There may be a specific challenge or situation that your class would benefit from exploring that is not covered in the topic weeks. Such situations might be school-based (such as the loss of a class pet; incidents of vandalism; illness of a student or staff member) or might originate outside of school (such as trauma in the neighborhood environment, natural disasters, or significant events in the news). You may also want to add an additional week of instruction to an existing Topic Week because students need additional support and conversation around that topic.
When the need arises to delve into a new topic, or dive deeper into a topic, there is a guide in the back of each Grade 2–8 Teacher’s Manual after the first ten weeks of lessons. This is entitled, “Open Week: Create Your Own Week.” This template guides teachers through the selection of the Social Development Focus for the week, the selection of a Greeting and Closing (2–5), the creation of daily activities for the Morning/Advisory Circles, a Home Connection activity, and an outline for a Class Meeting. This helps you facilitate a discussion of the situation, addressing what happened, the students’ feelings and questions about it, the impact of the situation on the students and others, and what, if anything, the students might want to do in response. These guidelines may be used or adapted as appropriate for the class and the situation.
A template to “Create Your Own Topic Week” is also available on the Learning Portal in the form of a downloadable and editable PDF. This “Open Week Planning Tool” includes pull-down menus for the Social Development Focus, fillable space to plan the Greeting, activities, and Class Meeting along with an editable Home Connection template. The “Open Week Planning Tool” is designed to be used in conjunction with the template in the Teacher’s Manual, not replace it.
Find the “Create Your Own Topic Week” activity on the Learning Portal:
Learning Portal > Teacher Learning System > Caring School Community > Elements of Instruction > Create Your Own Topic Week