Grade 1A have been thinking about behaviour and how it is just as important to learn about good behaviour as it is to be a good reader or skillful at Maths! At ABIS, we value the Learner Profile and teach the whole child not just academic subjects and skills.
Students are always encouraged to think about how they can be caring, cooperative, principled and balanced but we are all human and make mistakes. At the end of a long year of learning, as temperatures get hotter and we stay inside more, students can sometimes disagree or be unkind to each other. So, we sat in our Circle Time this week and tried to think how being caring, kind AND a great communicator would help us to deal with any problems!
Students did some simple but extremely effective role play about difficult situations and how they could try to deal with these by staying calm, talking and being kind to each other. They worked together and thought out different situations and solutions. Problems ranged from someone snatching a pencil or a book to someone feeling jealous and scribbling on another student’s work.
The dialogue was their own and simple but very effective and, as always, I think they taught each other very well doing these role plays. Many children reacted to the “negative behaviour” acted out by their partner by saying things like: “OK, you can have that pencil, I will use another one” ” We can both look at the book if you want” “Please, do not take that. It is not kind. I can give you it, but can you say please to me?” ” I can show you sharing and then we can be friends again”
I hope that we can continue these self-taught sessons and become better able to manage difficult situations by communicating and kindness.