
You are a teacher who wants to make kids feel like they are a champion.
You have a genuine calling to love kids and help them understand the importance of acceptance, loving each other, and treating their classmates like a family. Regardless of their differences.
Maybe you were the kid in school who was bullied. Maybe you were the kid who didn’t have many friends or sat at the lunch table by yourself.
Or maybe you had a teacher in your school-age years who didn’t care about you or your classmates, so you are on a mission to flip the script and use that fire inside of you to do everything in your power to change that for your own students.
As you know, the kids on your roster this year come from all different backgrounds, and its your desire to explore the differences among your class and celebrate them!
I have the perfect activity for you! I've created this first day of school writing craftivities for Kindergarten, First, Second, and Third Grade students to pair with any of your back to school read aloud favorites! I have broken it down for you in steps so that you can see which activities to do in which order for you and your students to get the most out of it. Keep reading below to see this resource up close and personal.
Click here to grab this resource!
Step 1: Grab your Favorite Back to School Read Aloud
To get your students ready to talk about classroom community, grab any of your favorite back to school read alouds. This will give your students good examples to refer back to when you are creating your anchor chart as a class. There are TONS of options to choose from! You can make just about any classroom community book work.
Step 2: Choose a Classroom Community Anchor Chart Template

There is something so magical about watching the wheels turn inside your students’ brains. Especially when it comes to setting the tone for not just your classroom community, but for important life skills like showing respect, examples of showing/not showing respect, accepting others despite differences, and celebrating individuality! The ideas that come out of their mouth are a masterpiece that is a privilege to hear.
After reading the story of your choice, you can create discussion with your students using one of these two classroom community anchor chart templates. This is a great way to talk about the WHY. Why is everyone welcome? What does that look like? How do we treat our friends who may be different from us? Why am I special? Why do I belong? You can
Step 3: Choose one (or more!) of the following activities as an independent activity.
1. Self Portrait Craft paired with writing paper or a flip book.



There is truly nothing that gets a kid excited about doing an assignment than to add a craft to it. Especially when they get to create a craft of themselves! Simply print out the self-portrait craft template on cardstock. Have your students draw hair on their self portrait head before they cut it out. They will color the rest of the template, and cut/glue it together. Then, choose a writing paper or a flip book page for your students to complete to attach their craft to. There are five prompt options each:
Our Class is a Family Because…
Everyone is Welcome Because…
I Belong in this Class Because…
_____ Belongs in this Class Because…
What I will do to Make This Class a Family is…
These give you options. It asks students to reflect on why their classmates are special as a whole, why they are special as an individual, and why specific classmates are a special part of their class.
2. Printable Bulletin Board Puzzle Pieces Template

If you’re looking for a no-prep, simple back to school craft, then this puzzle piece might just be the perfect “fit” for you! For a more visual example of fitting together as a class, you could demonstrate classroom community with puzzle pieces.This puzzle piece has two prompts:
1. I belong because
2. _____ belongs because.
This will work best if your print it on cardstock. Your students can complete this about themselves or about another friend! They will complete the sentence and draw an illustration to go with it. You can then put the pieces together to display it on your bulletin board as one big, beautiful, completed puzzle!
3. Two Showing Respect Worksheet Options

These “Showing Respect” Worksheets are a great grab-and-go activity to do with your students to follow up with your anchor chart discussion. There are two options: one with lines for your advanced writers, and one with boxes where you can write a word or phrase at the bottom for your students who may need some extra support. This is a great way for your students to think about and express what it looks like to treat everybody with respect.
These could also act as a think sheet for a student who may need to do some reflecting on their behaviors. They could fill it out and reflect on their own behavior, or you could refer back to it from your previous discussion. This will show that you are holding all students to the same standard as a unified front.
I hope that you and your students will have fun with this activity building classroom community together. If you would like to see this resource in full, you can watch the video below. Have a great year!!
Click here to grab this resource in my store.
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