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Students need to feel comfortable, safe, and accepted in their class to look forward to school every day. They’ll stay engaged in their learning, be more open and flexible, and get along better with their peers and their teachers. That’s a win for everyone!

Start building community in the classroom with these strategies and ideas for every grade level. We’ve also included low-prep and no-prep resources you can use to foster a sense of community for every student in your class from day one.

Building Classroom Community in Elementary School

A successful elementary year begins with a strong classroom community. After you’ve set up your bulletin boards and gone through your class rules, use these ideas for creating community in the classroom to make every student feel included and accepted.

Host morning meetings to get on the same page

Weekly meetings are a great way to get students involved with the way their class runs. In the first week of school, ask the class what they’d like to discuss in morning meetings, and have them co-create the agenda to feel a sense of ownership. Then, set aside at least ten minutes at the beginning of each class to go over the daily schedule and expectations, and answer any questions students may have.

Morning Meeting Team Building Activities | Activities, Google Slides & Community
By The Core Coaches
Grades: PreK-6th
Subjects: Character Education, Classroom Community

A series of classroom slides and printable cards is a great place to start your morning meeting routine. With interactive activities and conversation prompts, this low-prep resource is just what you need to get your elementary students talking (and moving!) right when the bell rings.

Create opportunities for team-building activities

Bring your class together with fun projects that include team-building activities for kids! With table groups or clusters of students, set up ways for them to work together to build something or meet challenges with classroom materials. Consider mixing up friend groups and skill levels, so get to know each other in a new way.

Cup Stacking Challenges | Team Building & Community Building Activity
By The Collaborative Class
Grades: 3rd-6th
Subjects: Character Education, Classroom Community

Projectable and printable slides prompt students to work together to stack their eight cups in different ways, and then reflect on how the assignment went in their individual teams.

Assign classroom jobs that require collaboration

It’s one thing to have a light monitor, line leader, and homework collector in your classroom. It’s another thing to have a group of students working on each job! Create job teams, such as “Electronics Team” or “Leadership Team,” for students to delegate specific tasks to group members rather than doing a job alone.

Host a classroom escape room

Is it possible to build a classroom community when everyone is trying to escape? It is when you organize a collaborative escape room! Have everyone in your class work together to solve puzzles, work out word problems, and get to the solution before time runs out (or the bell rings).

Classroom Community Team Building Activity | Free Escape Room Game
By Performing in Education
Grades: 3rd-6th
Subject: Classroom Community

A 30-minute emoji-themed escape room activity can help elementary students bond and work together as a team. All you need are the materials in this resource, three large manila folders, one letter envelope, and scissors for students to use.

Creating Community in the Middle School Classroom

A healthy classroom community helps students want to attend school, making it a vital tool against chronic absenteeism. Discover how to build classroom community in middle school, so it’s a place where preteens feel welcome and safe amidst a busy schedule.

Get them moving with station activities

You may have spent a good amount of time on your classroom seating arrangements, but that doesn’t mean students should stay at their desks all period! Use stations to get middle schoolers moving, working together, and creating collaborative projects to make your classroom feel more like home.

Back to School Stations: Community Building Activities | TPT
By Reading and Writing Haven
Grades: 6th-9th
Subjects: Classroom Community, Language Arts

Set up back-to-school stations for students to cover important class skills and get to know each other all at once. With student and teacher directions, station prompts and descriptions, printable labels and response pages, and student examples for each station, this versatile resource is a creative first-week activity for middle schoolers.

Celebrate student identity and individuality

When students know more about their peers, they’re more likely to feel like part of the community. Help blossoming friendships along when you let class members share more about themselves with individual projects and presentations.

Celebrate Student Identity Project Community Building Class
By EdCoach Network with Karen Au
Grades: 6th-9th
Subject: Classroom Community, Language Arts

Encourage students to share more about themselves with an assignment that’s all about them! This thorough ELA resource includes graphic organizers, student templates, recording sheets, and assessment rubrics in printable and digital formats, allowing students to share what they care most about with their peers.

