Ideas For Home & School 

A place to explore ideas that will help you create activities, conversations and artifacts 
to connect people and world cultures during recurring stages of transitions at home and at school.  
Share YOUR ideas!

The Basic Essentials:  Maps, Calendars & Traditions

A map in a book, on a wall, table or online provides an opportunity to connect to worlds we know in relation to worlds we may not yet know or understand. There are creative ways to use them to connect to where you have lived and where people you care about may be in the world. Google Earth offers incredible ways to visit and tag far away places using satellite images. Maps of any kind are a basic starting tool to encourage global competence at home and at school.
A calendar may be something we take for granted yet it is an essential tool to create awareness of the passage of time and ensure proper planning for upcoming transitions within a family, staff or community. A calendar is a visual way to connect with those around you and ensure time is allocated to welcome people, host events, visit places and say thank-you and farewell during family, staff and community transitions.
Traditions may involve celebrations, events, songs and gifts yet they may also be home-made cards, signings and adding items to a collection. Traditions allow for people to recognize who they are, where they have been, where they are at and where they might be going next. A reflective, collaborative process is encouraged when creating, changing or dropping family, staff or community traditions. Their significance may be perceived differently, resulting in important discussions related to identity, culture and international-mindedness. 

R.A.F.T. - A Process Encouraging Closure & Healthy Endings

Educators
How might you plan your year with the end in mind to prepare your students for change?

Every year is a little different, every beginning fresh and every end is full of mixed emotions. Taking time to plan your year with the end in mind helps your students move through the year together, aware and preparing for what comes next.

What do you know? What do you assume? How can you ensure you are doing what needs to be done to prepare them for what comes next?  Consider where your students are at when they enter your class: 
  • Where do they need to be by the end of the year?  
  • What do they need to understand?
  • What skills might they need to develop along the way?
  • What attitudes will help them adapt to upcoming transitions?
  • How might we break it down into chunks to prepare them? 
  • How do we create clear lines of communication between home and school? 
  • Who else in the community might play a key role?
Having these conversations in your department, grade level and school, creates opportunities to talk about support systems of support to acknowledge the passage of time, adapt to change and prepare for upcoming transitions.

This Planner may help you create traditions that encourage understandings, skills and attitudes your students need 
planning_year_with_end_in_mind.docx
File Size: 23 kb
File Type: docx
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These templates target younger students yet provide framing for visible thinking charts, developmentally appropriate activities and reflections that align with your students and area of discipline.
raft_-_activity_sheets_to_adapt.pptx
File Size: 155 kb
File Type: pptx
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How might you communicate with students throughout the year about the skills, understandings and attitudes they need to succeed in a new grade, new school or new place around the world?  How might you create a goal book, class calendar, use an app or the student diary to make skills, understandings and attitudes visible? How might you provide opportunities to encourage reflection and accountability? How might you create clear communication lines between school and home?  How might you help them build resiliency and adapt to change?  

Parents 
How might you and your family adapt these ideas when moving on to new grades, schools and countries?

Finding Ways To Say Sorry & Forgive
These pictures may help you and those you know talk and find ways to say sorry and forgive - before you go or they do.  

Taking Time To Say Thank-You
Saying thank-you is a special way to connect with those most important to you. It helps you if you are the one leaving and it acknowledges those that you are leaving behind.

Many Ways to Say Good-bye

There are so many ways to say good-bye and they all count. A hug, a handshake, a note, a gift or hanging-out one last time.

Coming Soon: Ideas to Explore Perspectives, Identity & Culture

  • * The significance of our beliefs, values, experiences and perceptions 
  • * Their impact on our interactions with others
  • * The roles we play as we enter new places and welcome others into ours