Building relationships with students from day one is a crucial strategy for setting up your school year for success. The first few days of school can be overwhelming, scary, anxiety ridden for both students and teachers. But this anxiety can last weeks if relationships aren’t cemented between teachers and students and students and students from the get go.
Building relationships with students helps to drive down challenging behaviors, enhances social emotional learning as well as more risk taking in academic learning. Relationships help students to feel safe and cared for which in turn will make them want to come to school and take care of their classmates and classroom.
Let’s talk about 5 easy ways to build relationships with students in the first few weeks.
#1 Greet Students Daily
This isn’t just a quick hello to acknowledge them. You want to GREET them. Get down on their level if needed, look at them, make eye contact if that is comfortable, and say, “Goodmorning James!” with a smile and joy.
Many teachers like to do the “choose a greeting” – I do this – hi five, thumbs up, wave, elbow, dance, whatever! My kids like the peace sign and thumbs up.
#2 Coloring Name Tags
A great first day activity can be coloring everything that has the child’s name on it. Desk labels, bun labels, cubby labels, name tags. Anything that labels the child’s belongings, should be created by or decorated by the child. This way they are putting their touch on the classroom from day 1.
#3 Get to Know Your Students
Getting to know you activities are usually a given on the first days. These are great and totally necessary. A more intimate way to get to know students that helps to build those relationships is to send a survey out ahead of time – I have one here in my TPT store. Take this information and expand on it. Walk up to a student and say, “I hear you have a brother…” and ask about something they like to do with that brother or if they share a room or how old they are (even if you know) anything! Take a minute and get to know the students so that the students know you care and WANT to know about them.
#4 Use and Teach Into Your Community Words
Whatever it is you use to communicate family and community, use those words from the start. Teach into the idea of family and community from the second they walk in the door. Creating this communal group space and togetherness can be a jumping off point for so many things like cleaning up, caring for the room, caring for one another during conflict. Someone won’t clean up? Tell them they are a part of the community and we all take care of our classroom. Making the roles and community clear from the get go will cement these ideas for later use. We want the students to build relationships with other students as well, not just us. However, strong attachment to an adult is what helps a child thrive and venture out.
#5 Do Group and Community Projects
One of my favorite first day activities is a large piece of paper on a table for all to color on. Then I hang that piece for a while in the beginning of the year. I also love to do a room decorating activity where children make paper towel tube ornaments to hang from a branch in the room so that they can have a hand in making the space beautiful. I sometimes do this for our first family visit – but those seem to be a thing of the past during COVID times.
Relationship building with students is something that needs to happen through out the school year but it is crucial in the beginning. If you are set up from the beginning you will have a successful year and will only deepen those relationships to meaningful levels.
