Back to school is often the “prime time” to build classroom community, but it should really continue to be a focus throughout the school year. When students feel included as a part of a class family, there is often a positive effect on student behavior and academic progress– win, win!
November serves as an ideal time for building class community with the month’s themes of thankfulness, gratitude, and kindness.
5 Ideas to Build Classroom Community in November:
- Class Family Friday
- Express Gratitude for Each Other
- Class Family Album
- Weekly Class Family Goal
- Acts of Kindness
1. Class Family Friday
“Class Family Friday” is a fun, easy way to make time for intentional classroom community building all November (and all school year!) long. If you choose to have it on a different day of the week than Friday, you could also call it “Class Family Fun Day.”
If Morning Meeting is something you already do daily, this is a sort of “special edition” of Morning Meeting that students could look forward to each week!
And if you don’t do daily Morning Meetings, Class Family Friday/Fun Day is a great way to still fit in some intentional class community building time on a consistent basis (once a week).
Have students get cozy together by sitting in a circle on the floor. Simply display the done-for-you slides from this Class Community Building Slide Deck Set, and let that help guide the rest. There are quote responses, get-to-know-you and team building activities, and collaborative conversation topics.
Class Family Friday aligns with these read alouds for building positive relationships at school:
In addition to the regular weekly slides, there are bonus slide decks for the various seasons and holidays throughout the school year. Including ones specifically for the fall season and Thanksgiving during the month of November!
Each week of November, Class Family Friday can be utilized to strengthen student relationships through team building, conversation, and reflection through themes of thankfulness.
2. Express Gratitude for Each Other
Encourage students to express gratitude for each other as a way to build classroom community this November.
Ask students, “What’s one thing about our class family that you are thankful for?” Use sticky notes or a fun seasonal cutout shape like a leaf, turkey, or hearts in various fall colors. Have each student write his/her response on one of the sticky notes or shapes.
Put all the students’ responses together to make a poster, decorate a bulletin board, or hang on your classroom door.
When seeing these thankful moments about each other listed out, students will have a visual reminder all month long that they are all one big class family!
3. Add Seasonal Pages to Your Class Family Album
Create a class family album with your students to promote classroom community.
Many community-building pages can be included in your album, such as a page for each “family member” (aka student) to complete about themselves:
Put all pages together into a book! You can continue to add class family photos and document memories from special events and holidays celebrated together throughout the year.
Seasonal pages allow you to continue adding to the class family album all year long. Students can draw pictures and write about special events that happen with their class family during different seasons, like fall and Thanksgiving!
Display the album in your classroom library as a choice for students to read during literacy centers or independent reading. Kids love to read their own work (and the work of their peers) when it’s all put together in a special type of book!
Not only will they be getting reading practice, but they can also get to know more about their classmates and look back on their class’ memories at the same time.
4. Weekly Class Family Goal
Build classroom community by setting a specific class family goal during each week of November. Let your students brainstorm and vote on a reward they will work together for when meeting the goal.
Keep the goal attainable, and of course, make sure the reward is fun!
Goal Examples
- We will walk quietly in line when we are in the hallway.
- We will stay on task when working on our own during centers (if that happens to be an actual goal you’d like your kids to work toward, check out this blog post for some tips)!
Focus on a small goal, and use a visual checklist to mark off days of the week they meet the goal. These factors will help keep your class family motivated and working together!
Reward Examples
- Movie party with popcorn
- Extra recess time
- Flashlight Friday (students bring a flashlight to school- turn off the lights and let them camp out under their desks to read)!
5. Acts of Kindness Board
Encourage kindness and community in your classroom by creating an Acts of Kindness board.
How To:
Using a poster board, create squares evenly over the board. Make the squares as small or as large as you’d like. Within each square, write an act of kindness that students can easily complete.
Kindness Ideas
- Hold the door open for a class family member
- Play with someone new
- Push in someone else’s chair
- Pick up trash in the classroom
Students work together to complete each square. When all acts of kindness are complete, celebrate together with your class!
Extend Community to Others
While it’s important to build community within your classroom, acknowledging the community beyond your classroom walls is worthwhile too! Encourage students to show gratitude toward the people in their extended “school family.”
Think about school helpers and staff members like:
- Administration
- Custodial staff
- Nutritional staff
- Guidance counselors
- Activity teachers
- Media Specialist
- and others!
Read the book Our School is a Family to your students as a springboard to discuss creating a positive community beyond the classroom.
Encourage students to thoughtfully consider why these people are important and why they are thankful for them.
The real aloud could also be incorporated with the same Thanksgiving-themed slides from Class Family Friday:
Take the discussion to the next level by having students write thank you notes for school staff during the month of November.
If you had them do this every Thursday for the month, you could even call it “Thankful Thursday.” Choose a staff member to spotlight once a week, and have students write thank you notes for that person!
Bonus: As an incentive for positive behavior, tell your class that you’ll choose a student on “Thankful Thursday” who will get to help you in delivering all of the thank you notes.
Enjoy building classroom community with your students during the month of November! It’s an especially opportune time to show them the value of kindness and gratitude within your class family. And as the school year progresses, that strong sense of community will become something to truly be thankful for!
You also might enjoy reading:
Our Class is a Family Activity
Class Family End of the Year Memory Books
Class Family Fridays: A New Version of Morning Meetings for Classroom Community Building
