Our Class is a Family Activity : Class Family Album

Want a meaningful extension activity to go along with the book Our Class is a Family? This book companion (created by the author, Shannon Olsen) will help build classroom community, foster reading and writing skills, and is ideal for back to school time.

It can also continue to be used throughout the entire school year!

After reading aloud the story, have a discussion about what it means to be a class family. Tell students that just like many families at home have albums, their class is going to have their very own special album too!

Please note, this is intended to be one collective album for the whole class to share in the classroom (not one where each student creates their own entire book... although you could certainly do it that way if you choose)!

Once pages have been completed, the album can be bound (stapled, hole punched and fastened together with yarn, book binding machine, etc.). Put the album in your classroom library as a choice for students to read during independent reading time. New pages can also be added to the book throughout the school year.

The album includes a printable (PDF) and digital (Google Slides) version of the following:

-Cover

Options in color and black & white

-Class Information Sheet

Says "Each class has a story to tell, and this is ours"

Contains prompts for students to share info/details about your class

-Individual student pages

Each child has their own page in the album that includes their picture and their
responses to writing prompts)

See preview for writing prompts

-Class Family Promise page

This can be used to write or type a class mission statement that your class creates
together

-Memory pages

Pages that can be added to your album throughout the school year

Utilize these pages for a writing center (use real photographs or have students
illustrate their own picture, and have them write a caption for the picture).

Memory Pages included:

• Class Photos
• Class Memories
• Seasonal Pages to capture your class' memories during special times of year: Fall Fun, Holiday Happenings, Winter Wows, Spring Snapshots
• Academic-themed pages for students to document what your class is currently doing or learning about in various school subject areas: "We are a Class Family of ______." Categories include: Scholars, Readers, Writers, Mathematicians, Scientists, Artists, Athletes, Musicians

-A Google Slides version for Canadian teachers that includes all of the above, but for the fill-in-the-blank sections, contains the word "province" instead of "state" and the "favourite" spelling instead of "favorite."

Pages with primary dotted writing lines, regular writing lines, and text boxes for typing are provided to meet the needs of your students.

Here's what teachers are saying about this book companion:

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ "This went wonderfully with the book. The nice thing about it is you can continue to use this resource throughout the year!"

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ "The class book has been a valuable piece of our classroom library and is constantly in kids' book bins for their independent reading."

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ "Excellent resource to go along with this book. My students really got to know each other by reading the pages of their classmates."

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ "My students and I used this activity as part of our first week of school. It was great way to get to know each other and start building a classroom family. We created a class book with their responses and this book is now a classroom library favorite for all."

You might also like this discounted GROWING BUNDLE of extension activities for all 4 books by Shannon Olsen, which includes these resources and more:

Our Class is a Family Class Family Album

Our Class is a Family bookmarks

Our Class is a Family Memory Book for the End of the Year

Our School is a Family Book Companion

A Letter From Your Teacher: On the First Day of School Book Companion

A Letter From Your Teacher: On the Last Day of School Book Companion

Or this MEGA Growing Bundle, which includes all of the above, plus a whole school year's worth of Our Class is a Family themed Morning Meetings for weekly class community building.

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