Author: Shannon Olsen
Illustrator: Sandie Sonke
Main themes: classroom community, belonging, kindness, support, making connections
Best age range: 5–8
Table of Contents
Our Class is a Family Summary
Our Class is a Family by Shannon Olsen is written as a direct message to students about what it can feel like to belong in a classroom. The book shows the classroom as a place where students are welcomed, supported, allowed to make mistakes, and encouraged to learn together.
Students can look at the children’s faces, body language, and actions to talk about what classroom community looks like in real life. This makes the book a good fit for teaching students to make connections between the story and the choices they can make in their own classroom.
Why Use Our Class is a Family to Build Classroom Community?
When I’d use Our Class is a Family as a read-aloud, I’d pause on the pages where the illustrations show students helping, listening, or making room for someone else.
I’d ask, “What’s happening here?” and “What are the students doing for each other?” Students need to look at the faces, body language, and small actions in the pictures.
I’d avoid asking only, “How are we a family?” because that can stay too vague. A stronger question is, “What action on this page could we try in our classroom?” That moves students toward things they can do, like inviting someone to join, helping a classmate find something, listening during partner talk, or giving someone another try after a mistake.
This book works well for classroom community because the message is simple, but the illustrations give students something concrete to notice.
Students can connect the book to:
- what they want the classroom to feel like
- how classmates can help someone feel included
- what it looks like to make mistakes and keep going
- how small actions, like listening, helping, and inviting, build classroom community
A simple teaching path is: notice → connect → name the action → build the classroom agreement
What This Looks Like During a Read-Aloud
Early in the book, pause when the text or illustration shows students being welcomed or supported.
I’d ask: “What do you notice about this classroom?”
Students might say:
- “They are helping each other.”
- “Everyone looks included.”
- “They are learning together.”
Then I’d ask: “What action shows that?”
Students might say:
- “They are sitting together.”
- “They are smiling.”
- “Nobody is being left out.”
A follow-up question could be: “How could that look in our classroom?” to help your students move from a general idea to a classroom connection. You want answers that sound like something they can do:
- “Ask someone to join in.”
- “Help someone find something.”
- “Listen when someone is talking.”
- “Say it is okay if someone makes a mistake.”
- “Use kind words if someone feels nervous.”
Key Teaching Themes
Classroom Community: The book shows classroom community as something students build through everyday choices. Students can look for actions in the illustrations, such as sharing space, working together, and noticing when someone needs support.
Belonging: Belonging is shown as more than being in the room. Students can talk about what helps someone feel part of the group and what classmates can do when someone feels unsure or new.
Mistakes and Support: The book gives you a gentle way to talk about mistakes during the first week of school. Students can connect the story to moments like getting an answer wrong, needing help, or trying again after something feels tricky.
Making Connections: Students can connect the book to their own classroom routines and choices. Keep the focus on action-based connections, such as “This reminds me that I can invite someone to join,” rather than surface-level connections like “I have a backpack too.”
Read-Aloud Questions for Our Class is a Family
Before Reading
- What do you think makes a classroom feel welcoming?
- What does it mean to be part of a classroom community?
- Look at the cover. What do you notice about the students?
During Reading
- What does this page show about the classroom?
- What are the students doing that helps others feel included?
- What clue in the illustration shows people feel safe or supported?
- How does this part connect to our classroom?
- What action could we try in our class?
- What does the book say about making mistakes?
- How are the students helping one another?
- What kind of classroom is the author describing?
After Reading
- What is one connection you made to our classroom?
- What action from the book could help our class community?
- What does it mean to help someone feel like they belong?
- How can classmates support each other when something feels new or tricky?
- Which page showed the strongest example of classroom community?
- What is one thing you can do to make our classroom feel welcoming?
Simple Activity After Reading
Our Classroom Connection Chart
After reading, create a simple class chart with three columns:
- What we noticed in the book
- What it made us think about
- What this could look like in our classroom
Model one example together first.
- What we noticed in the book: Students help each other.
- What it made us think about: People feel better when someone notices they need help.
- What this could look like in our classroom: If someone can’t find something, I can help them look or ask an adult.
Then choose another page from the book and let students help you complete the next row.
Good moments to use include:
- welcoming someone
- making mistakes
- helping a classmate
- listening to others
- including someone
- learning together
- taking care of the classroom
If students get stuck, bring them back to the picture and ask:
- What are the students doing on this page?
