CREATING GROUP UNITY

Adapted from the Australian Peace Pack: The suggestions below are for the very first class and also for subsequent classes. In a physical setting, make sure that the children know where their class will be held, where the washrooms are, the introduction of classmates and teachers, and if possible, name tags for the first few classes. In a virtual environment, explain how interactions will be handled, for example, raise your hand to ask a question.

WELCOME

At the start of the year, for the first class, welcome all the students, and introduce any new faces including teachers, assistants, guests, etc. For future classes, you will only need to introduce a new face if there is one. Also for subsequent classes, state the topic of the class but not in detail, just a headline like “today’s class is a continuation of last week’s class on progressive revelation”

EXPLAIN

For the first class of the year, play a getting-to-know game: find out 3 things about a person to the right of you or partner the children and they can find out 3 things about each other. You can also have a bingo-type getting-to-know-you where they have to find people in the room who own a cat, are wearing red, etc. (template and a sample bingo card to download)

MINGLE

Allow time to socialize, to play the getting to know you game for the first class. For ongoing classes, have a few minutes at the beginning of the class for the children to express themselves: You can ask questions each class such as “What were you grateful for this week?” or for the children to continue getting to know each other through a short activity.

REGROUP FOR CLASS

When the children are finished learning about each other (first Class) each student takes a turn introducing their partner. This format can be continued each week where they are in pairs and learn about the other person before class starts.

REFLECTION

Take a few minutes to reflect on the activity: What did you need to do to successfully introduce your partner? What did you learn from this activity?

Here is my version in a BINGO card format