Ending the Day with Connection and Reflection

In the hustle and bustle of a school day, it can be easy to overlook the importance of how we wrap things up. Just as a strong morning meeting sets a positive tone for the day, a well-structured closing circle helps students process their experiences, build relationships, and end the day with a sense of accomplishment and connection. Just as books have a clear beginning and end, children thrive when their day follows a predictable, structured routine—helping them transition smoothly between school and home life.

What is a Closing Circle?

A closing circle is a short, intentional gathering at the end of the school day that provides students with an opportunity to reflect, share, and celebrate their learning. It serves as a bookend to the day, reinforcing key experiences and setting the stage for continued growth. Through guided reflection, appreciation activities, and community-building exercises, closing circles help strengthen classroom culture and social-emotional skills.

Want to enhance your classroom with Closing Circles? Kikori provides a free Closing Circle Activity every week for educators to access. Log in to check it out and explore how closing circles can benefit your students!

Why are Closing Circles Important?

Closing circles foster a sense of belonging, encourage mindfulness, and support emotional regulation. By providing students with a structured time to express their thoughts and feelings, they cultivate self-awareness and empathy. These circles also reinforce positive behaviors, as students acknowledge their own successes and recognize the contributions of their peers. In classrooms that implement consistent closing circles, students exhibit improved cooperation, emotional resilience, and engagement in learning (Jones & Bouffard, 2012).

How to Lead a Closing Circle

1. Ready, set, circle up! Challenge your students to see how quickly and quietly they can settle into their Closing Circle. Make it a fun game to kick off this special time together!

2. Set the Tone: Find a cozy, inviting space where everyone can gather comfortably in a circle. Encourage students to get cozy and focus on each other!

3. Keep It Brief: Aim for a closing circle that lasts about 5-10 minutes to keep everyone engaged and excited. Short and sweet keeps the energy high!

4. Use a Prompt or Activity: Select a joyful activity or prompt that aligns with your goal for the day. Kikori provides a weekly Closing Circle theme focusing on appreciation, reflection, celebration, or gratitude—perfect for creating positive vibes!

5. Encourage Participation: Invite 3-5 students to share their thoughts each day, making sure everyone has a chance to contribute! You can incorporate a think-pair-share activity, where students chat with a partner first. After each student shares, celebrate with a class clap or a fun chant! If someone agrees with what a classmate said, they can give their “me too” signal, creating a sense of connection and camaraderie.

6. Positive Reinforcement: Make a note to recognize students for specific skills you’re focusing on, whether it’s picking a new friend to play with, using their calming strategies, or achieving their check-in/check-out goals. Celebrate these moments during the Closing Circle to reinforce their positive actions and encourage ongoing growth!

7. End on a Positive Note: Reinforce your classroom values and send students off with a warm sense of closure and accomplishment. Wrap up with a cheerful farewell that leaves them excited to return!

The Kikori 4: Appreciation, Reflection, Celebration, Gratitude

Each week, Kikori’s Closing Circles focus on one of these four essential components to help structure and strengthen the end of the school day:

Week 1: Appreciation

Encouraging students to recognize and uplift one another fosters a strong classroom community. Simple shout-outs, thank-you notes, or acknowledgment activities help students feel valued and seen. Research indicates that peer recognition can enhance students' sense of belonging and self-esteem, leading to a more supportive classroom environment (Hattie & Timperley, 2007).

Week 2: Reflection

Giving students time to process their day helps reinforce learning and personal growth. Prompts such as “What was one thing you learned today?” or “What was a challenge you faced?” allow for meaningful self-awareness and development. Studies have shown that reflection promotes metacognitive skills, enabling students to better understand their learning processes (Schraw & Moshman, 1995).

Week 3: Celebration

Recognizing student successes, big or small, builds motivation and confidence. Whether it’s highlighting individual achievements or celebrating collective progress, this moment helps end the day on a positive note. Research suggests that celebrating successes can boost intrinsic motivation and encourage continued effort in future tasks (Ryan & Deci, 2000).

Week 4: Gratitude

Practicing gratitude has been linked to increased happiness and emotional resilience. Activities like gratitude journaling, sharing things students are thankful for, or creating a class gratitude wall cultivate a sense of appreciation and positivity. Studies have demonstrated that practicing gratitude can enhance well-being and foster stronger social connections among students (Emmons & McCullough, 2003).

🌈 Examples of Kikori Closing Circle Activities 🌈

Appreciation Focus:

Pleased and Proud Appreciations: Each student shares one thing they are proud of themselves for and one thing they are proud of their class for! This is a great way to celebrate both individually and collectively - where we put our focus determines the world we live in!

