The approach we decided to try was “getting to know you” activities.
Survey Results after implementing getting to know you prompts into lessons:
Giselle- Kindergarten students have an idea of what their emotions are and are able to put a word for it once it is learned. My students did very well with the daily check-ins. They were able to explain why they were feeling that way and how they can act on those feelings in a healthy way.
Janeth- There was an evident change in the classroom environment. Students are very honest about their feelings if they are consistently asked and shown their teachers care.
Justi-I learned many things about students such as what their interests are. During show and tell, students are very eager and enthusiastic to share their special objects with the class. Most surprisingly, students were just as excited to hear about the object. Students stayed engaged and were extremely curious about many different things related to what the student brought. I learned that this is a great activity to integrate into many different activities related and speech and language standards. Using this as a tool to get to know students is very beneficial and gave insight to my students lives, passions, and talents. It opened up a channel to students homes and a fun way to involve parents in school activities as well.