Building Community with Buncee

"It's the little conversations that build the relationships and make an impact on each student." - Robert John Meehan​
We can transform our physical and virtual classrooms into active learning communities, where students get to know each other and work as a community to ensure everyone's success. The best communities allow students to contribute, collaborate, create, and get to know each other. Students need to build relationships with their peers in order to prevent issues with bullying and ensure the support of one another in succeeding in learning goals. Below is a presentation with ideas and templates you can copy from Buncee.
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Get-to-Know You
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For each of the following icebreakers, students first create a Buncee presentation, image or poster. Then students present their Buncee creations to peers in pairs or small groups so they get to know each other.
  • Vision Boards and the One Word Project- Students create a digital collage of their academic and personal goals this year. They include motivational quotes, people, music, and visuals. This post explains the activity.
    • Check out my students' vision boards here.  We tied this to the One Word project.
    • You can copy and edit this template and share it with students.
    • This is another template I created for you to copy and adapt.
  • A Window Into Me- Learners design a slide presentation displaying talents, hobbies, interests, traits, and favorites. Copy and adapt this Buncee template.
  • 321 Things to Know About Me- In this presentation learners share 3 facts about themselves (ex. talents, pets, siblings, etc.), 2 favorites, and a dream job. Copy and adapt this Buncee template.
  • Me By the Numbers- Learners share facts, such as their birthdates, height, shoe size, number of pets, number of siblings, number of teeth, and any other interesting numbers about them they care to share, such as a collection or high scores on a game. Learners can include graphs of some of these numbers. Copy and adapt this Buncee template.
  • Museum of Me- Introduce students to the Buncee Museum of Me template. Students will design a virtual museum with images of artifacts, which display information about them. Their virtual “me” museums have three rooms with exhibits, which include family, interests, and dreams/hopes for the future. Copy and adapt this Buncee template.
  • My Me Manifesto- Learners create a Buncee slide with statements that declare their philosophies, values, and beliefs about living a meaningful life and creating the world they envision. First, get learners to define what makes a meaningful, successful life. Then learners write down what values, beliefs and actions help them achieve this. Show them the Holstee Manifesto video and poster for inspiration. See this example of a teacher manifesto.
  • Acrostic Name poems- Using the Buncee letter stickers, students spell out their name on a slide. Students write a sentence or line describing themselves containing the word beginning with the letter. See this example.
  • All About Me Truths or Lies?- On a slide, students post 2 truths and one lie about them. Peers indicate the lie with a sticker. The next slide reveals the lie. Students can create several slides with the truths and lies for their peers to learn more about them. Copy and adapt this template.
  • Partner Interviews- Pair students and provide them a list of questions to choose from to interview their peers. They can record a video or audio and embed this in the Buncee slide that introduces the partner. See this example.
Vocabulary Building Activities
  • TPR Songs- Research shows that one of the best ways young children learn vocabulary is through Total Physical Response (TPR), which is combining language and physical movement. Create a Buncee with lyrics and music to popular children’s songs, such as “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes.” In the Buncee, embed a Youtube video showing the movements to make it easier for children to learn the song. Embed this Buncee into your class website or Wiki for parents to access and sing the songs at home with their children. See this example of “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes” embedded on my English Story Time Wiki. Copy and adapt this template.
  • Fingerplays and Chants- Children love playing with their fingers and making them into characters. Children not only build vocabulary with fingerplays but many teach young learners to count. In your Buncee include a video of the fingerplay movements. Use the stickers and clipart to display the chant’s context, scenery, and characters. Make it interactive with the vocabulary labeled to further promote literacy skills. Check out this Buncee of the “Itsy, Bitsy Spider” which you can copy and adapt.
  • Clapping Games- Each child grabs a partner. Show them the Buncee of the clapping chant lyrics along with the embedded video with the movement. You can find several examples to teach a wide range of vocabulary at Funclapping. See this copyable template I created to teach homophones with the clapping chant, “A Sailor Went to Sea.”
  • Digital Word Walls and Banks- It is super easy to create a Buncee with vocabulary words and clipart. You can also record the pronunciation and include that next to each word. See this example to copy and adapt.
  • Digital Alphabet Books- Children can create their own alphabet books with examples of each letter using stickers, clipart, or their own drawings. Children can record themselves sounding out the letters. See this copyable template to adapt, which has stickers for children to match to the letter.
