Every Monday, our class begins the week with a morning meeting where we come together to greet each other and discuss important topics. During this time, students develop their social and emotional skills which prepare them for learning and interacting with each other both in the classroom and on the playground.
We have highlighted many important skills and worked together to share advice, role-play, and make important personal connections. Some recent topics of discussion include conflict resolution, honesty/cheating, teamwork, flexibility, and being an upstander.
We also announce our new weekly jobs from our Helping is a Hoot job chart. Students are eager to demonstrate their responsibility and begin new tasks by assisting with attendance, collecting homework, announcing the date, selecting our daily choices, watering class plants, and more!
As we close out the week, our class engages in guided mindfulness lessons with the goal of calming our minds, focusing our attention, and connecting with the world around us. We also write in gratitude journals. Students are able to show thanks for people, places, and experiences as well as improve their writing and speaking skills. Through reflection, students can build resilience, gain new coping skills, and increase overall happiness.
Click here to see the class using mindfulness with Mind Yeti