Praises and Prides in Community Circle - Sunday Blessings

 

So, my friends, here is Stanley, a vital part of our classroom community.  See  about class pets here.  Stanley assists our class with many things; however, his main function is to let our class members know whose turn it is to talk when we do our family meeting.  Each day, when we start our day, we do a quick whip around the circle where we get to share something.  On Mondays, we tell about our weekend, Tuesdays and Wednesdays we let our classmates know they are awesome, special, amazing, terrific.  Thursdays we count our blessings and say what we are thankful for, and Fridays we do Praises and Prides, something my dear friend Tamara introduced to me over fifteen years ago, and I've used it ever since.

 

 Sometimes we do Praises and Prides more than once a week if our class needs to be uplifted a little extra.  We pass Stanley around and praise one of our fellow classmates.  If the kids know it's coming up and that they will be asked to do this, then they are on the lookout for people in our class doing something great!   This alone adds to our positive community.  In addition, I ask the kids to tell me one thing they did well this week AT SCHOOL.  The kids feel really comfortable talking about their families and what they did well at home, but I want them to feel good and notice what they do well at school.

 

 

Stanley helps us not only notice and be intentional about our actions/interactions with each other, but he also reminds us it's okay to just be proud of the things we do ourselves.   At first students are uncomfortable saying things they did well because they feel boastful, but I try to help them learn the difference between pride and bragging.   Pride helps us stand taller, without making someone else feel smaller.  Pride creates an atmosphere of caring about the work and learning we do!

 

And thus, Praises and Prides are a part of our journey in self reflection and what we will care about as we begin our portfolio process.  How can we display something we don't care about?

 

I hope this has given you another window into the magic of our first grade classroom.  Curriculum matters, but caring matters more!

 

Have another blessed Sunday.