The Rock Creek Routine

Routines in our schedule build community and grow student responsibility.

As a parent, you know that nothing happens by magic. It takes time, routines, and expectations for magic to happen.

If you look at our schedule, you’ll notice that every school day at Rock Creek starts with a morning meeting and ends with a closing. These blocks are intentional check-ins, where students reflect on their learning, plan for the next day, and learn ideas & skills to become expert self-managers–from organizing their notebooks to breaking down assignments into next steps.

Morning Meeting gets everyone ready for the school day. Every morning, we start with a 25-minute school-wide meeting that begins with a student-led ritual to energize and connect everyone, followed by an activity to build students’ productivity skills.
Daily Closing consolidates learning. For ten minutes at the end of their last class, students reflect on their day and plan ahead for the next, so that when they get home, they have a concrete plan for tackling homework. Daily closing is also social, as students have time to share their day with their peers and end on a high note.
We also take time on Fridays to conduct a week in review, which is an extended version of our daily closing. Students reflect on their weeks, identifying accomplishments and challenges. They consider how they’d like to experiment with their process and approach for the next week, and they make a plan for the week ahead.
Friday afternoon assemblies are an opportunity for students to share their work with the community. During assemblies, we celebrate each other’s wins and award badges students have earned.