Community+Building

Community Building:

"I Love You Rituals"- //I love you rituals are a good way to start off the morning in a classroom for grades PreK-1. In the morning have the students come in and sit on a rug and find a partner. Have the students say their favorite nursery rhymes to each other to help learn more about their friends in the classroom. I found this cute idea on a teachers blog.// http://dreambigdreamteam.blogspot.com

"Wall Of Love"- //This is a good way of community building for 3rd-5th grade elementary students. Students get to express nice things about their teacher as well as other students in the classroom// //through a group of white boards. The compliments change everyday to continue the building of rapport with students and their peers as well as students and the teacher.//

media type="custom" key="24523896" //teachingchannel.org// //I liked this video and how she shows that building a community in the classroom actually starts with the teacher at the beginning of the year.//

media type="custom" key="24523958" //teachingchannel.org// //This video is from a middle school teacher, but can very well be implemented into an elementary school// //classroom, especially 4th-5th grade.//

"Family Flags"- //I discovered this idea on// //teachingchannel.org. It can be used as a social studies concept and a community builder. This can be used to build community in your classroom and outside the classroom. This is a great way to help students learn more about the other children in their class and their family history. I think this helps young learners to see that although everyone is different in their own way we all have similarities and can be friends. I think children building family flags with certain colors and symbols that mean something to that child and their family helps to build community in allowing the students to understand each other better. I would like to use this in my future classroom someday. This can be used in all grade levels.//

"Who's Sitting Beside You"- //My mentor teacher, Ms. Burroughs, who taught first grade, used this for community building in her classroom. She called the students to the rug to sit in a big circle. She did this for the first couple weeks of school. When they sat in a circle they would keep a beat with their hands and sing: 'Ms. Taylor, Ms. Taylor, how are you? Who's that sitting beside you?' and we would go around the circle like this twice. This was a great and fun way to keep the first graders engaged in learning the names of their new classmates. By the third week, everyone knew everyone's names. I thought this was a great way to get the little ones to see the classroom as a family.//

//"//Take What You Need"- //I was a part of this type of community building my freshmen year in my college dorm. I definitely think it can be used though in the classroom to build community. I would personally use this in grades 3rd-5th in elementary school. The object is to not explain what the activity is at first but to just grab an amount of toilet paper, rip it off, then pass the toilet paper to the person next to you in the circle. After you pass the toilet paper to them, since they will probably look at you strange, tell them to take as much as they need. When you have students who do not choose any toilet paper, then you can explain the activity to your students. Then you can model what information you would like for the students to share by going first and// //telling them about yourself. This is a great way to break the ice and allow your students to open up in the beginning of the school year.//

"The Human Knot"- //The human knot is an idea that a college professor brought to my attention my sophomore year of college. It can definitely be used for community building among your students in the classroom. Get your students to form a big circle and grab hands of he people next to them but have them grab hands differently with each person that is beside them. You have some students face the inside of the circle and some face the outside. Then have the students talk to each other and figure out among themselves how to untangle themselves without breaking hands. It is a great and innovative way to get your students talking and strategizing together.//

//"//Getting To Know You"- //I found this idea on the link below. I also have had teachers who have used this for a sense of community building in their classrooms for the first week of school. Give each student a 3x5 notecard and tell them to find their "match" to their notecard. After they find their match they have to ask their partner a few questions and write them down on their notecard. They can ask simple questions like, name, favorite color, age, birthday, etc. After every group has found out simple things about their partner they must stand up and introduce their partners to the teacher and rest of the class.Fun way of letting the students get to know each other.// faculty.unlv.edu/jgelfer/esp728/Play&Friendship.rtf ‎

"Family Involvement"- http://www.scholastic.com/ // Especially for the younger grades, family involvement is important in building a classroom community. As a teacher, the more you welcome the help and visitation of children's parents the more excited and motivated the young learners will be. They will also be more trusting of you as the teacher and your classroom as a whole if you build a good rapport with them and their parents. Parent involvement is a great way to bring the outside community of the child to your classroom. //