Host a field day during a warm month in which 5th graders engage in enjoyable outdoor activities while strengthening their sense of community. Arrange outdoor games to be enacted on the school playground or soccer field, such as a potato sack race and water balloon toss. Encourage 5th graders to act as a team. Invite a rival school to attend or allow different grades to compete against one another.
Host a play that the 5th grade class performs. Allow students to select roles and give them a choice in the theme of the play. You can use educational material in the performance; for example, assign 5th graders to perform a play about the water cycle, with children acting as raindrops, evaporating water vapor and ice. Students will gain a sense of solidarity as they rehearse and will feel more like a community after they have created something together.
Take your class on a field trip to a site of educational or recreational interest in your area. For example, take 5th graders to visit a museum or a nature reserve. Bringing students on a field trip will alter standard classroom dynamics and may inspire new friendships as children leave their comfort zone and interact in a new environment. Going on a field trip together will give students an opportunity to engage with one another as friends rather than regulate their behavior as if they were in the classroom.
Assign 5th graders a class project. Explain to students that they must work together to complete the project successfully. For example, ask the class to create an artistic depiction of their community or school, working together to decorate a large sheet of butcher paper with drawings, paintings and glued-on three-dimensional objects. Creating a work of art that represents the experiences and interests the students share will illuminate similarities that may have previously gone unnoticed, helping to build community among diverse individuals.