Building Community by Sierra Wilson

Put-Up Jar

swilson528 — 2025-04-23 21:07:44 UTC

Students write positive notes about peers on sticky notes and add them to a jar. As a part of our routine, we pull out 2-3 put-ups and read them during snack time. Sometimes we even turn it into a "Game Show" by using a microphone and clapping for the students who are highlighted that day.

Shout Outs

ncarl2 — 2025-04-30 21:08:04 UTC

Students write a shout out to another student. We read them out loud during our morning meeting.

Shout-outs

2025-04-30 21:08:17 UTC

We do something similar, where we have post-it notes that students can write shoutouts to and we post them on my classroom door. It has been so exciting to see them posted!

Pre-k Community Picnic

2025-04-30 21:08:41 UTC

To start and end the year we go on a field trip to a park to have a picnic. Not only is this building our classroom community but it helps the parents connect as a community too!

2025-04-30 21:09:16 UTC

Our 'Drops of Kindness' buckets we do at the end of the day where students (and teachers) highlight another student by expressing gratitude. Over time, students notice the amount of appreciation expressed.

Brown bags

2025-04-30 21:09:20 UTC

At the beginning of the year, each student brings in a brown bag with 5 objects that represent themselves. Each day, a few children share the items from their brown bag and students learn more about their classmates and recognize connections between their interests and their classmate.s

Playing Games

2025-04-30 21:09:22 UTC

Playing games with your students is a great way to bond and for you to not only get to know them in a different light, but for them to know you in a different light as well. Playing card games, board games, basketball, volleyball, etc. has been so much fun!

Building Rapport

2025-04-30 21:09:27 UTC

I take time to build relationships with students to learn their triggers as well as their coping skills. We play games together. Through these activities I can learn how to help them diffuse conflict.

Noticer Job & Drops Jar

2025-04-30 21:09:36 UTC

Each day a student is tasked with noticing the kind things others do throughout the day. At our closing circle, the noticer shares and then calls on 3-5 students who also share their notices. Students place paper drops in a bucket to visually represent the notices. By the end of the year we have evidence that hundreds of kind actions and bucket fillers were noticed!

Gallery Stroll/ Collaborative Murals

2025-04-30 21:09:40 UTC

Students stroll around the classroom and critique each other's work stating something they appreciate and something they might change.

Community

2025-04-30 21:09:50 UTC

Sharing a perspective and location: students pick a random perspective (student, teacher, little kid, etc) and a random location (bus, playground, hallway, etc.) and we talk about different situations and how they

could be interpreted with the different perspectives and locations.

Tell me about...

2025-04-30 21:10:08 UTC

I make up stories about amazing classes that come and visit the library and embellish all the wonderful things that the students do. Sometimes I even make the stories about the actual students who are coming to the library, but change the names, of course:-) The students then tell me stories about their amazing class and what they have been up to that day or week.

Class Greeter

2025-04-30 21:11:07 UTC

We have each child be the class greeter and they get to learn their names and they get to give each child a good morning and either a handshake or a your awesome