- How might that help someone feel?
- Where could this happen in our classroom?
- What is one small action someone could take?
This works well as a whole-class activity because students hear each other’s ideas before writing their own response. Once you have built the chart together, students can use the free VIP Library page to record their own book-to-classroom connection.
Free or Simple Next Step
The free Our Class is a Family Book to Classroom Connection page, included in the VIP Free Resource Library, gives students a simple follow-up after the read-aloud.
Students choose one part of the book, then write or draw in three columns:
- what they noticed in the book
- what it made them think about their class
- what that idea could look like in the classroom
I’d use this after the whole-class connection chart, so students have already heard a few examples before they complete their own page.
The worksheet keeps the response short and clear. Students can draw, label, or write short sentences. The important part is that they connect one book moment to one classroom action.
You can get this page in the VIP Free Resource Library, along with other book activities and read-aloud printables.
Our Class is a Family Activities
The free connection page works well when you want one simple response after the read-aloud.
The full Our Class is a Family Activities pack gives you more options when you want to spend a few days with the book or revisit it during the first weeks of school.
Use it when you want students to work with the book through reading comprehension, classroom community, character traits, making connections, inference, prediction, point of view, author’s purpose, and writing prompts.
You do not need to use the whole pack at once. For the first week of school, I’d start with the classroom community or making connections pages. Then I’d use the character traits, inference, or writing prompts once students know the book better.
Our Class is a Family Activities
$2.98
Differentiation Suggestions
Younger Students: Use one illustration and ask students to point to one helpful action. They can draw themselves doing that action in the classroom.
Older Students: Ask students to write responses explaining how one action helps build classroom community. They can include evidence from the book and a real classroom example.
Students Who Need More Support: Give students two or three action choices, such as listen, help, invite, or share. Ask them to choose one and draw what it looks like.
Multilingual Learners: Use a picture word bank with words like help, listen, include, mistake, friend, class, safe, welcome, and together. Let students rehearse their connection orally with a partner before writing.
Sensitivity Note: Be careful with the word “family.” Some students may not connect with that word in the same way, and not every family experience feels safe or supportive. Keep the focus on what a classroom community can do: help, listen, include, respect, and make room for mistakes.
Try the same thing with other books
You can use the same routine with other picture books about friendship, belonging, first-day worries, kindness, or classroom routines.
After reading, choose one clear moment from the book and ask students to connect it back to your classroom. Keep the focus on what students notice and what they can do next.
Use these four questions:
- What happened, or what idea did the book show?
- What does this make you think about?
- How does this connect to our classroom?
- What action could we take?
This routine works well because it keeps the discussion from staying too general. Instead of stopping at “be kind,” students have to name the action: invite someone to join, help someone find a supply, or give someone another try after a mistake.
FAQs About Our Class is a Family Activities
- What can I teach with Our Class is a Family? You can use Our Class is a Family to teach classroom community, making connections, character traits, belonging, and how students can support each other during the school day.
- How do I use Our Class is a Family during the first week of school? Read the book early in the week, then ask students to name one action from the story that could work in your classroom. Use their ideas to build a class agreement, display, or short written response.
- How can I help students make stronger connections with the book? Push students past surface connections. Instead of “I have a classroom too,” ask, “What action in the book could we try in our classroom?” This keeps the connection tied to behavior, not just matching details.
- What if the word “family” is difficult for some students? Keep the focus on classroom community rather than asking students to compare school and home. Use words like class, team, group, or community, and talk about actions such as listening, helping, inviting, and making space for mistakes.
- Can I use Our Class is a Family with older students? Yes. Older students can look more closely at author’s purpose, theme, and word choice. They can also write a class promise or explain which action from the book would have the biggest effect on the classroom.
Ideas of What to Read Next
- Back-to-School Picture Books – Use this list if you want more first-week read-alouds to talk about routines, worries, friendships, and starting fresh.
- Picture Books About Belonging – Use these books when you want students to think more deeply about feeling seen, included, and valued in a group.
Final Thoughts
Our Class is a Family works best when the lesson moves from a warm message to concrete action. Ask students what they notice in the book, what it makes them think about, and what it could look like in the classroom. That keeps the read-aloud practical.
Students leave with one clear idea: Classroom community is built through small actions people repeat every day.
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