The First Feature Friday- Building a classroom Family

Awhile back, I wrote about a couple of directions that I take this blog. A friend suggested that I could start doing features to integrate some of my other educational-related musings, and I thought it was a brilliant idea. So, henceforth, I shall be posting an idea/ activity or activity that I would like to share or try in my own classroom on Fridays, and sharing Smartboard tips, tricks, and lessons on Saturdays.

For the First Feature Friday, I would like to share a beginning of the year activity that I want to use next year.
The goal is to promote and build a safe, family-like classroom environment, and help students understand how important every student is. The materials needed are a floor puzzle (teacher keeps one piece), the book The Crayon Box That Talked, and the song We Are a Family by Jack Hartmann (on the Learning to Love CD).

Read the book to children, discussing how the crayons act, and how they would feel. After the book is read, as a class, put together the floor puzzle. As students realize that their picture is not complete without the missing puzzle piece, discuss how the classroom family is not complete without every person. Listen to and learn Jack Hartmann's We are a Family.