Social Emotional Learning & Morning Meeting
Student-led Morning Meeting
While the majority of activities had students working in diverse places and groups, using diverse materials, morning meeting stayed consistent. This structural consistency empowered students to be experts. After a few months, students were able to take turns leading morning meeting themselves. Reviewing our calendar, daily plans, classroom upkeep, and reflecting were now student-run.
We also used morning meeting to work out social lessons. We wrote stories to help this tight-knit group work through social difficulties like exclusion.
The Power of the Calendar
The year 2020 was an excellent lesson in flexibility and patience for us all. I created a student run calendar that could be as flexible as we were. A chaotic and changing schedule can be especially stressful for kids. Students worked together to update our calendar as needed month. Students’ fluency with our calendar provided a sense of power and stability, as well as teaching organizational and executive functioning skills.
Feelings Matrix
The feelings matrix is a tool we built together, and it’s many uses grew with us. Our feelings matrix combines self awareness, math, and vocabulary into an essential classroom tool. Throughout the year students added feelings to the chart and created a game. We used the matrix and game to solve interpersonal problems, and identify healthy ways to process difficult feelings. In our writing, we used the feelings matrix for characterization, voice, and details.
At the end of the year, as students prepared to leave quarantine to go to traditional schools, our feelings matrix prepared us to say goodbye to Cherries School.
Appreciation Stickers
Our Positive Behavior Incentive Structure had a unique and intentional twist. Community members (including students) could give a sticker to others, or or themselves. When someone did something special students would give a sticker and explain why. This fostered recognition of others, including the teacher and parents in our community, as well as appreciation for our own hard work.
Child-Created Jobs
Cherries School classroom jobs were also student-created. I facilitated a meeting to address our classroom needs, and students created 10 jobs for Cherries School. Throughout the year, the student decided these jobs weren’t covering what we needed, so together we made changes as needed throughout the year. I also organized parent volunteers to create specials, and organize materials.
Determining our needs and our roles nurtured confidence and a sense of responsibility.