Have you heard about Classroom Meeting? Or has your child come home singing "One Day...One Day" and you don't know where it is coming from? (see video above :) Classroom meeting is a time when we focus on building community and learning more about ourselves (aka: human behavior!). At the beginning of the year, I like to introduce the themes that we will focus on in more depth later in the year. This week, we have discussed belonging, kindness, compassion, conflict, and perseverance. These are great themes for building our community at the beginning of the year. To share messages and start discussions with students, I utilize picturebooks, videos, and music in our classroom meetings. Many literacy concepts are embedded in these lessons. As we delve deeper into each theme, students will analyze related quotes and learn key vocabulary that connects to the theme. (Theme is actually a BIG 4th and 5th grade reading concept!) They will also set goals for each theme and reflect on how they did during the week--like coming up with a strategy/action for being more kind during our "kindness" focus week.
On Tuesday, we read Each Kindness. (You can ask your child to tell you about the story and the message). Today, we rewrote some of the events of Each Kindness to make Chloe exhibit more compassion. I also taught students the definitions for compassion and empathy. (This allows us to have a common definition and common language as we talk with one another about these concepts throughout the year. It's amazing what students will soak up during these lessons!)
Classroom meeting is one of my favorite parts of the day! I hope it quickly becomes one of your child's favorites too!
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