BubbleUp Classroom
  • HOME
  • ABOUT
    • Presentations >
      • Empower17
      • Thesis ALIVE!
  • READ
    • What's the Scoop? >
      • Landmark Supreme Court Cases
    • Reading an Artifact
    • Reading an Image
    • Emoji Notes
    • Sketchnotes
    • Sharing Books with Kids
  • WRITE
    • Thesis & Essay Writing >
      • Thesis Writing Workshop
      • Fairy Tale Grab Bags
      • Essay Roadmap
      • Essay Outline Generator
      • Other Thesis Ideas
    • What's the Scoop? >
      • Landmark Supreme Court Cases
    • Poetry Beyond English Class
  • CREATE
    • Think, Build, Tweet
    • Sketchnotes
    • Ordinary Objects
    • Think Outside the Box
    • Poetry Beyond English Class
  • WORK WITH US
    • Testimonials

Building Community: Mix Chalk with Gratitude

9/13/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture
Last year our school made a big effort to build community among the faculty, staff, students and families. We are a large middle school of over 1250 students, serving grades 7 and 8, with half of our student body changing every year, These are challenges to creating a sense of community, yes, but not insurmountable ones. In the end, we feel that we ended the year stronger and more united than we first walked in the door. 

Idea #1: Chalk Talk
Inspired by the school of one of our math teacher's nephews, we decided that on the first day of school, we would color up the side walks and entrance areas into school with chalk, welcoming our kids to the school. We wanted our students energized and excited about starting the year. We repeated "chalk talk" on the last day of school to send them off into summer, high school and beyond!
Picture
Idea #2: KC the Cougar
Buoyed by the success of "chalk talk," we started a campaign to convince our principal to purchase a mascot costume for Kilmer, Home of the Cougars. We envisioned the Cougar greeting students as they arrive at school some mornings, popping in to the cafeteria, and cheering at a basketball game in a neighborhood rivalry. After a focused public relations effort and research into costume prices, our principal agreed and the Cougar became a Kilmer Student for Life this winter.

KC the Mascot now has his own Twitter feed and we are planning to hold a school-wide bio writing contest. We all need to know KC's roots, right?

Idea #3: A School Hashtag for Social Media
As more teachers at our school jump on Twitter, we grabbed an idea we saw in use at other schools and began to encourage colleagues to tweet and using the the hashtag #kmspride. We also use the hashtag on our school and library Twitter accounts to showcase the learning going on at Kilmer.
Picture
Idea #4: #WHYITEACH
​We loved seeing all of the amazing #WHYITEACH tweets and photos popping up and decided to bring this to our school as well. We printed out colorful speech bubbles and put one in each teacher's mailbox with an explanatory note and got a great response. Then, we put it together in a display for our main hallway so that the whole school could see why we all do what we do. Want to do this at your school? It's a great reflective activity.  Teacher2Teacher has a great #WHYITEACH Storytelling Tookit.

Our next step is bring students into the equation, asking them to consider #WHYILEARN!
Idea #4: Gratitude Tree
Carrie, an awesome colleague, pulled together a Gratitude Tree during the month of November. She asked the staff to show gratitude to each other by writing small notes on paper leaves and sticking them on the branches of a tree on our main office window. We all walked by the tree, browsing and reflecting on the leaves, and periodically adding a leaf or two over the course of the month.

Idea #5: Coffee House
For years, our school has been hosting a monthly "Coffee House" on the last Friday of each month. This is a grass roots effort, with Fran, our chief organizer, pulling together coffee, tea, and basic supplies and different folks contributing food, potluck-style. It allows us to gather briefly in the morning, talk to colleagues we may not see too often, and  share a quick moment before the school day begins.

For Further Reading: School Community and Culture


Creating Culture in Schools (ASCD)
Building School Community, Culture, and Climate (Education World)
Useful Pinterest Boards
  • ​School Culture Ideas
  • School Culture and Climate
  • School Climate Ideas
  • School Culture

​How do you build community in your school? This is our 50th anniversary year and we have an in-house committee making exciting plans. We would love to hear other ideas that we can share and put into action at Kilmer!

Corey & Gretchen

You might also like:

  • Forget the New Year's Resolution. Try a Teaching Intention. (January 3, 2017)
  • BubbleUp Take 5: Brain Breaks, Pineapples, and more (October 4, 2016)
  • BubbleUp Take5: Ideas for Administrators (June 17, 2016)
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Who We Are

    Picture
    Corey Thornblad
    Teacher 
    Picture
    Picture
    Gretchen Hazlin
    ​Librarian
    Picture

    Picture

    Join our list!



    Archives

    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016

    Categories

    All
    Activism
    Adminstrators
    Assessments
    Back To School
    Balance
    Best Practices
    Books
    Brain Breaks
    BreakoutEDU
    #bubbleupthx
    Cell Phones
    Civic Engagenemt
    Classroom Design
    Classroom Management
    Coding
    Collaboration
    Community
    CREATE
    Critical Thinking
    Curation
    Design Thinking
    Discipline
    Discussion
    Distance Learning
    Edcamp
    Equity
    Field Trips
    Flexible Seating
    Flipped Classroom
    Genrefication
    Gifted
    Gifts
    Google
    Grading
    Gratitude
    Growth Mindset
    History
    Homework
    How-to
    Images
    Inquiry
    Interview
    Joy
    Kindness
    Leadership
    Librarians
    Library
    Literacy
    Makerspace
    Math
    Mental Health
    Middle School
    Mindfulness
    Movement
    New Librarians
    New Teachers
    Orientation
    Parenting
    Pbl
    Physical Space
    Pln
    Podcasts
    Poetry
    Primary Sources
    Problem Solving
    Professional Development
    Project Based Learning
    Questioning
    READ
    Reflection
    Relationships
    Research
    Rubrics
    Simulation
    Sketchnotes
    Social Emotional Health
    Social Emotional Learning
    Social Studies
    Stations
    Student Centered Learning
    Student-centered Learning
    Study Skills
    Summer
    Take10
    Take5
    Teacher Appreciation Week
    Technology
    Teens
    Testing
    Twitter
    WRITE

    RSS Feed


Proudly powered by Weebly
  • HOME
  • ABOUT
    • Presentations >
      • Empower17
      • Thesis ALIVE!
  • READ
    • What's the Scoop? >
      • Landmark Supreme Court Cases
    • Reading an Artifact
    • Reading an Image
    • Emoji Notes
    • Sketchnotes
    • Sharing Books with Kids
  • WRITE
    • Thesis & Essay Writing >
      • Thesis Writing Workshop
      • Fairy Tale Grab Bags
      • Essay Roadmap
      • Essay Outline Generator
      • Other Thesis Ideas
    • What's the Scoop? >
      • Landmark Supreme Court Cases
    • Poetry Beyond English Class
  • CREATE
    • Think, Build, Tweet
    • Sketchnotes
    • Ordinary Objects
    • Think Outside the Box
    • Poetry Beyond English Class
  • WORK WITH US
    • Testimonials