Friends and Family Board
(The Power of Unity & Skill of Encouragement)
This is one of the easiest, yet most important structures to implement! Somewhere in your classroom post a bulletin board where each child's family photo can be displayed. This serves as a self-regulatory tool, as well as builds that sense of belonging and family value. Your classroom becomes "Mrs. ____'s 3rd grade family" instead of classroom. There is a sense of safety, belonging, value, and importance for EVERY child. You can also give each child a page to create about their family and have them bring in another photo for the Friends and Family book and bind all the pages together. Especially smaller children, or children in unstable home situations (divorce, etc...) can visit the friends and family board or the class book during the day when they are missing their mom, etc... to help them achieve a sense of safety. Becky Bailey makes reference in one of her books that one of the first things we do as teachers is bring in a family photo and display it on our desk. Why not let our children do the same thing? This really makes a connection from home to school for the kids. This section in the Creating the School Family Book has some great ideas!