Today we’re going to talk about 4 strong community building activities in the classroom.
With all of the prep work that teachers have to do before the start of the school year, building classroom community tends to be either forgotten or rushed through.
However, more than the curriculum and anything else we’ll ever do as teachers, building a strong classroom community is extremely important in helping our children feel safe and happy. It helps children feel like they belong to something greater than themselves and will therefore feel encouraged to apply themselves in your class.
The following are four strategies to building a strong classroom environment.
Actionable Steps:
#1. Create Learning Goals
Have your children create goals for this school year. What do they want to learn about? What are they excited about for this upcoming year?
Talk about a reward system if they do a certain task or behave a certain way. For example, will you have a party or hand out popsicles? This is a great way to provide your students with an incentive.
#2. Play Games Together
Choose some fun icebreakers and play it in your class. Spend the first week enjoying each other in this way. Then refer back to them every few days and in time, every week or so to keep your students engaged and learning something new about each other.
Here are three resources for building classroom community along with a FREE resource at the end very end of this post:
#3. Focus on Gratitude
When you focus on what you’re grateful for, your students will start to see the positive in their lives. This is especially important for those who are struggling to see the beauty that surrounds them.
Once a child has had time to reflect, I have them share at least one thing that they’re grateful for so that we can all share in their joy.
The following resources will help your students enjoy practicing gratitude together.
#4. Teach Classroom Expectations
Figure out what your classroom expectations are, write them down for yourself, then create a plan as a class. Once you’ve all agreed on them, added or altered it together as a class, have everyone sign it and post it up in a visible spot. Laminate it if you can.
Review it everyday of the first week of school, and then lessen it as you see fit. Come back to reviewing it when you feel that your students need a review lesson again.
Recap:
Let’s recap really quickly. Today, we looked at the following:
- The importance of building a strong classroom community.
- 4 ways to do it: create learning goals, play games together, focus on gratitude, and teach classroom expectations.
Free Resources:
Enjoy these three resources by clicking on the images below:
Next Steps:
I’d love to hear from you. In the comments below, please answer the following:
If you found this video beneficial, would you do me a favor? Share this with your family, your friends, your loved ones, your co-workers or someone who you think could benefit from this. Thank you!
I’ll see you next Friday at 5:30pm PST.
Until I see you next time, remember to create, experience & teach from the heart.
