magical mystery relationship-building tour

For far too many years I started the first day of the school year reading through the dreaded syllabus and going over classroom rules and procedures. Students would sit politely, but you could almost see their eyes glaze over and all color drain from their face as they feared the worst. Was all days in Mrs. Richmond's class going to be this boring?

I finally wised up and ditched the syllabus on the first day. Instead, I created an engaging and exciting first day activity called Favorite Things, and became intentional about getting to know my student's names and passions the first few weeks of class. I can't emphasize enough what a difference it made on our classroom culture when I made this shift. Students began to feel psychologically safe in my classroom as they got to know me and their peers. It may seem like a big investment at first when there is so much curriculum and content to cover. However, I will tell you from my own experience that when you take the time in the first weeks to prioritize relationships, it will pay dividends for learning in the long run. When students know they are seen and heard, trust you and their peers, and feel safe in their learning environment, they thrive. Nothing is as important in the first few weeks of school than building relationships with your students. 
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A strategy that worked beautifully for building relationships and a positive, trusting classroom culture was developing an introduction unit that covered the important procedures and basic skills framed with team challenges and mystery badges. For those of you who have read Make Learning Magical, you are going to recognize this as the MasterChef Bootcamp. This is similar, but I've iterated it so that it could be used in any class or grade level. You can use this idea in elementary, middle, or high school and in any content area. Use this strategy as a launching point to creating your own rendition of the magical mystery tour with your students so you can create a classroom this year that is bursting with magical learning!

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Magical Mystery Relationship-Building Tour

Directions:
Print the Magical Mystery Badges on card stock as follows:

• 4 sheets of 100 point badges
• 3 sheets of 150 point badges
• 2 sheet of 250 point badges
• 1 sheet of 300 point badges

1. Cut badges along lines and place a silver scratch off sticker over each number. 
2. Mix them up and place in a container or drawstring bag.
3. The first 2 weeks of class, create an opportunity each day for a team building challenge. It can be a challenge related to learning classroom procedures and routines, getting to know students names and passions, or your content. Keep the challenges fun and light-hearted. Some days it can be a short 10-15 minute activity, and other days a longer one. Mix it up!
4. Mixing teams each day helps build rapport and classroom culture. Find creative ways to randomly group students to add variety.
5. Each member of the winning team for each challenge gets to draw Magical Mystery Badges from the container or bag. 
6. But....wait! They can’t scratch them off just yet! They must hold on to them until the final day of the Magical Mystery Classroom Tour!
7. To end the tour, have Magical Mystery Tour by The Beatles playing as students come in to class. As they enter, hand them a penny for scratching and have them scratch off all their stickers. 
8. Students with the most points unlock something of your choosing! It could be choice for an upcoming assignment, it may be an incentive that would be desirable for your age of student and classroom, or it could be something tangible!!

The best part is that everyone wins because they are now developing relationships with others in the class and you are getting to know them too! It's amazing how powerful a little mystery and magic in learning can be!! Share your team building activities and renditions of this activity on #MLmagical! I would love to see your classroom magic and ideas!