Empowering Student Growth: Creative Projects That Connect to School and Community

6 activities that will help create conversation and interactions that will build classroom culture and community in positive ways

The world of education has been learning a lot about the importance of prosocial skills and school climate. One of the best days to create buy-in for students' motivation and engagement is to develop and promote a positive, safe and close knit classroom community. These activities are simple ways to help create that community. These are low-prep and high pay off projects because the discussion and work going on in the midst of them will help solidify a strong culture for scholars in your classroom.

1. My School is like Home 

For this project I used our school colors to tie in another connection to our culture within our room but also within our school as a whole. Prepare for this project by grabbing your  MARK 5 Die Cutting Machine and the Cottage Die Cut. You will also need either cardstock or construction paper. Cut out enough cottages for each of your scholars. Hand them out to your students, have them open the door and windows and then glue the back of the house to attach it to the other piece of construction paper/cardstock. Make sure to clearly tell your students that they should not glue the window or door parts of paper because these will need to be opened for the end of the project. Once the cottage is glued you can have the students write, “My school is like a home because,” at the top of the page. Next, you can have them write different ways that school makes them feel- my example states things such as, it’s safe, it’s welcoming, it’s fun and it’s calm. Students can make these unique to their own experiences. Then have scholars share their final project with the class. This will promote honest and vulnerable conversation around how school makes each student feel.   

2. I See Myself Becoming

This next activity sparks creativity, curiosity and imagination. Scholars are able to think about different career paths they may want to pursue when they grow up. This is also an amazing opportunity to make connections between strengths and skill sets that different careers may require. This conversation would be great to have before students have the chance to make their own posters. For this project you will need your MARK 5 Die Cutting Machine as well as the Camera Die Cut. Cut out as many cameras as you feel like you would need for your class. For my own classroom I wanted to give students the chance to think of more than one possibility for their future job so I cut out 3 for each child. This will allow your scholars to think about their different strengths and interests as a way to see they have options for their future success in life. Use strong paper and fun colors to help kids get creative with this. Once these posters are made you can have scholars take turns sharing their selected jobs and why they feel like it would be a good option for them. These would be a great item to post in the classroom display or in the school hallway to allow others to see your classroom community and collaboration. 

3. Goals for Growth

One of the most beneficial things you can do for students is to help them learn that by investing in their education they are setting themselves up for great success in the future. Goal setting is one amazing way to accomplish this idea for students. Short term and long term goals both have value and having students think about and set both types of goals is important. I wanted to highlight a couple of different options that you could use to have students write these goals down once they have set them. For both of these examples you will need to use your MARK 5 Die Cutting Machine. You will need to cut out either the Cactuses #1 Die Cut Set or the Cactuses (3-D) Die Cut. Take time to cut out as many as you would like to use for this project. Have students set short term or long term goals around academics, behavior or even habits they want to work on. Some creative ways you can extend this would be to have students write a goal for times like a test, before the assessment have them write a goal and then set up the cactus at their desk to be a small source of inspiration as they focus on their test. 

4. Community Values

In my opinion this is one of the most vital activities to have with your students as you begin the work of creating a classroom culture that is centered around support, kindness and trustworthiness. In order to create these pencils you simply have to use your MARK 5 Die Cutting Machine and the Pencil #2 Die Cut. Make one for each of your scholars, use an array of colors so students can pick one that is one of their favorite colors. In order to have the conversation around selecting a value, you will need to talk about many character traits and what they mean. Having your scholars think about the statement of “I will be…” or “I need my classroom to be…” will help them understand that they are selecting something that is actionable. Take time for students to really think about what character trait they will display or what they need to have displayed to help them feel like school is a safe place for them. Each scholar should write their value on a pencil and this can be displayed in the room for the entirety of the year. This is something you can connect back to at any point in the year to help strengthen your bond as a classroom. 

5. I will Succeed By

Envisioning success is a great tool to help students invest in their current work as scholars. One big event we often point to is high school graduation. When kids see themselves graduating and meeting that goal it helps them stay in school, focus on growing their learning and believe in themselves and their futures. This project helps them to see different ways they can become successful and how making choices today can help them meet their long term goals. This is also a fantastic way to have children think about how there are many different ways to help them reach graduation. It is not only about getting good grades and staying out of trouble. Things like asking questions, and owning our own mistakes helps us build skills that will get us to the finish line to meet our goals. To make these success posters you will need to use strong paper of your choosing as the background. Then using your MARK 5 Die Cutting Machine you will need to cut out several Graduate Cap #1 Die Cut pieces for each scholar. Instruct students to write down different things they can do to help them succeed in life and reach their goals. This may need some brainstorming in a whole group setting to help students come up with some ideas. Once they have their ideas written down they can glue them to the page and decorate it in any way they desire. The kids can take these home and hang them in their rooms or this is something you can keep posted in your room and send it with them at the end of the school year. 

6. I Dream of my Future

This last project is another example of how you can get students thinking about their future. This is a fun way to think about how when we feel safe, when we set and meet our goals, when we plan for a future of success by working hard as students today then our future can be filled with many fun and exciting things. To make these get out your  MARK 5 Die Cutting Machine and you will then cut out a bunch of the suitcases from the World Travel Die Cut Set. You will likely need several for each of your scholars. Allow your students to write down all the different hopes and dreams they have for when they grow up and work hard to earn success. Display these on a bulletin board in your room as a reminder that their hard work every day has both a current benefit and a future purpose as well.

All of these activities are little ways to get the discussion going around building community and culture that will unify your scholars. This community is a support system, a safe space to explore, make mistakes and grow together in a way that will set up your scholars for a connection and belief in school that will continue to inspire them as they move into their future.  

Written by Amy Pinegar.