Thursday, September 1, 2011

Wish Well Circle (and Conscious Discipline)

There are 2 things that have impacted my teaching and shaped my beliefs about building a School Family.  One was meeting and listening to Ruby Payne talk about teaching children of poverty.  The second was learning about Conscious Discipline.  If you want to learn more about Becky Bailey and Conscious Discipline click on the link.  I could write page long blogs about Conscious Discipline and the way it has transformed my classroom and the way we ALL interact.  I know many teachers use a moving/changing your color type of system and if you are interested in moving away from that just email me and I will be soooo happy to talk to you about it! (This is my 12th year of teaching extremely at-risk students and I have never used that system but have amazing results in my classroom. And I am not putting down that type of classroom management but I have completely changed what I do and say....and it was VERY HARD to re-learn what you say to kiddos...especially the "I like the way I see __________ _________!)

Okay, back to the point of this post.  One of Our School Family Jobs is the "absent student helper".  This child gets to substitute for the child that is absent and also gets to help with the Wish Well Circle.  The Wish Well Circle is a pizza pan with all of our names and a big heart in the middle.  When that child is absent, we move his/her picture to the middle and sing a song to let that child know that even though they are not here we are thinking about them and wishing them well (They love to come back and ask if we sang a song about them!).  When they return to school, the absent student helper gets to welcome them back with a butterfly puppet and a welcome back kiss (and we talk about all of the silly places we get the kiss such as our elbow, ankle, shoulder, wrist but never our mouth because of germs...and this is great for building vocabulary for your ELL kiddos).  They love all of this.  Just imagine that child knowing that even though they are not at school we are thinking about them and wishing them well!  Too cute and sweet!

Here is a picture of the wish well pizza pan (I put the songs on the back so the absent student helper and I can remember them!)


Here are the songs and a picture of the butterfly puppet.
So, I say good-bye and am wishing you well!  I would love to get a heart note about you using this in your School Family classroom too!

27 heart notes:

Anonymous said...

I would love for you to email me about moving away from the clip system. ellendfw@yahoo.com

Unknown said...

Oh - and I would love some ideas too about moving away from the clip system! :)
cener@sbcglobal.net
Cheryl
Crayons and Curls

Anonymous said...

Please also email me about your discipline, or better yet, just blog about it! I don't think anyone would condemn you for expressing what works for you!
erica
erica88@telus.net

Heather's Heart said...

I have TONS of Conscious Discipline blogs already written in my mind that I am so excited to share because it really is amazing and so powerful!

Kim Hughes said...

Conscious Discipline is an amazing way to empower children to connect with one another. These connections rewire the brain so students have a willingness to change and become an cooperative part of this wonderful School Family! I wish you well with your journey!! It will be life changing for all of you!!

Barbara said...

Heather, this looks like like really good stuff. Which book(s) would you recommend?
Thanks.
Barbara
Grade ONEderful
Beleyne@gmail.com

Anonymous said...

Hi Heather,
I am new to blogging and loved this idea.
Please post more about Conscious discipline?
My email is teacherdebv@ hotmail.com.
Thanks so much and Happy New Year!!!!!!!
Deb V

Randi said...

This is precious and I am so going to do this! Thanks for sharing and thanks for following my blog. That's how I just found you. I can't wait to read more of your posts!


Randi @ Teach It With Class

My TPT Store

My Facebook Page

Jess said...

I love that you posted about this. My college taught Conscious Discipline in our behavior management class and I interned at a school where this was discipline philosophy. I love love love using this way to interact with kids. I still use it but my school requires a color chart. It has to have a clip up option though where you praise good behavior and kids that go above and beyond. It has worked well enough with the students and parents but I would just love to go back to only using Conscious Discipline!
Rambling About Reading

Tracy said...

I love your post!
I use this every year in my classroom and my students love it. The first year I did it was after going to a conference and I had a lot of children who had troubled homes and were afraid to come to school! By November they didn't want to miss school. I also add "Ill Keep you safe X2 all though the day today I'll keep you safe. The kids then repeat it back to you with we'll.

I will definitely have to sing the welcome back & kiss song. I love that addition!

aunt shimmy said...

Simply Amazing!!!!!! Please e-mail me with your posts of Conscious Discipline..... Thanks for sharing!!!!

aunt shimmy said...

Heather, I forgot my e-mail address: sharon.washington96@yahoo.com I'm aunt shimmy!!! Thanks!

aunt shimmy said...

Simply Amazing!!!!!! Please e-mail me with your posts of Conscious Discipline..... Thanks for sharing!!!!

Lisa said...

Wow! So nice to meet you! I am so thrilled you stopped by my Blog because I already know I'm going to learn so much from you! LOVE this and want to implement it right away. So sweet. Whenever I have someone absent, I always act a bit sad and say that it just won't be a "perfect" day when the whole class isn't together. This really takes it a step further. What a fabo idea! THANKS!

Think, Wonder, and Teach said...

That is the sweetest thing ever! I love it!!! I will have to teach you the Good Morning Song & the Boo-Boo Song now. LOL!

Tell me more about not using a color system. I am in the process of making a clip chart but would love to use soemthing else.

I am so glad you found me as now I have someone new to stock as well!

Misty
@ Think, Wonder, & Teach

Kristina said...

LOVE this system. Got right on board and began it in my classroom. The kids love it and the program has naturally blended into our "family" classroom. Instead on giving real kisses I changed the song a little and the child gets a Hershey kiss. I just didn't want any crazy parents complaining about me teaching their kids to kiss in 1st grade!

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Andie with an ie said...

Our school is doing responsive classroom, or we are starting to get there, but it does away with color charts and I would love some ideas...Thank you...grubera24@gmail.com

Annie crawley said...

I just attended a conscious discipline work shop I heard dr becky a Bailey and she was awesome im currently trying this in my classroom it is a work in progress

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