Class Meeting

On Wednesdays we have our Class Meeting. Most of our meetings are related to our Olweus Bully Prevention focus at our school.

Our class meeting goals were posted on the board before we started. We sat on the floor in a circle. We started by going around the circle, and students were invited to share anything they were thinking about, recently enjoyed, or were looking forward to in their lives. Students also had the option to pass. Today, there were three or four students who shared about new puppies.

Then we transitioned to our bullying discussion. We review Rule 1: We will not bully others. We shared so many examples and defined bullying. I was impressed by the participation and respectful listeners.

Next, we moved into today's topic, Rule 2: We will try to hep students who are bullied. There was a lot of discussion and participation. We started our discussion about what could happen to you if you get involved. We had to stop when we ran out of time.

I share our class brainstorming, so families can see what our fourth grade class discussed. We take our bullying prevention seriously.

The warm fuzzy part at the end of class was listening to several students comment (unprompted) about how they felt safe and enjoyed our discussion today. They felt their ideas were valued. They felt like they belonged to something special. They wanted us to have meetings more often.

I also like how discussions we have had earlier in the year, a Word Work lesson on hyphenated compounds lead to "two-faced" being applied (accurately) in our discussion today. Our entire day is filled with these moments. I can see so much growth, confidence, and learning happening in front of my eyes, I can't wait for the next day to begin our next chapter!!

We also talk about how "being smart" is often thought of someone who knows all the answers. In our classroom learning community, "being smart" is the student who is brave and willing to try and make mistakes. Being smart means trying, hard work, and effort. Being smart means asking questions when you don't understand. In our classroom definition, we are very smart, and growing smarter every day!

These were moments from today's class meeting.