Circle Time Activities

Circle time is a great way of building community in your classroom. Through having a dedicated time each week where students are encouraged to participate and share, it offers an opportunity for them to speak and be heard.

Circle time can also be used for;

• team building

• to connect and have fun with their peers

• promoting positive behaviours

• preventing and addressing bullying

• celebrations

Before beginning your circle time session together with your students create and agree upon circle time rules. Such as:

• listen to others

• everybody will have a chance to speak

• always keep the circle shape

• no statement is wrong

• we speak only for ourselves

• we share the voice space

Remind them of these rules before each session.

When setting up for Circle Time students may sit directly on the floor, on cushions, on chairs or stand. Everyone should be facing into the circle.

A good idea is to use a ‘talking object’. It could be a stuffed toy, a decorated piece of wood, a soft ball etc. The talking object is passed around the circle and only the person with the object is to speak.

The teacher should sit on the same type of chair or cushion as everyone else. this positions them as no higher or more important than anyone else in the circle. It is also a signal that the teacher is a facilitator rather than a director.

Circle time can be used to reflect upon the school rules. At my current school, the school expectations are based around the five H.I.P keys which we revisit and reinforce each week in circle time.

Other activities you could do in circle time include:

* Rose/Thorn - students give one positive and one negative about a situation such as returning to school after online learning.

* Peak/Pit - students reflect on their week and state one peak (positive) and one pit (negative) experience. Could be school or home related.

* Wish/Star - students offer feedback on something from class giving one wish (improvement) and one star (something great)

* Read students a picture book and student must give examples of how the story relates to their school rules and expectations.

* Discuss a current event or issue with the class and students relate it to their school rules and expectations, or how it makes an impact on their daily lives.

* 21 - as you go around the circle, children count in order from 1-21 and can say up to three numbers in a row for their turn. The child who says 21 is out and sits down. The game continues with the next child counting from one again. The winner is the last person standing.

* Indian Princess - one child is chosen to leave the room, one child is chosen as the leader. They begin an action such as clapping that everyone else must follow. The other child re-enters the room and stands in the middle of the circle. They must identify who the leader is, within three guesses.

* Palm Drawing - students are asked to close their eyes. One child begins by drawing a shape on the palm of the person next to them. the shape continues around the circle and the last person must identify what shape it was.

* Discussion time - a special person in my life is… At weekends I like to… I sometimes feel jealous because… A goal I would like to achieve is…

* Circle Champion - this game can be used in many different ways. Using mathematical problems, sight words or as an end of unit quiz. One student stands behind another. They are asked a question. The child who answers the question first and is correct then moves on to stand behind the next child in the circle. Who can go the furthest around the circle?

* Murder Wink - one child is chosen to leave the room, everyone else is asked to close their eyes, one child is tapped on the head to be in. Other child reenters the room and must guess who the murderer is. If the murderer winks at someone they must fake their death and lie down.

* I Went To The Market - this is a memory game where you start with one student stating what they bought at the market. The next child in the circle must then repeat what the first child said and then add another item, with each child adding on to it. See how far you can get around the circle.

* The Name Game - one child says a name. The next child must state a new name using the last letter of the name that was just given. Continue around the circle. If a child can not give a name then they are out.

* 10 - this is a tricky one. All students are to be standing up in a circle - a random student call-outs number one, another child at any time can say number two and so on. The idea is to get to number 10 without two children saying a number at the same time. If they do, start again from one and those students are out.

Feel free to join the conversation below and tell us what you use circle time for. What activities do your students love? We would love to know.