Help students give each other shout-outs and compliments

With a little modeling and structure, middle school students can be quite kind and compassionate toward each other. Build a sense of community in your middle school class with a shout-out system, which allows students to give compliments to peers, call out acts of kindness, and express their appreciation.

Compliment Cards – For Building Class Community
By EnchantEd Solutions
Grades: 5th-8th
Subject: Classroom Community

Everyone loves a compliment every now and then! Use a set of compliment cards for students to positively call each other out, complete with sentence frames for students to complete as they compliment the members of their class. 

Encourage joining (and attending) extracurricular activities

Most community building happens outside of the classroom, when students have the opportunity to socialize with others who share common interests. Encourage your students to choose an extracurricular activity that sparks their interest and allows them to form relationships. You can also make a list of upcoming extracurricular events for students to attend and support their peers!

Set up social-emotional routines 

Finding ways to make students feel comfortable and safe expressing themselves in your classroom goes a long way toward building community in the classroom. Encourage students to bring their authentic selves to the classroom with activities focused on social-emotional fundamentals, such as self-reflection journaling, introducing students to school support staff, and a conflict resolution system that lets everyone feel heard.

By the time students reach high school, having a solid friend group at school is an important part of their day. Embrace every high schooler into a supportive class community with these strategies and ideas that work in every subject area and classroom setting.

Host speed discussions for quick conversations

Shake up your regular reading lessons with speed discussions! Based on the speed dating format that rotates pairs every few minutes, this format encourages students to speak to as many people as possible. They can practice discussion skills, make new friends, and enjoy the comfort of a class community where there are no strangers.

Independent Reading Speed Discussion – Engaging Activity to Build Community
By Write on with Miss G
Grades: 8th-12th
Subject: English Language Arts, Literature, Reading

Cover important literary elements, such as setting, characterization, and point of view, with a speed discussion resource for ELA. Detailed teacher instructions, editable question cards, and a student exit ticket for post-lesson reflection make this no-prep resource a helpful part of your ELA and classroom community-building process.

Personalize the classroom to reflect your students

You may have 150 students, but you can make your classroom feel like it belongs to each one! Decorate your high school classroom and door with kids’ work, photos, names, and other items that make your room feel like it’s theirs. If you need more space, consider stretching out into the hallway to greet high schoolers before they walk in.

Back to School Class Gram Bulletin Board: Classroom Community, Door Decor
By Teach Create Motivate
Grades: K-10th

Bring social media to your classroom in a positive way! A door decoration activity sets your class up as a “Classgram” account, letting their smiling faces welcome peers and visitors into the classroom both in the first week of school and all year.

Give students opportunities to collaborate

Assign projects to your students that give them the chance to work with their peers. As you find collaborative and team-building opportunities, create new pairs and teams on a rotating schedule, so students can get to know each other. Additionally, as part of an assignment, ask students to present their work to the class and give the students listening a chance to review each presentation.

Build community partnerships 

Get students involved in your local community by scheduling time for them to volunteer or hear from locals, and work together for a good cause. Career fairs, canned food drives, and volunteer opportunities are great ways for high schoolers to expand their sense of community outside your classroom walls and plan important community service projects around the neighborhood.

More Ways to Build Community in the Classroom

Every school day is an opportunity to build a classroom community that supports students from all walks of life. Use these suggestions for creating community in the classroom all year.

• Incorporate icebreakers for kids to get to know each other, both in the first week of school and throughout the year.
• Switch your seating chart around at every opportunity using different formats, such as tables, clusters, pairs, and rows.
• Find assignments that foster life skills for high school students, including communication and teamwork, for students to support one another.
• Get students involved in your classroom organization, including monitoring supply cabinets, making a list of class rules, and redecorating the classroom periodically.
• Have students create “Missed You” packets for absent students to pick up when they return to school.
• Celebrate all student birthdays in a way that makes them feel valued, such as class songs or traditions that don’t embarrass them (especially in middle and high school!).

Create a school space for students to feel safe

When students know their teachers and peers care about them, they’re more likely to make healthy choices and look forward to their school day. Use these activities and more classroom community resources for all ages to build a community in the classroom that’s truly inclusive, supportive, and fun for everyone (including the teacher!).