  • Vocabulary Journals- Children can create multiple slides to illustrate the vocabulary words they learn each week. See this example to copy and adapt. Create themed vocabulary Buncees or get students to post photos or drawings of examples they come up with.
  • Student Dictionaries- Children learn vocabulary with picture dictionaries. Buncee is a great way for each of your students to make a visual and audio dictionary with their own drawings, images, or examples. The children add the vocabulary word, the definition, an audio recording of the pronunciation and a visual. See this template to copy and adapt.
  • Color and Shape Hunts- Your young learners will enjoy going on shape and color photo hunts. Your young learners learn how to spell and identify colors then take photos of objects around them representing these colors. See this template to copy and adapt.
  • Spelling Journals- Children can create Buncees learning how to pronounce and spell words with a particular sound. Students illustrate the words with clipart or their own drawings. See this example with the long vowel sound i.

Elementary Math Activities
  • Counting Games- Children will enjoy playing digital I Spy with this template to copy and adapt. Children begin by posting an image of themselves to represent the number one and understand they are unique! Use the template to also create number books similar to the alphabet book listed above.
  • Counting Books- Children will enjoy counting with animated lessons. After completing one of your lessons encourage them to make their own counting books with math activities for their peers. See this example to copy and adapt.
  • Measure Hunt- Get students to take measurements of things around them and jot down these measurements in a Buncee. Children can measure the height of their favorite toys, parents, siblings, or pets (length). They can measure the width and height of their books, desks, notebooks, or doors. See this example to copy and adapt.
  • Math Fingerplays and Games- In this copyable template, I have included counting chants and games, such as “One Potato, Two Potato.” Can you think of more to include?
  • Birthday Greetings- Part of literacy is surrounding children with numbers , words, and reading materials and showing how they are meaningful. Make numbers meaningful by sending students Buncee greetings for their birthdays. You can use any of these numerous templates to copy and adapt. You can include the name of the student, the age, and the image.
Teaching English Learners
  • Teachers can teach songs with the lyrics and music featured on a Buncee. See this example.
  • Young language learners can create an alphabet book or learn from an Alphabet book with Buncee stickers. See this example.
  • Teachers can create visual writing prompts. See this example.
  • Teachers can keep language learners on task by creating visual calendars. Click here for an example.
  • Students can create an about me Buncee where they add images, text, and slides to describe themselves. They can present these posters in class. See this example.
  • Students can create a timeline of any event in history. Each slide is the date with text, video, and audio to describe the event. See this example.
  • Students can create a slideshow presentation reporting their research about animals, nature, or any other topic. See this example.
  • Students can share the ingredients and instructions for creating a recipe. Their peers try to follow the instructions at home to make the recipe. See this example.
  • Students can create a digital scrapbook for a character from a book. The students can draw the character or add an image of the character and have various slides. Each slide represents a time within the character’s life. The slides contain images and diary entries of that moment in time. Students are basically visualizing the information they read about the character from a book. Students replicate a digital scrapbook similar to this example.
  • Students can create digital stories with their own drawings and writing. Each slide could also contain an audio recording of students narrating their stories to enhance their speaking skills. See this example.
  • Teachers can create Buncees of phonemes with examples and students have to record their audio sounding out the phoneme and example vocabulary. The teachers can add a Youtube video showing the mouth and tongue movement made when pronouncing that phoneme. See this example.
  • Students can create presentations about the country they come from to introduce others to their culture, customs, and traditions. See this example.
  • Students can create a digital nature book. Students walk outside with the teacher and take pictures of different leaves, rocks, or plants to upload to their Buncees. The students then use reverse Google image search and encyclopedias to identify the species and find some facts. Each slide should include the image, species name, and important facts.
  • Students create reading logs.  See this example.
  • Students can create a digital book identifying and classifying rocks. The students can take pictures of the rocks they’ve collected, record videos showing how they conducted the hardness tests to classify the rocks, and provide information on each slide of each rock identified.
  • Students can create a digital book identifying various bugs and insects. Each slide includes an image of the insect, the scientific name, facts, and can even have a labeling of the bug. Students can also include a video of the bug in its habitat.
  • Students can keep an observation log. Each day they add to the log what they observe from a habitat or experiment.
  • Students can create visual graphs to learn math. See this example.
  • Students can diagram cycles or processes. See this example.
  • Students can learn from peers worldwide and practice language learning with the Buncee Buddies global collaboration projects. See this example.
More Resources