Classroom Spotlight: Sharing

A few parents have asked how sharing works so I thought I would take this opportunity to walk you through how we do sharing in our class. Sharing is one of the components of Morning Meeting. Morning Meeting starts at 9:35. Students greet one another in different ways each day. Then we do sharing. Then we do an activity such as four corners, heads up 7up or one of many academic games. Finally, students meet in front of the SMARTboard to review the morning message and go over the schedule for the day. During Quarter 1 we did sharing everyday using a "whip share" where everyone got to share one quick things; examples include: name 1 thing you did over the weekend, name 1 thing you ate for breakfast, name your favorite specialists, what is your favorite book we read this week etc. At the beginning of Quarter 2 students switched to a new sharing format. On Fridays, students sign up for one of 25 sharing slots (5 slots open each day of the week). The "teacher helper of the week" is in charge of sharing. It's their job to invite the 5 students to share one after another. Students who share sit in the black chair below. Students share something and then ask for 3 questions or comments. The person sharing then calls on 3 people. Finally, the person sharing calls on one last person for "closing comments" which is typically, "thank you for sharing." Sharing is a wonderful way to build community and a way for students to practice speaking in front of their peers. Please note that sharing is only verbal. Students are not allowed to bring in items for sharing. Please leave all personal items at home as these can be very distracting (even in their backpacks). At the end of the year, we will do a special sharing week where students get to bring in one item fro home.