A New School Year

It has been a very busy few weeks starting back at school for another year. I have enjoyed getting to know my students and starting the routine for a new school year. In the first few days, I have emphasised our good deed tree, a goal sheet, the ideas that we are a team and they are the reason we are here.

Good Deeds

I want my students to believe that every person can do some good in this world, be it big or small, and make the world a better place. In our classroom we have a good deed tree where the students write a good deed (an act of kindness) on a small piece of paper and stick it to an apple on the tree. This acts as a promise to complete the good deed. Once the students have completed their good deed, they can replace it with another. I’m also thinking of asking students to add good deeds they see other people doing in our school to our tree.

Goals

Setting goals is an important skill for everyone to have. Goals motivate us to work towards what we want and make it more likely that we will achieve it. I provided my students with a worksheet that they need to fill out on a weekly basis. It helps them to identify something they need to work on and a way to achieve it. The students are also encouraged to reflect on their progress.

Click the link to view and download the goal setting worksheet: Goal Setting Worksheet

Teamwork

In my classroom, I really want to emphasise that the students and I are a team. We work together, we help and support each other, we care about each other and we celebrate each other’s success. I provided my students with a class tree and one at a time, students came up to add their fingerprint to the tree. The finished product truly emphasised that we are a team and we are all important and make up this class. It will be something that will constantly be refered to in our classroom.

Purpose

I want my students to know that everything we do in our classroom has a purpose. When they write they are authors, when they complete mathematics they are being mathematicians, when they research they are researchers, when they are learning about science they are scientists and so on. Ultimately, I want the students to know that they are the reason we are here.

What have you emphasised in your classroom?