Reflection Focus:

Stop, Start, Continue: Students identify one thing that don't want to do anymore (stop!), one thing they want to begin doing differently (start!) and one thing that is going super well (continue!). This is a great reflection activity to consider all aspects of behavior - stopping what isn't working, continuing what is and trying new things!

Celebration Focus:

Pride and Dream: Students turn to a partner or in front of the whole group and share one thing they are proud of (pride) and one thing they hope will happen (dream). Here is the fun part - they say both of them as though they have already happened, and their peers have to guess which is the pride and which is the dream! This activity is a great way to begin visualizing success and building neural pathways to get there!

Gratitude Focus:

Gratitude Chain: Students take 30 seconds to think of one thing they are grateful for. One student stands up to share what they are grateful for and anyone who has a 'connection' can stand up and go next. As students share, they link arms to create a Gratitude Chain! This activity helps students listen for connections with each other, which helps validate the student that shared and build relationships among students who may not feel like they have much in common.

Ready to get started?

Download Kikori's FREE Closing Circle Starter Pack with 8 Closing Circle Activities!

Bringing It All Together

A closing circle may only take a few minutes, but its impact lasts far beyond the school day. It nurtures a strong, connected classroom community and helps students leave with a sense of accomplishment, belonging, and positivity. As you build this simple yet powerful routine, you’ll likely find that closing circles become a treasured part of the day—for both students and educators alike.

Every month, Kikori provides educators with four Closing Circles, each week having a different focus: appreciation, reflection, celebration, and gratitude. Best of all, you can access a free Closing Circle activity every week on Kikori! Sign up now to bring engaging, student-centered Closing Circles to your classroom.

The Research Behind Closing Circles

Research in elementary education emphasizes the importance of predictable routines in helping children develop self-regulation and social skills. Studies show that structured classroom closures, like closing circles, help students consolidate learning, improve classroom behavior, and transition more smoothly into their home environment (Resnick et al., 2017). Additionally, social-emotional learning (SEL) frameworks, including the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) competencies, highlight the significance of structured reflection and relationship-building moments in fostering self-awareness and social connection (Jones et al., 2013).

Bonus: The Science of Positive Moments

Positive experiences in the classroom don’t just end when students walk out the door—they have lasting effects that extend into the evening and beyond. Research shows that:

• Dopamine is released when students experience a sense of success, making them feel motivated and excited for learning (Schultz, 2015).

• Oxytocin is produced when students feel connected to their peers, strengthening social bonds and fostering a supportive classroom environment (Theimer, 2020).

• Positive emotions from school can carry over into home life, helping students develop a love for learning and a stronger connection to their educational journey (Durlak et al., 2011).

By incorporating intentional moments of appreciation, reflection, celebration, and gratitude, educators can create classrooms where students not only thrive academically but also feel genuinely excited to return each day.

Experiential SEL Learning Library: Sources That Spark Success

• Durlak, J. A., Weissberg, R. P., Dymnicki, A. B., Taylor, R. D., & Schellinger, K. B. (2011). The impact of enhancing students' social and emotional learning: A meta-analysis of school-based universal interventions. Child Development, 82(1), 405-432. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2010.01564.x

• Emmons, R. A., & McCullough, M. E. (2003). Counting blessings versus burdens: An experimental investigation of gratitude and subjective well-being in daily life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84(2), 377-389. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.84.2.377

• Hattie, J., & Timperley, H. (2007). The power of feedback. Review of Educational Research, 77(1), 81-112. https://doi.org/10.3102/003465430298487

• Jones, S. M., Bouffard, S. M., & Weissbourd, R. (2013). Social and emotional learning in schools: From programs to strategies. The Future of Children, 23(3), 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1353/foc.2013.0000

• Resnick, M. D., Bearman, P. S., Blum, R. W., Bauman, K. E., Harris, K. M., Jones, J., & Tabor, J. (2017). Protecting adolescents from harm: Findings from the National Longitudinal Study on Adolescent Health. Journal of the American Medical Association, 278(10), 823-832. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.278.10.823

• Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. American Psychologist, 55(1), 68-78. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.55.1.68

• Schultz, W. (2015). Neuronal reward and decision signals: From theories to data. Physiological Reviews, 95(3), 853-951. https://doi.org/10.1152/physrev.00023.2014

• Schraw, G., & Moshman, D. (1995). Metacognition, self-regulation, and academic achievement. Educational Psychologist, 30(4), 197-210. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15326985ep3004_1

• Theimer, K. (2020). The impact of oxytocin on social behaviors and relationships: A review. Behavioral Brain Research, 389, 112604. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbr.2020.112604

Do you use closing circles in your classroom?

Share your favorite activities and insights in the comments below!