One of the most important goals for my class every year is to build a Classroom Community. Remote learning (and hybrid learning) make this more difficult, but I am determined to make it work.

I believe that students who feel connected to me and connected within our Classroom community make higher achievement gains. With all of the isolation and “social distancing” between us right now, helping students to feel connected to others and to care about others is more important now than ever.

Here are 16 tips for how to build a classroom community and positive relationships.

1 – Assign a “cheer peer” or “buddy” to every student. I use an app on my phone called “Popsicle Sticks.” I click “Random Groups,” then “Groups of Two.” You have the option to shuffle names entirely, or to switch names if you see a pairing that might not work for some reason. I then email each student with the name of their “cheer peer.” This is not meant to be secret, as they know that whoever they are cheering for is also cheering for them! Another benefit of this practice is that it forces us to know and use everyone’s names and to learn to pronounce them correctly.

Here are some ways we “cheer” for each other:

*say “good morning” to your cheer peer in the chatbox when you see them show up in the group meeting
*whenever we share compliments or appreciation, say something kind to or about your buddy
*send them a friendly chat or email
*watch for good things that your cheer peer does during the day and compliment them on that.

2 – Have a snack or lunch meeting with small groups of students with no real agenda. Just eat a snack or lunch together over video, talk, and get to know each other. (My district is promoting a “device-free lunch” as a way to help cut down on screen time, so this may not work for me this year. But I’m including it here in case it’s a routine that might work for you.)

3 – Just as we start the day with a “circle” meeting, I am also inviting students to join me each day for a “closing circle.” We meet for about 10 minutes at the end of their school day (from 2:50 – 3:00 p.m.). We review the day, talk about what was good, what was more difficult, discuss what we’re going to do after school today. Nothing special, but it helps to keep us connected. While this is not required, I am noticing that more students are joining us each day.

Some questions I ask to get the conversation started:
*what was one rose and one thorn from the day?
*what was something challenging or new for you today?
*tell us about a time when you had to push through something hard today
*how did you take breaks and move your body today?
*how were you creative today?
*what is something you did to take care of yourself today?

Sometimes we play a game together that reviews something we are learning but in a fun way.

If you’re wondering about class meetings and how to get them started, here is a link to my post about how I do that in “normal” years!

4 – Hold daily office hours – this is a good time for you to just be available to have kids join and complete their assignments together. They can also ask questions if needed. This builds community and helps support those students who may not have adult support at home. I generally sit there and work on my own stuff (grading, for instance), but I am available if needed.

5 – One thing I did in the spring that really helped was to have once weekly Google Meets where we just did fun things together. I am continuing to do that this year. Here’s a link to my post about some fun activities to do in these meetings.

Another fun thing to do in these meetings is to host special guests. Invite your specialists, your guidance counselor, the principal — anyone that your kids love and who will be fun to interact with, even for just a brief visit.

6 – Host Field Trip Fridays! Since field trips are on hold for our district right now, one way to incorporate some fun while learning about a new place is to go on a field trip on a Friday (or any other day that suits your schedule). Here’s a link to my post about some fun field trip options!

7 – Host a Fun Friday event and play games together. Kahoot, Quizizz, or Quizlet are great options for fun academic content or just for fun games.

8 – Ask for student feedback regularly. Ask students how they’re feeling, ask them what they like and what they don’t like, ask them for ideas for changes you can make to your classroom. Ask them what they need from you. (As simple as this sounds, it makes a big difference.) I do this with Google forms, with polls in Google Meet, or just with casual class discussions.

Doing these simple activities builds trust and strengthens relationships. Then, once you ask for the feedback, it’s important to find a way to incorporate their suggestions (or explain why you cannot do what they’re asking).

9 – Create “learning pods” or “study groups”. These are small groups for students (about 4 or 5 works best). These group times allow them to get to know each other better and have “go-to” people for questions, etc. While it’s good to mix kids up in different configurations throughout the day, these groups serve as a bit of a “home base.”

Earlier this year we used our study groups to help each other review and study for a big science test. Currently, we are using them to give each other feedback on our personal narrative writing.

10 – Establish a “theme” for each day, just to shake up the routine and get kids talking about different things. I’m working on a future post with some ideas so stay tuned!

11 – Use fun activities like Mad-Libs or round-robin story writing where everyone can participate to create something fun.

For round-robin story writing, you can start with a prompt and call on a student. They add something to the story, then you go on to the next prompt and the next student. The results are usually hilarious when it’s all put together. (If you’re feeling ambitious, you can type the story as the students fill in their part or you can ask another adult to join your class and do the typing for the group.)
Here are some story prompt ideas to get you started:
Once upon a time in . . .
There was a . . .
Who . . .
Every day . . .
This continued . . .
Until one day . . .
And then . . .
Because of that . . .
Until finally . . .
And from then on . . .
The moral of the story is . . .

12 – Use a class Jamboard for shared collaboration. You can choose a topic and let everyone illustrate their own thinking. (Examples: this weekend . . ., my favorite book. . ., my favorite movie. . ., I’m looking forward to . . ., any kind of prompt like that.)

Another idea is to use it to have a “silent conversation.” This is a good strategy to use when everyone has read an article or part of a story. Instead of talking about their thinking, they can jot words or phrases or they can illustrate something they are thinking about what they read. It helps get them started more quickly if you give them a time limit!

13 – Use breakout rooms in Google Meet or Zoom. Give students a thinking/discussion prompt, appoint a leader to get the conversation started, and send them to separate rooms. A time limit helps them get going quickly on this activity as well!

14 – As a fun warmup, play “grab and share.” Have students grab something that is within arm’s reach, share it with the group, and tell why it’s significant for them. You could get more creative with this and tell them to grab something that is a certain color or made of a certain material or has a certain purpose, etc.

15 – Consider taking one day a week (maybe a Fun Friday?) to let kids dress a certain way or bring a certain object with them to class. Here are some ideas:
pajama day
hat day
superhero day
wear your favorite sports team colors day
bring a pet to class
crazy hair day
funny shirt day
dessert/snack day
bring a stuffed animal day
funny socks day
share something you made day
bring your favorite snack day
wear your favorite color day

The sky is the limit with the ideas! Ask your students for some of their ideas too.

16 – Do everything you can to create as many collaborative opportunities as possible.

Here are some ideas:

*post a question in Google Classroom for students to respond to (this helps everyone get to know each other)

*or use a Padlet wall for those daily questions

*use FlipGrid for students to make brief videos explaining how they solved a math problem or recommending/telling about a book they are reading or sharing some items that tell more about themselves

*use Google docs and presentations as assignments and allow students to collaborate on their work

*post an informational article or video for everyone and allow students to make comments about what they found surprising or interesting or was new learning for them.

Building a classroom community is critical to student learning and social-emotional wellness. With all the changes happening in our classrooms and the world, we need to build a community now more than ever.

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