Monday Meetings

Several years ago I started Monday "How was your weekend" journal writing prompts with my high school ESL students.  The intent had several purposes- I could get to know a little about them outside of our school day, they could let me know anything that was bugging them or exciting to them, and they could practice their writing in a non-threatening way, because the language was coming from their own experiences.

I sort of became infamous for it.  They knew exactly what to expect on Monday when they walked into my room, and actually began to look forward to it.  I had forgotten about that tradition until it occurred to me that I could do the same thing with my kindergarten kiddies.  They always want to tell me about their weekend adventures on Monday mornings, so this way they can get some talking time and I can monitor their language, formation of complete sentences, and other communication skills.  Enter the "Monday Meeting."  I use a little orange dog that I had gotten for our reading buddy basket.  Every Monday we sit in a rectangle on the tape around our carpet.  The dog functions as our "talking stick."  Before we begin,  I remind them that the only person talking should be the person holding the dog.  This works well...until about the 15th student, then they start getting antsy.  We're still working on speeding up the process.  :)  They always have the option to just say "pass" if they don't feel like sharing.  I make the question VERY specific and focused:  "Tell me the BEST part of your weekend- just ONE part, the best part."  I start by modeling a quick, descriptive sentence from my own weekend ("This weekend I made delicious chocolate chip cookies") and toss the dog to the next person.  They love hearing about each others' weekends, and so do I.  However, I do have two or three 'ramblers.'  You know the kind...

Student:  Well.  I had this football.  It's my favorite football ever.  I got it for my birthday.  And me and my brothers went outside.  I think it was like Friday because we got off the bus.  And we started playing football and I fell down and ripped my pants.  And then my dad came.  And he said let's go bowling.  And we got our shoes and went bowling and while we were driving there we saw a dragon.

Me:  Remember...one thing.

Student:  But it's the same thing. 

Me:  OK just the best part.

Student:  Well the best part was that when we went to the bowling alley we started to order a pizza and I asked my dad if I could get some candy too.

Me:  (while checking the time and reprimanding the three students who are beginning to wiggle and talk) Finish up, your friends are waiting.

Student:  Okay well there was music playing and then I saw my friend and he said...

Me:  Sounds like you had a great weekend!  OK pass the dog!

Like I said, we're still working on being concise.

Meet our Monday Meeting helper: Pumpkin.  One day during center time a student came up out of the blue and said, "I know what to name our Monday meeting dog.  His name is Pumpkin.  Do you want to know why?  Because he is round and orange and green." 

It sounded like a logical idea to me.  So now he is Pumpkin.  Really though, you could pass anything around; the idea is that the visual and tactile object helps remind students who should be talking.

We also have our Monday meeting after any holiday or extended break.  Have you tried something like a Monday meeting?  What guidelines do you establish and how does it work for you?

Acts of Kindness

This month in my classroom we have been working on acts of kindness.  Maybe it is the cold, lack of sunshine and outside recess, who knows, but I have been noticing a lot of bickering, name calling, pinching, poking, snatching, etc. amongst my kiddies.  One afternoon I stopped a math lesson and said "That's. It."  I had a pack of red heart doilies handy and a window that needed redecorating anyway (gingerbread men in February, anyone?) so I called everyone to the rug and told them it made me sad to hear some people being unkind to their friends.  I told them I would be looking for kind words and kind actions in our classroom so that I could write it down and post it on our "Acts of Kindness" window.  I told them we could see how many we could fill our window with before our class Valentine party.  No prize, no rewards, just a little recognition of some of the nice things going on in our classroom.

Enter the scene where kids fall all over each other to pick something up or walk over ten other kids on the carpet to tie someone's shoe and look up and ask if I see them.  Or fill me in on all the nice things they did for one another at lunch or gym.  

Sigh.  Time for a whole-class clarification: I had to "catch" them doing something good.  That they couldn't just do it because they wanted me to see. 

We did get a few hearts on our window and I've decided to keep it going throughout the month of February.  I love being able to watch and surprise kids with "So and so just helped so and so sign up for lunch.  It was so nice I think I am going to have to put a heart on our window."  It's allowed us to at least have lots of conversations about the difference between angry and kind voices, how to appropriately handle conflicts, and has allowed me lots of opportunities to recognize what they SHOULD be doing instead of what they SHOULD NOT be doing.  Sometimes we teachers need to remember to stay positive, too, especially when we, like our kids, are cold and tired of indoor recess and snow. :)