Why The Children Should Have A Major Part In Creating The Physical Space Of The Classroom

The two main components of a classroom community are the physical environment and the emotional environment; both of which need to be built over the course of a school year. We will spend the first six weeks setting up rules, goals, and the physical classroom space through a variety of academic and social lessons. The rest of the year will focus on creating and maintaining the emotional environment so that our classroom fosters cooperation, kindness and friendship. These lessons will be taught through activities such as, read aloud, icebreakers, team builders and reflective writings.
I believe that the children should have a major part in creating the physical space of the classroom. Parts of the room will be set up in advance with several

Once we have posted all the students goals for the year, as a class we will then discuss how we can support one another in achieving those goals. For example “If Connor wants to become a better reader, we should be mindful of our noise level, so that Connor can do his best thinking.” We will revisit, update and change these goals periodically throughout the school year.
Starr, Jillian. "Two for Tuesday: Back-to-School." The Starr Spangled Planner. N.p., 8 July 2014. Web. 15 Feb. 2016.
Classroom Puzzle- This activity requires a blank pre-cut 28 piece puzzle. Each student receives one puzzle piece to decorate any way they like. When everyone is finished the entire class puts all the puzzle pieces together. As a class, we would then discuss how all the pieces are unique like the students but come together to form one large masterpiece, just like our classroom.
Jill, and Cathy. "The Crayon Box That Talked." The KinderCorner. N.p., 24 Feb. 2014. Web. 13 Feb. 2016.

"Teach Children About RESPECT FOR OTHERS - With A Fairy Tale Retold and Making Clay Gems." Blue Fish on a Bike. N.p., 25 May 2014. Web. 17 Feb. 2016.
Family Involvement
Every Friday the children will write in their family response journals. They will write one goal they accomplished this week, one thing they still need improvement on and one goal for the following week. I will also add any important highlights or accomplishments from the week. These journals will then go home to their parents who will be responsible for writing a response.
Morrison, Autumn. "Family Response Journals." The Primary Techie. N.p., 30 Aug. 2013. Web. 13 Feb. 2016.
At the beginning of the school year, I’ll assign each student a week. In that week, they will get to do the classroom job of their choice, create an all about me poster which they will share and then display and a family member of their choice can come in and have lunch with them that