3.3: Starting and Ending the Day
- Page ID
- 222435
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\(\newcommand{\avec}{\mathbf a}\) \(\newcommand{\bvec}{\mathbf b}\) \(\newcommand{\cvec}{\mathbf c}\) \(\newcommand{\dvec}{\mathbf d}\) \(\newcommand{\dtil}{\widetilde{\mathbf d}}\) \(\newcommand{\evec}{\mathbf e}\) \(\newcommand{\fvec}{\mathbf f}\) \(\newcommand{\nvec}{\mathbf n}\) \(\newcommand{\pvec}{\mathbf p}\) \(\newcommand{\qvec}{\mathbf q}\) \(\newcommand{\svec}{\mathbf s}\) \(\newcommand{\tvec}{\mathbf t}\) \(\newcommand{\uvec}{\mathbf u}\) \(\newcommand{\vvec}{\mathbf v}\) \(\newcommand{\wvec}{\mathbf w}\) \(\newcommand{\xvec}{\mathbf x}\) \(\newcommand{\yvec}{\mathbf y}\) \(\newcommand{\zvec}{\mathbf z}\) \(\newcommand{\rvec}{\mathbf r}\) \(\newcommand{\mvec}{\mathbf m}\) \(\newcommand{\zerovec}{\mathbf 0}\) \(\newcommand{\onevec}{\mathbf 1}\) \(\newcommand{\real}{\mathbb R}\) \(\newcommand{\twovec}[2]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\ctwovec}[2]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\threevec}[3]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\cthreevec}[3]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\fourvec}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\cfourvec}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\fivevec}[5]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \\ #5 \\ \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\cfivevec}[5]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \\ #5 \\ \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\mattwo}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{rr}#1 \amp #2 \\ #3 \amp #4 \\ \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\laspan}[1]{\text{Span}\{#1\}}\) \(\newcommand{\bcal}{\cal B}\) \(\newcommand{\ccal}{\cal C}\) \(\newcommand{\scal}{\cal S}\) \(\newcommand{\wcal}{\cal W}\) \(\newcommand{\ecal}{\cal E}\) \(\newcommand{\coords}[2]{\left\{#1\right\}_{#2}}\) \(\newcommand{\gray}[1]{\color{gray}{#1}}\) \(\newcommand{\lgray}[1]{\color{lightgray}{#1}}\) \(\newcommand{\rank}{\operatorname{rank}}\) \(\newcommand{\row}{\text{Row}}\) \(\newcommand{\col}{\text{Col}}\) \(\renewcommand{\row}{\text{Row}}\) \(\newcommand{\nul}{\text{Nul}}\) \(\newcommand{\var}{\text{Var}}\) \(\newcommand{\corr}{\text{corr}}\) \(\newcommand{\len}[1]{\left|#1\right|}\) \(\newcommand{\bbar}{\overline{\bvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\bhat}{\widehat{\bvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\bperp}{\bvec^\perp}\) \(\newcommand{\xhat}{\widehat{\xvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\vhat}{\widehat{\vvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\uhat}{\widehat{\uvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\what}{\widehat{\wvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\Sighat}{\widehat{\Sigma}}\) \(\newcommand{\lt}{<}\) \(\newcommand{\gt}{>}\) \(\newcommand{\amp}{&}\) \(\definecolor{fillinmathshade}{gray}{0.9}\)Strong Start & Close: Rituals to Begin and End the Day
Strong Start is a set of rituals and routines that get students ready to learn by fostering a sense of safety, belonging, community, and self-efficacy. The routines begin as students enter the classroom and continue through a morning meeting.
The Strong Close whole-group routine is the formal conclusion of your day. It provides a sense of closure to the day and a transition to something new.
Starting each day with a predictable routine helps students feel safe & connected to school, as well as creating time for explicitly teaching social-emotional skills.
Strategy Overview
The power of Strong Start & Close lies in implementing the entire routine.
Strong Start: Greetings
A warm welcome to the classroom reinforces with students that they are safe, loved, and part of a nurturing school community.
Teachers greet students individually at the door to the classroom.
How to do this well:
- Post a student-friendly visual menu of greetings options at the classroom door. Include a variety of levels of touch for student comfort.
- Greet students at their eye level at the classroom door. Each child chooses their preferred greeting.
- Make a personal connection with each child, exchanging 2-3 conversational turns.
Strong Start: Breakfast in the Classroom
When students feel calm and composed during breakfast time, they are more likely to eat, which provides physical fuel for learning and prevents hunger-related upsets.
Students may choose to eat the provided breakfast.
How to do this well:
- Establish school-wide procedures for breakfast delivery to the classroom.
- Set up food on a designated table or counter. Students serve themselves and take their food to their seat.
- Provide clear instructions for students on how to serve and clean up after themselves.
During Greetings and Breakfast, students will also complete arrival tasks like hanging up coats, putting away backpacks, or turning in homework.
Strong Start: Independent Activities
If students choose not to eat, or when they are finished, students engage in independent activities. Students will have something productive to do when they finish breakfast, which helps them have a sense of direction.
How to do this well:
- To start with, independent work should be easy to take out and clean up, and not require any specific amount of time to complete.
- As you feel out your routine, you may try to integrate assignments like Lexia or small-group interventions.
Examples of Independent Work
- Journal writing
- Question of the day
- Independent reading
- Simple centers
- Relax quietly at your table
- Lexia minutes
- Partner teacher could be doing intervention or small-group mini lessons
Strong Start: Group Routine Overview
The whole-group routine is the formal start to the instructional day. It may take place on the carpet, at desks, or standing.
How to do this well:
- Use a signal like a chime or other attention-getter to alert children that it's time to come to the group.
