Circle Time

I found some excellent ideas for improving my use of Circle Time, which we use weekly as part of our Wellbeing focus at Beckenham School...through Jenny Mosley's text:

Quality Circle Time in the Primary Classroom: Your Essential Guide to Enhancing Self-esteem, Self-discipline and Positive Relationships (1996)

My hub colleague and I have been focusing on kindness and resolving conflict lately, given the needs of our students.

Fun Circle Time starters from this text:

* All change - call out descriptives, w.g. stand up and move if you have a brother; have visited another country; speak another language etc

* Show an emotion - peers guess what it is; peers copy

* Word association - e.g. say a word related to friendship, fun, calm etc

* Eek and zoom - go around the circle, each child saying 'eek,'. Swap directions when one child says 'zoom'

Resolving Conflict

* Split class into small groups. Give each group a puzzle, missing 1-2 pieces. How will group solve the problem? Did you work together to do this? 

* In small groups, give students a conflict to role-play. Demonstrate to peers. How could they resolve this conflict? How could each child keep calm? Develop a list of resolution strategies.

Kindness

* Buddy children in random pairs. Each child talks with their buddy, then shares, "xxx is good at...." or "Thankyou xxx for xxxxx,". 

* Read a picture book on friendship. What do great friends do? With whole class or small groups, create a wanted poster for a dream friend. Alternatively, create a self-advertisement, selling all the great things ecah child thinks they offer as a friend.

*Booster photos: place five stars on a photo of each child, and groupd children in fives. Each writes a positive descriptive of that person.

For lunchtimes

I have several students who have found it difficult finding a buddy at lunch time, or who gravitate towards older children. I observed a colleague partnering students to play together prior to lunh, and have used this approach successfully. Other ideas form this text book: having a lunchtime task force e.g. children who have the role of collecting rubbish, buddying new starters, or watering a garden etc; utilising the J2 games, taking children over to join these.