Having a Class meeting is officially my favorite thing! I also think class meetings are also my students’ favorite things. I’ll be honest, for the longest time I thought there wasn’t really time for a class meeting. But then I found a system that worked…now I’ll never go back.
We have an official class meeting every Friday. Each year it happens at a different time…I have to do what works best for our schedule, but we run it generally the same.
I display on our board our Class Meeting slide and I give each student a sticky note. Students decide on one of the topics and write a statement or two. I give students about 3-5 minutes to write. I then play our class song and students move from their seats to the carpet. They bring their sticky note and stick them under the corresponding category. I then go through and read each sticky note and respond accordingly.
Kudos
This is any kind of celebration or something to give praise or honor to. Often it’s as simple as Yay its Friday. But many students will tell us their weekend plans or that someone in their family is celebrating something. Students will share how they’ve reached a new level in a game or are wearing new clothes. I tell students it can be a celebration of anything! And we celebrate and cheer for that student. Some students will elaborate while others don’t.
Suggestions
Students will share any suggestions about our classroom in this space. Students have suggested different seating options, having a schedule for who gets to sit on our couch, wanting inspirational quotes hung in our room, and a class pet. Most of these suggestions I will try to incorporate into our classroom but of course not all. Sorry…I’m not a class pet kind of teacher.
Questions
This is where students can ask any questions. I typically get a lot of schedule-type questions here. When is our field trip? When is the next snow cone day? But sometimes I get questions that are kind of more like a suggestion…can we have a pajama day? I answer them as honestly and as the best I can. But sometimes the answer is maybe…I can definitely think about that.
Concerns
This last space is for students to bring up any concerns they have. We typically get some recess concerns that we can then address as a class. Sometimes students have a concern about an upcoming test or event. And occasionally, I’ll have a few silly students who will be concerned that some people don’t like bananas or want to save the turtles! :) I typically save this one for last because this is also where I can bring up any concerns I’m noticing as a class.
Our class meeting really helps us bond as a group because we’re learning things about each other that we might not normally know. It also gives students a voice in our classroom. They realize they can discuss things they’re concerned about or give suggestions to make our classroom better.
It’s usually the students’ second favorite time of the week (behind Team Building Tuesday) and students are disappointed if they miss it. I’m always surprised at how much they enjoy it and how simple it really is. It only takes us about 15-20 minutes total to do.
Have you ever tried a class meeting?
