Walking through the halls of the ELC during the first full week of school is a magical experience! As children adjust to new teachers, peers, and routines, their initial apprehensions begin to fade and connections start to grow. Through games, activities, and discussions, students and teachers lay the foundation for a strong, caring community where every child feels valued.
While this may look a little different at each grade level, the goal is the same: to create classrooms that are safe spaces for social–emotional learning, where expectations are clear, ideas are valued, friendships are nurtured, and everyone shares responsibility for the classroom community.
Social–Emotional Learning & First Week Feelings: By reading books about and discussing big feelings that come along with something new, we are working to save space for social-emotional learning. The children learned that it’s normal to feel nervous or excited, and that together we can help one another feel safe and confident.Building
Our Classroom Community- Jobs in the Classroom: We talked about being a classroom family—taking care of each other, showing respect, and celebrating our differences. One way we build community is through weekly classroom jobs. These roles help children feel valued, responsible, and connected to others.
Embracing Our Differences: We celebrated the unique qualities each child brings to our class. Through games and discussions, we explored how our differences make us stronger, more creative, and more interesting as a group.
Rules, Routines, & Responsibilities: We discussed why rules are important and how they help keep us safe, so that we can learn together and have lots of fun! Without rules there is chaos and that is not fun for anyone! It was incredible to see the children’s faces light up as they saw their teachers write down their ideas for classroom rules. Together, we brainstormed expectations for our classroom. Some of the older classes even signed a class contract!
Growth Mindset- Risk Taking: There are many natural opportunities throughout the day for children to try new things and build perseverance. When experimenting, trying new things and taking risks, it is inevitable that mistakes will occur. In our conversations with the children we stress that making mistakes is okay! We can view a mistake as an obstacle or as an opportunity to learn, grow and create something new! We are practicing saying:
“I can’t do it… yet.”
“Mistakes help me learn.”
This helps build resilience and confidence as we begin our learning journey together.
We are looking forward to a wonderful year full of connection, learning, and growth!
