I firmly believe that nothing is as powerful or serves better to foster strong bonds within a classroom as building a sense of community. This takes precedence for me over delving right into the textbooks.
Resources for Community
Building are available through parent-teacher stores and teacher magazines. I would like to share a few of
these with you that have proven successful in my classes.
ACTIVITY: Ice Breaker
Introduction Game
To ‘break the ice,’ one such activity that I
use is a “Name Game.” I will have the students
form a circle. I hold a squish ball. I model first by saying my name,
and one very exciting thing I did
over the summer. When I have finished, I gently toss the ball underhand to a student
for him/her to follow suit. We do this until every student
has had an opportunity to share! Kids love this!
ACTIVITY: Round the Clock Buddies
Give
each student a sheet with a 12-hour clock printed on it. Along the side of each
number on the clock, place a line extending
horizontally where a student’s name can be written. The assignment is to fill in
at least one other student’s name per line.
Now here is how this works. Explain
to the students:
“First, I take my sheet and
go to another student. I ask if he or she would like to be my 1:00 buddy. If the answer is yes, then I write
their name on my sheet – and they write my name on their sheet. We make sure that we spell each
other’s names correctly!”
Tell the students how to
continue the process. If, for example, someone’s 1:00 buddy line is already filled, they can ask about another
time, e.g. “Well, if we cannot be buddies at 1:00, what about 3:00?”
Depending on the size of
the class, for each of the 12 slots, students should write in one name for a class of 12. They will have two
names for a class of 24, and 3 names for larger groups.
Future Activities: This “Round the
Clock Buddy” exercise can also become the basis for many future activities. It is a great method to organize a
“think-pair-share” or brainstorming activity. I then say
to my students:
“Please make an appointment with your 2:00 buddy and I would like for you to discuss…
(whatever it is you as the teacher
want the class to discuss
at that point).”
The children really seem to
enjoy this exercise – and it gives you something to vary the normal routine. It’s very important to get
kids up and moving throughout the day and to change both the mental and
physical state of the student.
Okay, let’s talk about the
Candy Bar Game. Kids really love this.
ACTIVITY: Candy Bar Game -- Tell Me About Yourself
This is one of my favorite
Community Building activities. I usually do this on the first day of school.
The children each go to the
basket and pick out a favorite candy bar of their choice. Each child then in turn shares with an answer to the question
associated with the candy bar.
Another variation
is to make the candy bars a
reward to be earned by answering the question.
Here are some that I use:
3 Musketeers – Who are your favorite
friends and why?
Baby Ruth – What is your favorite memory?
Butterfinger – Can you tell us
about a regrettable mistake you made?
M & M’s – What would you do
with a million dollars?
Nestle’s Crunch – Can you tell us about a difficulty (a crunch) that you have overcome?
Skittles – What is pure enjoyment for you?
Snickers – What is the funniest moment you remember?
Starburst – Can you describe
when you have had
an “Ah ha!” moment?
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