Be a welcoming and safe place Be interesting Foster respect and acceptance of others and their space and materials Foster community Promote critical thinking Promote learning
COMMUNITY BUILDERS:
Morning Meetings build community by helping each student learn about each other and accept differences. Morning meetings are a routine. Children need routines so they know what to expect. If a morning meeting happens soon after all of our classmates arrive then the students will be prepared for morning meeting each morning. The first morning meeting may be used to teach what behavior is appropriate during morning meeting. Rules maintain order and help students discern appropriate versus inappropriate behavior in the classroom. The rules will be specific and easily understood. When a rule is broken there will be consequences. Consequences are what the teacher uses to enforce the rules. Students learn from consequences, and these incidents can be useful tools for teaching lessons to a large group. Responsibility is giving a child the opportunity to make a choice whether the teacher thinks it is right or wrong and allowing the child to learn from it. It can be stressful and difficult to teach responsibility, but in the long run, it will help reach each student achieve the classroom goals. Environment. The tools in the classroom and the toys available to the children will be complex and interesting so that the children do not become bored. On occassion, new things that the children have not played with before will be brought in and introduced. Children will learn how to explore new toys or manipulatives. Lunch with Miss Kinney. Every Tuesday and Friday, four students are chosen to have lunch with Miss Kinney! It is a blast and we have a marvelous time!