A Tour of Our Classroom

Empower students to use what they know to help other students be more confident in a new learning environment by creating a tour that maps out important classroom features and states rules and procedures for that area for new or next year's students.

Engage

Ask students to brainstorm and identify important features in your classroom, and then create a list of these important places where all students can see them.

Work together to create a map of the classroom by drawing the shape of your classroom on a blank page, then have students help identify the important places on the map.

Create

Assign, or have each student choose, a location they will describe and explain. Depending on the age/ability of your learners, have them start from a blank page or use the Classroom Tour template.

Students type or record a simple sentence naming the place with a brief description of its location and purpose in the room. Then, have them type or record a second sentence about the activity that is done in this location and/or the rules for this place.

Use the Project Wizard to print student work and create a class book. You can follow a similar process to create handbooks or posters for classroom procedures.

Share

If students create the tour as school begins, not only will they remember locations and rules, it's a built-in resource to share with new students who arrive after the year has begun. If you can print more than one copy, share it with families as they visit during back-to-school night.

If students create at the end of the school year, have them add narration to practice and apply fluency skills. Then, save it as a video to share with next year's class.

Resources

Cari Meister. Where is It?. ISBN: 1977131573

Pat Hutchins. Rosie’s Walk. ISBN: 0027458504

Scratch Garden - The Prepositions Song

Red Cat Reading - How to Make a Map

Standards

D2.Geo.1.K-2.
Construct maps, graphs, and other representations of familiar places.

D2.Geo.2.K-2.
Use maps, graphs, photographs, and other representations to describe places and the relationships and interactions that shape them.

D2.Civ.12.K-2.
Identify and explain how rules function in public (classroom and school) settings.

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.K.G.A.1
Describe objects in the environment using names of shapes, and describe the relative positions of these objects using terms such as above, below, beside, in front of, behind, and next to.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.K.2
Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to compose informative/explanatory texts in which they name what they are writing about and supply some information about the topic.