As school begins, there’s one of the ABCDEs of Learner Needs that deserves a lot of attention right away: belonging. The research on why belonging matters keeps growing. If your school does any sort of social and emotional climate survey, there is likely a section devoted to belonging. Here in DC, schools use the Panorama survey, and as their site explains, when this need is met, classrooms experience fewer behavior problems, greater engagement, and stronger academic achievement.
But we’ve heard something really interesting from principals and teachers alike lately: students and teachers don’t always share an understanding of what belonging looks or feels like. This can lead to confusing scores on the surveys, but more importantly, you have to wonder what it translates into in terms of student experiences.
Talking about belonging at the start of the school year is a good way to give students agency around the term and to give their teachers insight into what it means for them.
You could start with the dictionary definition and talk with students about when that definition has felt true in their lives.
Belong (v) – to be in the correct or natural place, or to feel a safe connection as a member of a group (Merriam-Webster)
Or you could start without a definition and see what arises from a classroom discussion.
- What does the word belong mean to you?
- When something belongs, how do you know?
- When or where have you felt like you belong?
- What can others do to make you feel like you belong?
- Describe a time when you helped someone else feel like they belonged.
- What do you need from me, your teacher, in order to feel like you belong?
- What do you need from your peers to make our classroom a place where everyone belongs?
2026 ABCDE Resource of the Week
Belonging Reflection Sheet and Community Builder
This reflection sheet and community-building activity can help your students think about what belonging means to them and start building it with their peers. What looks like a simple getting-to-know-you exercise is actually a way to start fostering meaningful connections around shared interests and experiences.
Hooray For Monday is an award-winning weekly publication of Center for Inspired Teaching, a social change nonprofit organization that champions the power of curiosity and is dedicated to transforming the school experience from compliance-based to engagement-based. Inspired Teaching provides transformative, improvisation-based professional learning for teachers that is 100% engaging – intellectually, emotionally, and physically.
