Posts belonging to Category Building Community
Posted by Chip on February 11, 2010
Being a parent or teacher of pre-teens and young adolescents is an amazing experience. There is no question that “tweeners” between the ages of 11 and 14 need extra-strong support, nurturing, and guidance during a time they are demanding increased independence, exhibiting mercurial emotions, and sending mixed messages about how they feel about thenselves [...]
Categories: Building Community, Developmental Needs |
Tags: Building Community, Christopher Hagedorn, Circle of Power and Respect, Developmental Needs, linda Crawford, middle school culture, middle schoolers | 
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Posted by Chip on February 8, 2010
A short time ago, we lost one of the clearest and most courageous voices in the field of education. Rachael Kessler, author of The Soul of Education: Helping Students Find Connection, Compassion, and Character at School and a leader in the field of social and emotional learning, passed away at the end of January.
Rachael knew [...]
Categories: Building Community, Building Relationships with Children, Developmental Needs |
Tags: Building Community, building relationships with children, PassageWorks, Rachael Kessler, social-emotional learning, The Soul of Education | Post a Comment »
Posted by Chip on April 22, 2008
Earth Day is officially April 22nd, the 38th such celebration for our mother planet here in the USA, but this past Monday the 380 elementary school children in our town, together with the High School Band, Smokey the Bear, our State Representative, and assorted local dignitaries, police and fire vehicle escorts, banners and flags flying, [...]
Categories: Building Community, The School Year |
Tags: Earth Day, Great Falls Discovery Center, Jay Lord, Jean Giono, The Man Who Planted Trees | Post a Comment »
Posted by Chip on April 16, 2008
All-school meetings are popular at our elementary school and a staple at most elementary schools in one form or another.
In schools employing Responsive Classroom approaches and strategies, indiviudal classrooms will often be in charge of running the All School Meeting on particular weeks, leading the pledge of Allegiance, Moment of Silence, leading songs, sharing work [...]
Categories: Building Community, Holidays and Traditions, The Responsive Classroom® approach |
Tags: all-school meetings, recognition without rewards, Responsive Classroom approach, talent shows | 1 Comment »
Posted by Chip on April 2, 2008
Sometimes I have to be reminded how important it is to go back to the beginning with children when trying to solve a social problem between two of them, whether it is in the 2nd or 5th grade. The problem itself may seem insurmountable at the time. It could be about friendships or about a [...]
Categories: Building Community, Managing Behavior |
Tags: Building Community, conflict resolution, Managing Behavior, problem-solving with children, Ruth Charney | 4 Comments »
Posted by Chip on March 11, 2008
This week our whole school is reading Horton Hears A Who ( as I’m sure many of you are too) in honor of Dr. Seuss’s birthday month and “Read-Across-America” and the release of the new animated feature film by the same name, which our small school will attend en masse on Friday – phew!
Our discussions [...]
Categories: Books, Building Community, Schoolwide Initiatives |
Tags: Building Community, bullying, Dr. Seuss, favorite books for children, favorite children's books, Horton Hears a Who, Loser, Read Across America, Responsive Classroom approach, Responsive Classroom practices, teasing | Post a Comment »
Posted by Chip on January 22, 2008
As parents and teachers we hear them every day. What can we do about it?
Children can say the cruelest things, but often they are unaware of the impact of their words on others because the words are so much a part of their common vernacular at school and in the neighborhood.
Recently at school we have [...]
Categories: Building Community, Schoolwide Initiatives |
Tags: bullying, fifth grade, fifth graders, teasing | Post a Comment »
Posted by Chip on January 8, 2008
Well, it’s only three days really, but teachers will tell you it felt like a very full, five-day week, retracing steps taken in September, thinking about Hopes and Dreams as New Year Resolutions, reviewing classroom and schoolwide rules, practicing lining-up; all the little details of school expectations that are the foundation of an elementary school [...]
Categories: Building Community, Holidays and Traditions, The School Year |
Tags: Building Community, hopes and dreams for learning, The School Year | 2 Comments »
Posted by Chip on December 6, 2007
I’ve often observed that children in kindergarten are given more responsibility than students in middle school or any other grade for that matter. In kindergarten, children are taught how to pick up and put away, pass things out, hang up their work, straighten out the coat closet, wipe up spills, water the plants, feed a [...]
Categories: Building Community |
Tags: kindergarten, teaching responsibility | Post a Comment »
Posted by Chip on October 29, 2007
There is much agreement in developmental research that children display empathy toward others as early as the second year of life, sometimes slightly earlier.
This appears to be a shared human quality across cultures that has both genetic and socially constructed aspects. While boys and girls both show emotion or cognitive understanding of another’s distress, it [...]
Categories: Building Community |
Tags: bullying, caring behavior, learning to care, teaching empathy | Post a Comment »
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