The last week of school, Monday-Thursday I led a closing
circle. I had done this throughout
the school year but it was sporadic, it wasn’t consistent and a part of our
daily routine. It always depended
on if the students cleaned up from discovery time fast enough or if it was the
middle of January and it took us 10-15 minutes just to get all of our winter
gear on to go home! I knew the
importance and value of it, I just didn’t think I could make time for it every
single afternoon right before we went home. That being said, the days I did do it, the students and
myself ended the day on a positive note.
We reflected about what we learned that day, shared something we
enjoyed, shared a goal we want to do for tomorrow, or just did a calming quiet
game. It was such a peaceful way
to end our busy day. I put so much
value and appreciation into our daily morning meetings, I now know, I
personally want to make time and do the same for closing circles. Last summer when I went to the
Responsive Classroom training I watched a video of a classroom teaching using
this “Wish” chant at the end of her closing circle every day. The students held hands and could close
their eyes is they wanted to. A
selected student could even say it first and the rest of the class could repeat
it.
The time
has come…
To say
goodbye…
We have learned
a lot.
Some of us
will go…
Some of us
will stay…
We will all
be here together tomorrow
To work,
To have fun,
To be in our room 3 community!
To be in our room 3 community!
I have also referred back to to responsive classroom resource book I received during the training, as well as accessing closing circle resources through the Responsive Classroom website. As I have flipped through my book resource I feel like a terrible teacher as I see all my post it notes and tabs covering the book, and I feel like I maybe accomplished 1/4 of everything I had wanted to do! Then again, I need to remind myself I cant change everything all at the same time, and if I want to do something well, I need to go slow!
I do enjoy me a little Responsive Classroom!!
ReplyDeleteHere's an idea to let marinate...the value of closing circle is evident. My cooperating teacher, back in the day, had a closing circle and they made a train car for each day of school. On each train car, they wrote their learning for the day and it was posted...by the end of the year there was a big train hanging around the perimeter of the room.
Another idea that you could spread is sharing the reflection of the day on twitter, with a class account and hashtag. It gets a little tricky with posting photos, but maybe just a daily summary of learning to parents who will check twitter??? You do so much communication anyway...