Is your community circle purposeful, versatile, effective? Here are some suggestions for changing it up, making it more efficient, or just giving it a new twist.
1 – Use it as a goal setting discussion for the day. (Maybe for those testing days coming up?)
2 – Set a behavior standard – like a random act of kindness to be done on the playground.
3 – Use the ‘cares-concerns-compliments-celebrations’ topic, collectively or singularly
4 – Incorporate the ‘slip game’ strategy for random topics. Invite student to contribute ‘slip game’ questions to keep it fresh
5 – Use a different method for sharing – ‘talking stick’, koosh ball, student chooses the next to share, popsicle sticks, etc.
6 – Use the community circle for content – correcting or checking homework, or checking progress (for example, in the middle of a writing assignment, have students meet in a community circle and pass papers around so that each may read other’s work so far…)
7 – Have a “student choice” day each week for the community circle topic. Students can submit topics ahead of time, or it can be spontaneous
8 – “Vocabulary Circle” – challenge students to use a vocabulary word when addressing the topic at hand
9 – “Current Events Circle” – Invite students to share a current event, opinion, ‘headline’, etc.
10- Speed spelling – Have a student say a spelling word and the next in succession each say one letter in order (Example: ‘thereabouts’ t-h-e-r-e-a-b-o-u-t-s…would involve 12 students. Make it a challenge to see how fast they can successfully do it)

Those are my ten suggestions – send us yours! click here for a link to post your suggestions to the forum