Every morning, during our morning meeting, the students have a chance to greet one another, engage in sincere and genuine connection and build a stronger classroom community. My hope is that within those 30 minutes each day we learn how to be better friends, classmates and lifelong learners. A large part of the purpose and goal of our morning meeting is to help children develop deep social-emotional skills and gain beneficial and valuable methods of which to interact with and support one another.
On the first day of school we will talk about things we want to pledge to ourselves and to our classmates as to how we were to act and behave at school. Examples of these might be: 1. work hard 2. speak and practice kind words and actions to one another 3. always be ready to learn 4. help others 5. show respect 6. not be afraid to make mistakes 7.learn from our mistakes 8. take chances
In the beginning and throughout the year, we will discuss about how important it is that we support one another and create an environment where we all feel safe and important. It is creating this kind of environment that I feel allows the student to thrive and do his/her best on all levels. At this age students are becoming more aware that their choices come with consequences and while often times it is still hard to make the right choice, and they will inevitably make the wrong choice at times, we are all made aware that whatever choices we make we must accept the consequences of our actions. At this age, and during this school year, students will continue to learn how to self-regulate and manage their time better, along with taking responsibility for their actions. Concurrently, my goal and aim in the classroom is to always positively interact with students so that they feel and know that I am rooting for them and am there to teach and guide them. With a lot of opportunities this year for growth in both challenging academic and social situations, I know that the students, deep down, desire to work hard and achieve success and by helping teach them intrinsic motivation they can reach those goals.
Our early weeks will be spent on becoming familiar with our routines and my expectations. Once those are set I truly feel that we will have a terrific year. If there are ever any concerns with how your child is doing in the classroom and they are experiencing stress due to any type of situation, please reach out to me and we can begin to move forward in how to best serve your child.