However, in my wisdom as a teacher of many years, I recognize the importance of establishing the right climate at the start of the year. All week the emphasis was on gathering information about each student and reinforcing routines and procedures. Yesterday, the conversation shifted to the rights and responsibilities of each student and coming up with classroom rules and expectations. Today was deemed the "Community Building Activities Day". In the morning the students were given a seating plan in groups of four. In all, there are six groups. They were then given five minutes to collaboratively come up with a name for their team. The names were hilarious! I forgot to snap a picture of the chart but here goes ......
Group 1 - Chicken Wings
Group 2 - Unstoppables
Group 3 - Dark Bookworms
Group 4 - Diamond Bears Millionaires
Group 5 - (don't quite remember this one but it had Diamonds as a part of the name)
Group 6 - The Invincibles
They will be able to earn points if they demonstrate good character traits and adhere to the classroom rules and expectations. I was impressed with how quickly this seemingly simple idea at the start of the day transformed the overall atmosphere of the classroom. I observed a lot of cooperative learning and respectful interactions during later activities throughout the day. Way to go 5D, keep it up!
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