The process for developing a class vision does not take long and makes a HUGE impact during the first few weeks of school.  Essentially it works by the students thinking about their dream classroom, and creating a sentence or two to sum it up.

Because the students help in the creation of the class vision, they have ownership and already feel more connected to the classroom and to one another!

Your final class vision may look something like this:

The first step is having the students brainstorm what they want their classroom to look like, sound like, and feel like for the school year.  A simple way to organize this in using post it notes!  Maybe your students aren’t able to clearly express themselves through writing just yet.  If not, you can write their ideas for them on anchor charts.

Usually I have kids close their eyes to really visualize what they would want to see when they walked into their dream classroom.  Sometimes I have them chat with a neighbor first.  This may help them feel more comfortable sharing out.

After this no frills “brain dump,” we usually take a break.  It might be much later in the day or the following before we re-visit our charts. The next step in developing a class vision is to then tell the students that we are working to create a sentence or two that will sum all of this up.  Honestly this all depends on the group, but I often offer a scaffolding sentence starter for my first graders. I start with “We want to come to a _____ class,” and they help to fill it in.  Sometimes we will vote on the favorite adjective.

Then I might say, “What do we want to do here?  How do we want to feel while we are here?”  There is no exact science to this, and the more ownership you give the kids, the better! They are the ones who need to invest it in, understand it, and believe it!  You are just the facilitator.

I also love letting it become a shared writing activity.  Usually the following day, we reread our vision, and see if we want to make any tweaks to it.  I then give each child a word to copy from the board onto an index card (again, ownership is key!). After posting, they may sign it, draw their faces, or handprints; let them be creative to put their stamp on things!

One more thing-

we say our vision every single day.

Developing a class vision is the foundation of everything.  It is also an important part of cultivating our class community.  Furthermore, we re-visit our vision usually after Christmas Break and after Spring Break.  Usually I have a few new faces in the room, and I want everyone to feel like they were able to contribute!

The next step after creating a classroom vision is to have the students create classroom rules!