I have never seen a greater need for socialization and a sense of belonging in the classroom as I do right now! Times are hard, and the kids feel it too! We recognize this and do everything we can to help the kids feel safe, loved, and welcome back into our classroom. We planned a lot of relationship building activities for the first few days after winter break.
We started with an activity called Find Someone Who where the kids got up and moving and were looking for students who did certain activities over winter break. The goal is that the kids reconnect, find commonalities, and that they get a chance to share about their break. It was cool to see so many kids saying things like, "Hey, I went sledding too, where did you go?" and "I stayed up past midnight too, how late did you stay up?" The kids were smiling from ear to ear!
We also changed teams to give the kids a fresh start for the new year. Immediately following, we also do a team building exercise so that the students feel safe with their new team. This time, we chose to do Fan-N-Pick with getting to know you questions. I love this structure mostly because PRAISE is built into it perfectly. In their teams, the students take on multiple roles throughout the structure. One student starts by fanning the cards and saying, "Pick a card, any card!," the next student picks a card and reads it to another, student three answers the question, and student four praises them! Then they switch roles and continue the rotation! We heard things like, "Wow! I never knew that about you, how amazing!" and "I love that answer, it was very unique!" This not only helps students feel safe in their new team, but also helps students find a sense of belonging and boosts their confidence!
As the week goes on and as the school year continues, we will always find time for relationship building because RELATIONSHIPS MATTER!
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