Building Classroom Community

One of my favorite parts of the beginning of the year is building community within the classroom.  I think it is exhausting and time consuming but the time invested in establishing the classroom community pays itself off many times over.  I feel privileged to work at a school that also values classroom community through a program called Responsive Classroom.  You can learn more about it here: https://www.responsiveclassroom.org/ or http://www.originsonline.org/responsive-classroom.  

This is our crayon box.  We listened to The Crayon Box That Talked and had a discussion about our differences.  Each child was given a crayon to color.  I also used a responsive classroom technique called guided discovery with this lesson.  Our crayon box hangs up all year long and is often referred to when we encounter situations we do not like or having trouble dealing with.  I think it is important for children to realize they can dislike the action but that is not a reason to dislike or to be unkind to the person.

The wrinkled heart lesson goes along with one of my favorite stories, Chrysanthemum.  There are so many reasons I enjoy sharing this story but I think it offers valuable learning opportunities as well as hits home for children.  It is a lesson that they will talk about at the end of the year!  For many years, I would take the time to draw and color a Chrysanthemum that could be wrinkled for the same lesson. But in all honesty, the heart has the same effect and is less time consuming!  Kindergarteners need visuals to help them and this is perfect for helping them as a point of reference when they get in situations where it is hard to see past the actions of others.

As a part of a responsive classroom school, we begin talking about our hopes and dreams early on.  Five and six year olds need a ton of direction when setting them up to express what they want to accomplish during the year.  You will often get responses that have absolutely nothing to do with school!  I love reading the book Someday by Eileen Spinelli to help them understand why we set goals for our year and how these goals can help us accomplish bigger dreams.  I personally spend a ton of time talking about hopes and dreams because I think it helps them comprehend how the things they learn in kindergarten benefit later learning.  I have made some kind of version of a hopes and dream wreath for the past 5 years.  We talk about how in our classroom we are a family and it is just yet another visual that represents this.  it is really important to me for children to understand that they also contribute to others learning.  I do a guided discovery with paint when they paint their sticks for our wreath.  

I am always wanting to try new things.  it keeps it interesting and helps me grow.  I saw this idea on Pinterest and I just thought it would be a neat way for children to express their hopes and dreams.  I had a template and spent time during centers interviewing children.  A fellow teacher asked me how I got such good responses out of kindergarteners.  I will credit continually talking about hopes and dreams and our classroom expectations contributing to our accomplishments.

The beginning of the year is overwhelming and it is easy to forget how young they are when they come to us during those early days.  My motto is "slow and steady wins the race".  I believe that take the time we spend developing our social skills will benefit our academic learning.  More importantly, I believe in setting up an amazing community in the classroom because these are life skills that extend beyond room 29.  I want them to leave kindergarten knowing how important it is to be kind, show respect, and do the right thing even when no one is watching.  How do you set up community in your classroom?