BE! Words

Have you seen the super cute "BE" bulletin board? I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it, printed all the words, cut them out, and laminated them. And then I thought, "now what?" I am a strong believer that the walls of my classroom should be student created. So to me, it seemed silly that I would just hang up these BE Words without a purpose.

At the beginning of the school year, we use one word a day, sometimes multiple days, and sometimes for the entire week. I post the word up on the board for as long as we feel necessary. For the time that the word is posted on the board, we focus on what it means, read books that share the same message, and write about how we display the trait. It becomes a focus in our classroom.

For example, one of the words in our set is "a hard-worker". When this word is posted up on the board, we share during morning meeting what is means to be a hard-worker. During a different time in our day, my students and I will share a way that we will be a hard-worker this year. In the past, we have read the book The Most Magnificent Thing (we also use the same books for other words) and discuss how the character displays the trait of being a hard-worker. Lastly, my students and I will write and draw about someone we know who is a hard-worker and/or about how we will be a hard-worker. They will share their writing and picture with a partner. After we feel that we all know the word and its meaning, one of my students will post it up on the wall. 

I have found that when we focus on these words and traits, take time to talk about them, and involve students in the creating of the classroom culture, they are more likely to refer to those words and act on them. 

What do you and your students do to create a positive classroom community?