- Allow children who have not yet finished breakfast to continue eating.
- The group routine should be no longer than approximately 15 minutes when it is running smoothly.
Remember: Students must be taught the routines at the start of the school year and provided with extensive, supportive practice opportunities for Strong Start to run smoothly.
Strong Start: Purposeful Partnering
Purposeful Partnering is a ritual that fosters peer connection between students through an engaging partner activity.
How to do this well:
- Choose activities that foster peer-to-peer connection through appropriate touch, tone of voice, eye contact, presence, and playfulness.
- Activities can include songs, movement, fingerplays, quick games, and partner shares.
- Introduce and practice a number of age/grade-appropriate rituals with your class.
Purposeful Partnering Examples
- Create a secret handshake with your partner
- Double Double
- Pat a Cake
- Let me See Your Move
Go to www.wholechildmodel.org for Strong Start activity decks!
Human connection, fostered by building a sense of attunement and synchronicity in movements, voice, and feeling, optimizes brain function through the release of oxytocin, a soothing brain chemical.
Strong Start: Community Building
Community Building is a whole class routine that says "we're all in this together" with a shared joyful experience.
How to do this well:
- Choose activities that promote a sense of team across all members of the classroom.
- Activities can include songs, movement, and quick games.
- Introduce and practice a number of age/grade-appropriate rituals with your class.
Community Building Examples
- We're Going on a Bear Hunt
- Freeze Dance
- Five Green and Speckled Frogs
- Hokey Pokey
- Tooty Ta
- Cha Cha Slide
- Choral singing & Movement (any type of song that students enjoy!)
A sense of belonging is a prerequisite to learning. These rituals give students an opportunity to participate in a collective activity, building trust and relationships as a group.
Strong Start: Breathe & Focus
Breathe & Focus teaches strategies for self-regulation, helping students become ready to learn in the moment and able to use strategies in future times of upset.
How to do this well:
- Use instructional strategies like modeling & practice, role play, social stories, and problemsolving scenarios to introduce and practice selfregulation strategies.
- Prioritize teaching skills and tools students will use frequently in the classroom, including how to use the Centering Space
Breathe & Focus Examples
- Teach breathing strategies
- Teach Centering Space use
- Introduce Feelings Friends
- Mindful Kids cards
- Yoga
- Breathing GIFs
- GoNoodle Flow
Strong Start: Goal Setting
During Goal Setting, students set a daily goal for living out the classroom agreements.
How to do this well:
- During Greetings & Arrival: Each child sets a goal based on the classroom agreements. Students verbally and/or symbolically (e.g., with a token) identify their goal for the teacher.
- During the Group Routing: Students recite the classroom agreements. Prompt students to share what reaching their goal will look like:
- Think of your goal and one action that will fulfull that promise.
- I will show respect by actively listening and tracking the speaker.
- I will be kind by using helpful words when other kids are upset.
- During Strong Close: Students reflect on how they did and move their token to “Yes, I did it” or “Not yet, I'll try again tomorrow.”
Strong Start: Optional Elements
You may want or need to include other elements in your morning routine, before or during group time.
Possible other elements:
- Sending wishes of love and kindness to others
- Arrival and unpacking routines
- Visual daily schedule review
- School-wide morning announcements
- Morning message or newsletter
- Reciting the school pledge or motto
- Completing Classroom Jobs
Things to avoid during Strong Start:
- Discussing current events that may be stressful to students without appropriate time or support to process
- Competitive games where some children lose or get "out"
- Prolonging group time when an activity isn't working
Strong Close: Group Routine
The Strong Close whole-group routine is the formal conclusion of your day. It may take place on the carpet, at desks, or standing.
How to do this well:
- After students pack up their materials, signal that it is time to begin the group closing routine.
- The group closing routine should be no longer than approximately 10 minutes when it is running smoothly.
Strong Close Elements
- Goal-Setting Reflection - Students reflect on how they did with meeting their goal.
- Celebrations - Students affirm one another’s community-supporting actions.
- Closing Ritual - The group engages in a community-focused ritual.
Strong Close: Goal-Setting Reflection
Students revisit the goal they set at the start of the day and reflect on whether they fully met, almost met, or did not meet their goal.
How to do this well:
- Students move a tangible object indicating their progress toward their goal.
- In some classrooms, students reflect verbally with an accountability partner which serves as an opportunity to receive and share feedback. The teacher may also confer with students who need support in reflecting accurately or in understanding the impact of their behaviors throughout the day.
When we revisit goals set earlier in the day, we emphasize personal accountability for our actions.
Strong Close: Celebrations
Students celebrate each others’ community-supporting behaviors.
How to do this well:
- At strategic times throughout the day, including before dismissal, students acknowledge compassionate actions shown by their peers.
- One student describes the kind action that they saw another student do, and then that student places a symbolic object into a Compassion Jar.
- The class may do a clap, snap, or other cheer to collectively celebrate the compassion shown.
Celebrating compassionate actions provides a natural boost of dopamine and serotonin.
For example, "When we were cleaning up, Kaleena helped me sweep the maker space even thought she wasn't working there. Let's give Kaleena three snaps for showing compassion."
Strong Close: Closing Ritual
Students engage in a closing ritual indicating “we are all in this together.
How to do this well:
- Establish a ritual similar to a Community Builder in Strong Start - an activity done in unison.
- Work with students to generate a meaningful ritual.
Examples:
- Sing a goodbye song
- Recite a goodbye chant
- Do a quick dance routine (Goodbye Otters, Goodbye Otters, Goodbye Otters, It's time to end your day!)
A community ritual done daily provides a sense of closure to the day and a transition to something new.