According to the Northeast Foundation for Children
Responsive Classroom is a research and evidence-based approach to elementary education that emphasizes social, emotional, and academic growth in a strong and safe school community. The approach is built on the premise that children learn best when they have both academic and social-emotional skills.
Seven principles guide the Responsive Classroom approach:
The social curriculum is as important as the academic curriculum. How children learn is as important as what they learn: Process and content go hand in hand. The greatest cognitive growth occurs through social interaction. To be successful academically and socially, children need a set of social skills: cooperation, assertion, responsibility, empathy, and self-control. Knowing the children we teach individually, culturally, and developmentally is as important as knowing the content we teach. Knowing the families of the children we teach and working with them as partners is essential to children's education. How the adults at school work together is as important as their individual competence: Lasting change begins with the adult community.
Consists of classroom and school-wide practices for deliberately helping children build academic and social-emotional competencies across the school day. At Sacopee Valley all staff are working together to implement the Responsive Classroom approach. Each classroom begins their day with a Morning Meeting which includes a greeting, a sharing, an activity, and a morning message.