Contributed by Laura Borgwardt

Description

This transition and skill-building activity offers strategies to teach students the skill of creating a circle in intentional and playful ways.

Directions

• “What does a circle look like? Can you show me with your body—your fingers, your arms, your mouth, etc.?”
• “We are going to stand in a circle, where everyone is part of the circle and has enough personal space so they don’t feel crowded.”
• “Let’s connect to the people next to us. You can grab the person’s hand if you are both comfortable. Or you can make contact with them in another way (e.g. elbow to elbow, finger to finger) as long as the person next to you is comfortable with it.”
• “Let’s take a deep breath in and blow it out into the middle of the circle and when we do, everyone will move back. Our circle will expand like when you breathe into a balloon. This is a great circle! I can see everyone and it looks like we all have our own personal space.”

Other options:

• Have students practice getting into a circle from different positions in the room—from desks, spread around the classroom, sitting on the rug, etc.
• Add an element of time to see how quickly and quietly students can get into the circle.

Also see the resource on Finding a Partner or Small Group and  Group Formations: Pros, Cons, and Strategies.

Supports/Adaptive Materials/Tools

• Practice getting into a circle from different positions in the room–from our desks, from spread around the classroom, from sitting on the rug.
• Add an element of time to see how quickly and quietly we can get into our circle.
• Add a visual timer so we can see how much time we have left, or play a short piece of music that by the end of, we need to be in our best circle.
• Use poly spots or tape on the floor to denote the circle. Tape will allow a different number of students to be part of the circle each time. Poly spots or tape x’s will help the students find personal space.
• Hold up a visual of a circle. When you say, “Let’s form a circle,” point to your visual. You can also make a circle with your hands/body as a visual.
• If physical touch isn’t useful, don’t have the students hold hands, or have them hold two different ends of small scarves. This will also allow them to have a bit more space (a modification that can also make the Human Knot game much easier!).

Possible Roles for Classroom Professionals

• Model
• Hold up visuals

Adjustments for Remote Instruction

To get students into a specific order, you could help them reorder the boxes on their Zoom screen (if they have the updated version). Or you can have them type their names in the chat to create a stacked order.