5 Ways I Build a Strong Class Community

Read about the 5 ways I set expectations, build relationships and develop a strong classroom community.

CLASSROOM MANAGEMENTBUILDING CLASSROOM COMMUNITY

11/29/20233 min read

I use a few tools to build classroom community and relationships early, most of them have been borrowed and reused from other, expert teachers. They take some up front work, but have been proven effective in my own classroom. They are as follows

100 Numbers Activity & Group Work Discussion

As shown above, this activity gets students talking. Sara VanDerWerf does a great job describing how this activity can be used and she has copies of the activity sheet available on her site here.

Name Tents

Name tents are used as a tool to communicate with students during the first week of class. I got this idea from a fellow math teacher, Sara VanDerWerf. You can get a free copy here or over on Sara VanDerWerf's site located here.

The First Two Homework Assignments

The first homework assignment gives students a chance to tell me about themselves. I refer back to this assignment throughout the year intentionally commenting on something a student shared. It takes diligence to do so, but it pays off!

This assignment is available in my classroom store for free! Click here to download. There is also an EDITABLE version available here.

Math Class Norms

Our math class norms are unique to our math class. They guide how math is approached in my class, and hanging them on the wall, I refer back to them throughout the entire year. They are as follows:

Classroom Jobs

Classroom jobs have been a game changer for me. They help build classroom community and ownership in a way I never could have imagined.

I have put a lot of work into the development of classroom jobs creating accountability sheets, class store items and prices, coupons and more. You can find all that and more available here.