Building A Strong Classroom Community

In addition to building relationships with my students, I believe building a strong classroom community among students is equally important. The way we have built a family culture in our classroom this year is through Fri YAY  3-2-1! This simple activity has changed our classroom this year!  Students learn new things about one another, cultivate trust, and create a learning environment that encourages risk and collaboration through be open with one another.

On Fridays, students write down 3 things they learned during the week, 2 things that went great during the week, and 1 thing they want to share with me or are looking forward during the weekend. Then, we sit together in a circle on the rug and share our 3-2-1. (Sitting in a circle is important because it encourages a sense of belonging and sharing.) These 15-20 minutes spent together are life changing!

I start the sharing and let students see me as a life long learner, overcoming obstacles or mistakes, and highlight great things they have done. Students can share one thing on their list or all of them. Other students are allowed to ask questions or share comments as long as they are respectful and kind. 

We have great conversations for the different things students share. I love how they begin to open up and share meaningful things and what is on their heart! Teaching and FriYAY 3-2-1 is much than just learning the curriculum. It puts students first and shows them how much you care about them!

You can use a cute form as below or any kind of paper as seen above. :) 

(Click the photo to make a copy of the 3-2-1 form.)

This is also a great self-reflection for students. It helps them to see all they learned and to find the positives in the week. I do like to collect their 3-2-1 sheets to read all of their responses, especially if they want to share something just with me. I will often write notes on the sheets before I hand them back. We learn so much about each other during this time. The students and I look forward to FriYAY each week!

Interactive Read Alouds

Picture Books are my jam! If you teach elementary school they are probably yours too!

Read Aloud is My. Absolute. FAVORITE. time of the day! It is a time that is never skipped!! My students look forward to it and it is often their favorite time of the day too!

Reading aloud allows our class to create experiences together that we don't forget and often revisit throughout the year. It helps build empathy, creates community in our classroom, develops conversations, deepens our vocabulary, and changes how we see people and the world around us. 

How do I make books come alive during Read Aloud?

1. Scared Time- 

I really talk up read alouds! Like how this is a special time for us to pause, come together, hear a great book, and learn something new. Sometimes. I let them vote on our read aloud or preview our read aloud for the next day and leave them wanting to know more. We also choose our favorite read aloud by highlighting a Book of the Month!

2. Book, Head, Heart- 

If you haven't read Disruptive Thinking by Kylene Beers, you need to! It has changed the way I read and think about books. My favorite is the "heart" in her Book, Head, Heart questioning: "What did I learn about me?" "How does this help me be better?" I want my students to be changed and think about how they can apply the book's lesson to their life. We always turn and talk about those questions at the end. The conversations that happen through those questions are INCREDIBLE!

3. Theme wall and baskets- 

I believe I got this idea from Scholastic when I first started teaching, and it is one of those things that makes a huge difference so I continue to use it every year. On one of my walls I have several common theme cards and for each book read aloud together we discuss the theme. I then put up the book cover of the book under the theme we feel was strongest. I also have baskets up front in my classroom where we place the book. These books are available to students all year long. I love the visual of how many books we have read together, and it is great to make connections across texts, genres, and characters. 

Click here for the theme cards!

4. My Maps on Google

This is a new idea I recently learned about at EdCampCyFair. Tommy Spall shared how he uses My Maps, and we started brainstorming other ways we could possibly use My Maps in our classroom. Being a reading teacher, my first thought went to Read Alouds. We can find and mark the book's setting, birthplace of the subject we are reading, or a specific place we are learning about. I love that you can add a picture of the book's cover, the person, or a landmark. We have also been adding descriptions and notes we want to remember. Students have loved being able to zoom in, walk around, and discover what the place we are visiting has to offer! I can't wait to see all the places we have traveled together by the end of the year!

5. Tweet Authors-

Last but not least, we tweet authors! Students love connecting with real authors and sharing what they loved about they books or how their book impacted them. They are beyond excited when an author tweets us back! It takes no time at all and makes the books and authors seem more authentic! 

Those are a few ways I try to make books come alive and foster of love of reading in my classroom! I would love to hear what you do in YOUR classroom or on your campus to create lifelong readers!

Happy Reading!!