Do you have a restorative classroom?

Maybe you've been thinking about incorporating restorative justice practices, but have no idea what that would look (and feel) like for our youngest students?

That was me!

The school I taught at did a deep dive into restorative justice training. It was WONDERFUL! As a result of the professional development, we were all expected to build restorative classroom communities. Even better!

But wait… in my resource room, I was supporting students with goals in the area of speech and language, behavior, early literacy, and more. What would restorative practice look like for us?

Restorative Practices in the Primary Grades

I believe new concepts are best learned when connected to familiar experiences, so I carefully selected twenty read aloud book titles featuring the same topics I wanted my students to have conversations about.

Did it work?

It worked BETTER than I could have imagined!

Students loved making connections with beloved characters while learning the stepping stones to participating in a community built with restorative practices.

These mini read aloud lessons also provided the structure we needed for our meeting circles – respecting each others' voice, monitoring our time, and everyone's favorite – using the talking stick.

Restorative Practice Read Aloud Books

What books worked well for our circles? Here's a list of the entire collection featured in Restorative Practice Circles for K-2. Each title opens to a youtube video featuring the read aloud story. You can also find all of the books in the Positively Learning Amazon store HERE.

Here's what is included in Restorative Circles for K-2:

20 Read Aloud Lesson Pages:

• I'm New Here
• The Kissing Hand
• Jabari Jumps
• A Bike Like Sergio's
• Enemy Pie
• Do Onto Otters
• How Do Dinosaurs Say I'm Mad?
• The Juice Box Bully
• My Mouth is a Volcano
• You Get What You Get
• The Girl Who Never Made Mistakes
• Red: A Crayon's Story
• Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon
• Matthew and Tilly
• The Invisible Boy
• The Sandwich Swap
• We're All Wonders
• How to Lose All Your Friends
• The Recess Queen
• Each Kindness

I hope your students love these book selections as much as mine did!

Click the picture below to grab the restorative practice lessons to go with each story: