Classroom Community and Safe Space

This lesson will establish clear guidelines for respectful communication and appropriate participation in the You Belong Here lessons. The visual gestures in this lesson will be crucial for helping students to remember the community agreements. If possible, it is encouraged to create these gestures together with the class as a way to encourage participation in the classroom community and create student “buy in” to the agreements. However, depending on the class level, the teacher may choose to pre-determine the gestures before the lesson rather than creating them together with the classroom.

Starting on Slide 4, students will begin to explore their Feelings Wheel Handouts. This activity is meant to give students not only familiarity with some of the feelings on the wheel, but also a few minutes to become more familiar with the Feelings Wheel concept: looking closer at the faces, placement of feelings, and organization of feelings. As you go through feelings, discuss with students the descriptions. It will also be important to check for understanding when sharing the descriptions that we’ve provided. You may need to add developmentally appropriate or more culturally relevant examples for your students. Students will use their Feelings Wheel Handouts throughout the unit. Either collect them at the end of the lesson or have students keep their handouts somewhere safe for future use.

On Slide 13, students will participate in a meditation. You can either have students find a comfortable place in the classroom or ask them to get comfortable in their seats, depending on your classroom limitations and preferences.

On Slide 15, you will share with the class how many people are a part of their school community. If you don’t already have an idea of how many students and teachers are at your school, prepare this number ahead of time. 

Please ensure to pre-check videos before class, as internet policies may vary among schools, to ensure accessibility.