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Start the year with Tribes TLC – 1-2

Teach the agreements as part of your “policies and procedures” – your daily routine.  You can review agreements in morning circle, during calendar (agreement of the day – ask students what we can work on today?), and reflect at the end of the day.

Strategies from Reaching All by Creating Tribes Learning Communities to use and/or adapt for building Inclusion and learning names:

·      Appreciating Others (p.213):  choose a student each day for some appreciation statements, use puppets, prepare statements to practice on parents/adults.

·      Boasters (p. 216):  Parents/adults can contribute; make a bulletin board of these for back-to-school night.

·      Clap-Slap (p. 386):  Good for learning names – can also be a challenge to actually coordinate the clapping and slapping; do a little at a time – can also be a challenge each day for the first two weeks of school to “see how we can improve”!

·      Community Circle (. 226):  Every day!

·      Warm Fuzzies (p. 364) and Fuzzyland Map (p. 251)

·      I Sit in a Chair with My Friend (p. 262):  Good for following directions, sequencing, and learning names.  Get some older students to model/demonstrate.

·      Me Book (p. 277):  Can be an ongoing project

·      My Favorite People and Things (p. 282)

·      Name Wave (p. 388):  good for learning names – keep the focus by “waving” only two or three names a day

·      Slip Game (p. 334): prepare your own age-appropriate questions and/or questions that will include all your students, based on your own information.

·      That’s Me! (p. 351):  Use as a check for understanding as well as a quick, daily inclusion – eventually your students can come up with “that’s me” questions.  This strategy can also be used to practice following directions, attentive listening, taking turns, etc.

·      Two on a Crayon (p. 361):  a little bit of inclusion and a lot of influence – a good challenge to see if you really have those agreements working!  Good practice for sharing and appreciation and working in groups…of two!

Energizers:

#7 – Body Music                        #15 = Circle Zs                        #22 – Dominoes

#27 – Finding Partners            #48 – Icky…Bubble Gum            #77 – Simone Says

#95 – Uncle Jesse