Community
The first day of school is extremely important. I will read my class The Invisible Boy to create a classroom where everyone belongs and feels safe. Students will then make a comic strip of a time they felt invisible or a time someone helped them feel important. I want to create a classroom where everyone respects and appreciates each other. This should be apparent throughout the school year. Students will be seated next to all different peers throughout the year. Every student will know each others names.
Throughout the year there will be a many community-building activities in the classroom. Three of my favorites are listed below.
The end of the year goal is for each of my students to display kindness and helpfulness to all of their peers. They should be encouraging each other to do well and learn. Using Friendship Friday, I can see if students are responding to the same person or multiple different people each time. Using Human Knots, I can see if my students are making improvements in working together. Morning meetings will give me a sense of if progress is being made or not. Students are able to share in a safe environment during morning meetings. Not only are kind letters important in creating community, Linsin states that, "the collective action of pursuing a worthy goal builds camaraderie, teamwork, and togetherness like nothing else and will impact your students more profoundly than a thousand kind letters." My class and I will create class goals at the beginning of the year in order to build teamwork.
The first day of school is extremely important. I will read my class The Invisible Boy to create a classroom where everyone belongs and feels safe. Students will then make a comic strip of a time they felt invisible or a time someone helped them feel important. I want to create a classroom where everyone respects and appreciates each other. This should be apparent throughout the school year. Students will be seated next to all different peers throughout the year. Every student will know each others names.
Throughout the year there will be a many community-building activities in the classroom. Three of my favorites are listed below.
- Find a Friend Bingo
- Students find a different person to sign their name for each category. When you have each box signed you can yell “bingo.” This helps students recognize that we are all unique and different but we do have things in common with each other.
- Friendship Friday
- Students pick a sticky note off the board with a peers name on it. On the sticky note students answer “what makes them a good friend?” The notes are then handed back to the students. This activity promotes friendship and helps students find the good in people surrounding them on a daily basis.
- Human Knots
- Students get into groups of 6-8. Stand in a circle and cross your arms. They grab hands with two different people across from them. Once this is complete students have to untangle themselves. This activity promotes working together to problem solve. This activity can be done throughout the year multiple times to see if your students are improving working together. The ultimate test would be the last day of school.
The end of the year goal is for each of my students to display kindness and helpfulness to all of their peers. They should be encouraging each other to do well and learn. Using Friendship Friday, I can see if students are responding to the same person or multiple different people each time. Using Human Knots, I can see if my students are making improvements in working together. Morning meetings will give me a sense of if progress is being made or not. Students are able to share in a safe environment during morning meetings. Not only are kind letters important in creating community, Linsin states that, "the collective action of pursuing a worthy goal builds camaraderie, teamwork, and togetherness like nothing else and will impact your students more profoundly than a thousand kind letters." My class and I will create class goals at the beginning of the year in order to build teamwork.