Community Building Activities

Create a Class Slideshow

On the first day of school read Miss Malarkey Doesn't Live in Room 10 and discuss that teachers are real people with lives outside of school.  Show students a slideshow of your family/pet/summer vacation/or hobby so that they can get to know you.  After sharing have students write an introduction of themselves with the same information, then have them edit and type what they have written.  The teacher can then add the student's picture to a slideshow and have it running on parent night so that parents can see what their child has written.

What's In a Name?

At the beginning of the year give students a What's In a Name form that asks the following questions:

• What's your full name?
• Were you named after someone?
• What does your name mean?
• What names did your parents consider before picking the one you have?
• Why did they choose it?
• Do you have a nickname?  How did you get it?
• If you could change your name, what would you name yourself?
• On the bottom of this paper draw your name as creatively as you can...fancy letters, swirls, block letters...draw something as special as you are!

When kids bring back their name forms they get to share in a community circle.  If kids feel shy, they only need to share their name.  Leave their forms posted in the classroom so that other students can see each other's names and read about them.

A "FAN" OF VALIDATION

• Give each child a piece of paper.
• Have students make a fan by folding the paper back and forth into seven equal sections. Once fans are folded, have students write their names on the top section, unfold their fan, and pass it to a classmate.
• The classmate writes something he or she really appreciates about the child in the section immediately below the student’s name, folds the section under so the comment is hidden, and passes the fan to another student.
• Students pass the fans until each section has a positive statement.
• When completed, fans are returned to the student whose name is at the top.
• As students read the statements from their classmates, they realize how many "fans" they have on their team

Curriculum Guessing Game
Kids always ask what they will be learning about in the upcoming school year. This is a great way to get them excited with a taste of what’s to come.
Gather several real props that have to do with the units you plan to teach. For example, if you were going to teach the human body, you could select a chicken bone to represent the unit. After gathering your props, hold up each prop and have students guess what they might be studying. Use things such as a puzzle piece to a U.S. state map to represent states and capitals, an old-fashioned pen with a plume to represent writing, and so on. Delve into all subjects.
Be tricky with your props, but be careful to choose props with which the students can make connections. They get discouraged if the props are consistently too tricky to guess.