Charlotte Verity Professional Learning (School Based)

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...

Our Assistant Principal, Michelle Maule, came and ran Circle Time with us today.  We are using Circle Time throughout the school this year, to help our students learn about and reflect on our School Kete Values:  We Care  -  We  Love Learning - We Get There Together -  We Make a Difference Michelle bought a sign with Circle Time protocols, and went through these with children: We then had a circle time discussion, sharing differences about ourselves with the whole group. Children also turned and talked with a buddy, sharing their favourite flavour of ice cream and identifying if this was differerent from their partner's preferred flavour. After Michelle left, we used the Circle Time model and protocols, and shared our highlight from the day. I noticed that more children had something to share (i.e. less 'passed') on the second circle time session.  My next steps: * Utilise  the Circle Time model weekly so children are used to th...