Responsive Classroom

What's distinctive about the Responsive Classroom approach at Daniels Run?

The Responsive Classroom is a general approach to teaching, rather than a program designed to address a specific school issue. It is based on the premise that children learn best when they have both academic and social-emotional skills. The Responsive Classroom approach consists of a set of practices that build academic and social-emotional competencies and that can be used along with many other programs. These classroom practices are the heart of the Responsive Classroom approach:

2^nd Grade

We start each day with a Morning Meeting where we greet each other, do a group activity and read the Morning Message. Some group activities we have played include The Warm Wind Blows and a fun skip counting game called POP. The Morning Message gives us a glimpse of what we will learn each day. Students came up with their hopes and dreams for second grade. They worked hard to create either an academic or social goal! From there, we discussed what rules our classes need in order to accomplish our hopes and dreams and learn everything we have to learn in second grade. All students were involved in the rule making process and we came up with Our Class Promise consisting of our rules. We are off to an exciting start in second grade and are looking forward to learning and growing more this year!

3^rd Grade

Third grade has been actively creating a community of thoughtful and respectful students through the Responsive Classroom model.  All the students in third grade wrote their own “Hopes and Dreams” for the year.  After sharing our “Hopes and Dreams” we created our classroom rules that we want to honor each day in order to work and play safely and to make new friendships.  We have been walking in the hallways quietly and the following “Respectful Rules” in the cafeteria and bathrooms.  Our Morning Meetings have helped us get to know one another and learn how to listen, share, and very importantly…..have fun!

4^th Grade

Last Friday, Adam officiated at our “I Can’t Funeral” and we hope to encourage positive effort and thoughts with this activity. 

Mrs. Horn shared a great idea from the RC newsletter which we are implementing.  Students are creating “Memory Collections” and will share parts of their collection with other students.  We are working on how to share an oral story.  Eventually, students will build writing pieces around the different objects in their collections.

6^th Grade

In sixth grade we are working to have full morning meetings 4 days a week.  We have been using reinforcing, reminding, and redirecting language when it comes to making sure all students are conducting themselves properly in various locations of the building (hallways, cafeterias, specials, bathrooms).  We have built a class community by discussing our hopes and dreams with students and some of their parents at Back-to-School Night.  We have created a set of classroom expectations to ensure students are in a safe learning environment, one where they can do their best work. Since we switch classes, we have reviewed our expectations within our math, science, and social studies groups to ensure that the students are aware that we share the same expectations and hopes for their success.  Each classroom has expectations posted that were created by the students.