Do you rack your brain on how to build relationships with your students on the first day of school? Some activities like The Best Part of Me and Three Things I Want My Teacher to Know are great relationship-building activities to use in your classroom. However, continuing to find ways to make connections and build relationships with my students this back-to-school season, in January, and throughout the year are a top priority.
Relationship Building Activity
While reading the novel War with Grandpa, students described, explained, and drew a map of their bedroom as a pre-reading activity. I wanted to know whether they shared their room with anyone, what their room was made up of, what they liked and disliked about it. This activity was engaging and simple, which is perfect for the first days of school. Class time was given to complete it, and students were provided the template worksheet, markers, crayons, and colored pencils.
The benefit of using this lesson to get to know your students at the beginning of the year is because the information held in their drawings and their writing allowed me to gauge
- their levels of independence,
- living conditions, and
- provided an insight into their home life.
I now knew
- who still slept with their parents,
- who was living in a one-bedroom apartment as a family of five, or
- who had all the amenities that any 10-year-old kid could want.
Relationship-building activities allowed me to become more empathetic to the needs of my students, allowing me to do my job as a teacher a little bit better.
Back to School Activity to Build Relationships with Your Students:
Start the back-to-school season using an SEL activity that can build relationships with your students and foster a classroom community. Using this getting to know you activity will allow that that happen. Click to get a closer look.
Click through to find more Back-to-School activities and freebies to help build
relationships from the first day of school!
- How to Get to Know Your Students as Workers and Partners – Think Grow Giggle
- Learn Your Students’ Names on the First Day of School // Reading by Heart
- First Day of School Relationships // Mikey D Teach
- Get to Know Your Students with the 4 C’s of Engineering // Kerry Tracy