Río Gallinas School

by Fiona Whitten

I am a student in Ms Tara’s 5th grade class. Every morning we have crew and one of the things we have done is Circle Discussion.

We all sit in a circle on a rug and all students were given an index card. Each student went to a separate place in the classroom. On the card, we were told that no name was required, but we did write something that we might want or need from the other students or from the teacher. It could be a problem that the student wanted advice about or help with.

An example is, one student wrote “I have nightmares almost every night” and asked for student’s help to find a solution. Some suggestions were “to get a night-light”, “put a good smelling essence in your pillow to help you to relax” and “get a heating pad to put on your stomach or under your blanket to help you feel more cozy.”

All the students seemed to really appreciate the Circle Discussion because it seemed to help getting tips on how to handle their problems. The Circle Discussion made us all feel like we had positive support from each other!