Building Community
For the past several years, our kindergarten classes have worked together, daily, from across the country to establish promises together. In this post we share our strategies, resources, and practices for building a strong, connected community that can learn together from anywhere.
Building Our Class Promise
Many classes begin the year by developing a mission statement to define the values and culture of the learning community. In our classrooms we build what we call “Our Kindergarten Promises” to establish routines and expectations, along with a common language and practices that reflect how we care for each other.
A new promise is explored each day through a clear set process. This process includes:
- Introduction of the promise focus concept through a Morning Message
- Reading of a high quality text that expands the concept of the promise while clearly representing diverse representations of people, cultures, and lifestyles
- Follow up activity that allows children to practice and develop understanding of the promise through hands-on exploration
- Reflection and connection through writing and illustrating using individual student copies of Our Class Promises book. Alternatively, a Promise Crown may be completed.
Click here to access Our Class Promises Slides
Build a Promise with a Collaborating Class
In Chapter 4 of our Innovating Play book we share more about Author’s Purpose through Collaboration. The Innovating Play book is available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.