Activities to Break in a New Classroom Community

Building a classroom community is necessary for communication. In order to communicate, students must feel safe in their classroom communities. Although I want my students to perceive the classroom as a safe place, I've never actually worked to build a classroom community. However, there are several strategies and activities that would make creating a classroom community enjoyable. Each year, I really like to spend some time working to build a classroom community. Here is a rough outline of what I might do the first week of school.

"The Name Game" - This is an excellent activity for the first day of school. Students learn names quickly and easily AND it can be made into a competition. What more could you ask for? In order to tie it into Language Arts goals, I could ask that the students be alliterative. For example, my name is Joel and I am usually very happy and joking, so I could be Jolly Joel. The great part about this activity is that the teacher has 25-30 chances to hear everyone's name. This is important because, the faster you can identify your students by name, the easier it is to begin connecting with them.

"Hot Seat" - This is a good second day of school activity. The students already know a little bit about each other, but now they will share things that the other students might find more interesting. I would have to split the students into smaller groups, and then I would designate someone to be the first person to ask the questions. I would be sure to include questions that would relate to our students such as favorite TV show, video game, etc., but I would also include silly things to ease the nerves of those who may not be entirely comfortable with the activity. Realistically, there should be enough time to do several groupings so that everyone gets to hear what everyone else has to say.

"Larry, Moe and Curly" - This activity would be for the third day of school. Students would have to give their own name, and then try to name the person to their left and right.

"Stand If You Are Like Me" - This activity would be for the fourth day of school. I would put a twist on this one, and have students write down some of their hobbies, favorite things, unique qualities, etc. on note cards. Then I could collect them and use these cards to play the game.

"Interviews " - On the fifth day of school, I might do this activity. I have experimented with it from time to time, and the students seem to enjoy it. In this activity, students pair up and interview each other (interview questions are provided, but students are encouraged to come up with their own). The job of each person in the pair is to "introduce" their partner to the class using what they have learned from the interview.