Welcome Back It's all about Positive Feedback and Team Building 😊

 

Welcome Back

It's all about Positive Feedback and Team Building 😊

The start of a new school year is an exciting time filled with fresh beginnings and endless possibilities 🚀! As students return to the classroom, it's crucial to prioritize their social and emotional well-being in addition to academic achievement. Social Emotional Learning (SEL) plays a vital role in fostering healthy relationships, building resilience, and creating a positive learning environment. 🌱

One powerful tool for supporting SEL is through the use of positive feedback. 🤩 When students feel seen, valued, and appreciated, their confidence and motivation soar. ⬆️ By offering specific and genuine compliments, educators can help students develop a strong sense of self-worth. For example, instead of saying, "Good job," try "Your perseverance on that math problem was impressive!" or "Great work on tackling that together!"  This type of feedback acknowledges effort, highlights specific strengths, and encourages continued growth. 💪

Positive feedback also reinforces desired behaviors. When students are recognized for acts of kindness, cooperation, or problem-solving, they are more likely to repeat those actions. 👏 It's important to celebrate both academic and social successes. By creating a culture of positivity and encouragement, we empower students to thrive not only in the classroom but also in all aspects of their lives. 🌟

Let's make this school year a memorable one by prioritizing SEL and showering our students with positive feedback. Their success and well-being depend on it. ❤️

How are you incorporating SEL and positive feedback into your classroom or school community? 🤔

Team building in that first week of school 🚀 is so crucial. You want to be sure to familiarize your kids with routines and procedures. However, what is most important is building trust and community. Those kids will be with each other and you all year so that is sooo important. I hope these activities help you build that environment where your students feel loved, secure and supported. 💪

Need something ready to go?  

These activities have directions and a student sheet (unless that doesn't apply). 

The packet contains:

Find a friend who...

Who am I?

Word Wranglers

One Side of the Room

Hula Hoop Challenge

Line up!

You can also find me on these platforms:
  

Team Building Activities for Back to School

 Team Building Activities 

for Back to School

via GIPHY

It's been a long time since we've been back to school in person.  Those introverts of ours have become even more introverted during this time.  We need to do activities that help build community.  These are Back to School Team Building Activities to help you out!

Find a Friend Who...

In this activity, you have the kids fill out a 3 x 3 sheet.  They fill the boxes in with things like their favorite food, tv show, birth month etc.  Then you give the kids a set amount of time to walk around and add names to the boxes of kids who like the same things.  

They will find they actually have a lot in common with others. 

Word Wranglers

In this activity, students work in teams.  You give students  some random letters (and a few vowels) and see how many words they come up with.  The longer the word, the more points earned!

Bonus! 

(This one is not in my Back to School Team Building Set)

Comfortable or not?

Using a square of red construction paper, green construction paper and a tongue depressor, have the students make a paddle.  

Green on one side, red on the other and 

the tongue depressor works as the handle.  

Then you ask questions like:

• can you cook?
• can you ride a bike?
• do you read for fun?
• do you like speaking out loud?
• etc etc etc

It helps you get a sense of who the kids are and where they are coming from. You can even have the kids come up with questions. These paddles can also be used in the future for a bunch of different things that require a yes or no answer.

I hope you enjoyed these games. If you want the printables, just go to my store and get the packet.  

Makes it so much easier.  It's so important to build community from day 1!  Have a great school year!!!

 

You can find me on these platforms (as well as my blog!)
  

TPT sale: Growth mindset, Close Reading, Team Building and classroom decor sets on sale!!

It's time for the TeachersPayTeachers sale!

Here are some great products from my store!

Growth Mindset

Is your school doing  more and more with technology?  Here is a Google drive activity about growth mindset.  It had two quick activities and a report for the kids to do!  If not techy yet, I have other products for Growth mindset for you.

Close Reading Guides

Have you read Rain, Reign by Ann M. Martin?  It's an amazing book about Rose.
She was diagnosed with high functioning autism, which some call Asperger's Syndrome. She lives with her father and her dog, Rain. She loves homonyms, prime numbers and Rain.  It's a deeply moving book.  I also have guides for many more: The One and Only Ivan, Wonder, Fish in a Tree and many more.

Back to School Team Building Activities

Looking to build trust and community in your classroom?  I hope these activities help you build that environment where your students feel loved, secure and supported.

Classroom decor sets

Looking to decorate your room?   I always start with literature!  Here are four different sets: Wizard of Oz, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan and Mary Poppins. Choose the one that fits your personality and kids!

Remember to use the code OneDay for a bigger discount!

        

Kindness Counts - A Classroom Building Activity for All Grades

Just in time for Valentine's Day!

Anytime during the year is the perfect time for students to practice expressing their appreciation and gratitude for their fellow classmates and friends. I have had great success with this activity at a variety of grade levels from second grade to sixth grade. This class team building activity helps students appreciate each other more, gives them practice expressing themselves in writing, and it  boosts class morale.

             Have each student pick a piece of the lined paper included in this product. I have included a variety of different themes and designs as well as a blank one for your own ideas. Have students write their name (in rainbow colors for younger students) at the top of the page and decorate the page. Next, have a class discussion about the best ways of expressing your appreciation of people and classmates. Brainstorm with the class and give examples of appropriate compliments they can use when writing on their peers’ pages. See sample pages included. You can display the sample pages on the front board or around the classroom to help students with their statements. Each student places their page on top of their desk and rotates to the next desk in the row. Their task is to write one thoughtful statement, or compliment about that person in their best handwriting. Depending on the grade level, I have put out different colored thin markers or pens for students to use to add some color to their writing.Have students rotate until they have written on each students page in the class. If you have a large class, each student might need two pages of paper. Last, have the students return to their desks and read all the thoughtful statements and compliments written about them.