Every year my
goal is to create an environment in my classroom in which my students feel safe. In order to achieve this, I incorporate
various class building and team building activities for my students to get to
know each other as well as get to know me. I feel this is an important component
to incorporate each year. I believe class
building provides a positive environment for learning to occur. I feel that it is
important for my students to see themselves as part of a larger, caring group.
When I think
back to my freshman year of college, I didn't know a single face. I can vividly
recall the uncertainty that came with that. Because of this uncertainty, I
decided to join a sorority, in hope of making new friends. Not only did it help me make new friends, but
it helped me feel like I was part of a group and that I belonged. This is what
I want to create for my students in my classroom.
In order to develop a sense of unity in our
5th grade classrooms, we created a class banner to represent
us. To do this, each student was given a
square to decorate. They were told to
represent themselves by including things that they loved
and things that made them happy!
The students were very excited about
this activity and got started right away!
Our students
were so proud of their creation that we provided an opportunity for them to
share with their classmates. We used a
Kagan Structure called, Mix-Pair-Share, in which the students are given
multiple opportunities to share with many of their classmates.
Be sure to stop
by our classroom so you can see our finished banner!
And your class building works! So often kids come to P.E. and say "Did you know____ about ____!" They love learning things about their teacher and each other. It creates a very safe/comfortable learning environment!
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