructions, accompanied by detailed diagrams and measurements. With our easy-to-follow instructions, you'll be able to build your own tomato trellis confidently. Why choose our DIY Tomato Trellis Plans: 1. Easy to build: Our detailed guide is created with both novice and experienced builders in mind. You don't need advanced woodworking skills to construct this functional and durable tomato trellis. Our step-by-step instructions make the process a breeze. 2. Optimal plant support: Tomatoes can grow tall and heavy, and without proper support, they can flop over and get damaged. Our trellis design ensures that your tomato plants grow upright, keeping the fruits off the ground, reducing the risk of diseases, and making harvesting easier. 3. Vertical space utilization: If you have limited garden space, our tomato trellis is the perfect solution. By training your tomato plants to grow vertically, you can make the most of your available space, allowing you to grow more plants in a compact area. 4. Increased air circulation: Growing tomatoes on a trellis promotes better air circulation around the plants, reducing the risk of fungal diseases and improving overall plant health. Proper air circulation also helps the plants receive adequate sunlight and nutrients for optimal growth. 5. Cost-effective and durable: Building your own tomato trellis is not only cost-effective but also allows you to customize the materials and dimensions to suit your garden's specific needs. Our DIY instant download provides detailed instructions to ensure your trellis is sturdy and built to last for many growing seasons. With our DIY Tomato Trellis Plans, you can enjoy the satisfaction of growing healthy and productive tomato plants in your own backyard. Enhance your gardening experience and harvest an abundance of delicious tomatoes. Get started today with our easy-to-follow guide and take your tomato-growing to new heights!
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:
You can easily help your students get to know each other. Try some of these games about friendship to help your students out.
Having a little boy opened my eyes BIG TIME to a world of books we'd been mostly neglecting. Sure, we read a few truck books when Sophie was little, but when Milo came on the
Teach your students about Frida Kahlo with these easy Frida Kahlo activities. Project ideas, book recommendations, videos and more!
I was so eager to get back to my kids this week. Eager to hug them and talk to them and let them know I loved them. Coincidence or not, on Friday I pulled my kids together to talk community building and all things family. I have always been so big on building community in...
STEM Bins® Teambuilders for K-5th Grade are a wonderful way to build your classroom community and allow students to practice and reflect on essential character skills. They are ideal for use at the beginning of the school year as you are introducing STEM Bins to your class and as needed for team building throughout the year. 12 Challenges are provided for you to set up in stations, and you may choose how many stations you’d like your students to complete. Each challenge is designed to be used with your existing classroom set of STEM Bins®, along with a few other basic classroom materials. There is a tabletop tent for each station with the challenge instructions on one side and character emphasis on the other side. The character cards may be displayed in your classroom after the challenges are complete. Students need to be placed in groups of 2-3 and given at least 15-20 minutes per station to meet the challenge. Students each need a copy of the student booklet with cover, checklist, and challenge pages to bring with them to each station. EDITABLE PowerPoint pages are provided in a separate file for you to customize your own challenge checklists. Each student page provides an opportunity for students to reflect on how they showed the character emphasis for the challenge. Final reflection pages are also provided. Includes the following materials and challenges in LOWER GRADE AND UPPER GRADE VERSIONS: Page 3: How to Use Page 4: Supplies Checklist Pages 5-6: Photos of Possible Products Pages 7-8: Station Number Tents Pages 9-10: Student Booklet Cover and Checklist Pages 11-12: Take Flight (OPTIMISM) Pages 13-14: Build a Bridge (PERSEVERANCE) Pages 15-16: Goal Getter (SPORTSMANSHIP) Pages 17-18: Mirror Mirror (CREATIVITY) Pages 19-20: Tricky Tower (SELF-DISCIPLINE) Pages 21-22: Chain Reaction (PATIENCE) Pages 23-24: Safe Shelter (EMPATHY) Pages 25-26: Safety Net (ENCOURAGEMENT) Pages 27-28: Maze Mania (IMPROVEMENT) Pages 29-30: Parking Place (EFFORT) Pages 31-32: Rock and Roll (COOPERATION) Pages 33-34: Life Boat (FLEXIBILITY) Page 35: Teambuilder Reflections Pages 36-47: Optional Character Awards Page 48: Credits
Student shoutouts are a simple, effective way to build classroom community. Click to see how you can start using them with your students!
