A few years ago, I dabbled in using a morning meeting in my first grade classroom. I wrote my students a message every day and occasionally did team building activities in our circle. However, over the last two years, I have read many of the Responsive Classroom books and jumped head first on day one last year with using their “morning meeting” in my kindergarten classroom. After a year of using it, the verdict is in. I will never, ever NOT use a morning meeting again. In other words, I LOVED IT.
You might ask yourself, “what is a morning meeting?” The morning meeting is a way to build the community in your classroom. It is a way to help our students be known by their peers, develop into responsible, caring, and kind citizens, and build connections with one another. It is a time where students will develop a sense of belonging and have fun!
It is composed of four elements:
1. The Greeting
2. The Share
3. A Group Activity
4. The Morning Message
In my kindergarten classroom, I started this routine off as I do all procedures. SLOWLY! Slow and steady wins the race every time when setting up procedures! My students had used the morning meeting last year when they were in Preschool so they were familiar with sitting in a circle and greeting their peers. Therefore, I started the year with the greeting and the morning message. After a week, my students were ready to move on. We then added a “sign in,” a share, and finally added in the group activity.
How and where can students sit?
To begin, I assigned every student a spot on our carpet. (I used blue painter’s tape last year to do this but I know other teachers who made each student their own sit spot.) I made sure that from every spot every child could see everyone. This is really important. The purpose of the morning meeting is to include everyone and to build community. However, if a child is in a spot where they can’t see or be seen, this defeats the purpose of your morning meeting. Last year I had an oval shaped rug and I will be honest, I had to adjust some of my student’s spots due to this reason. I am looking into buying a circular rug this year just for our meeting spot.
Once everyone had a spot on the carpet, we learned that there were three ways that they could sit: criss cross, mermaid, or mountain. (Criss cross: criss cross applesauce; mermaid: knees both facing to one side and their feet tucked next to them; and mountain: bottom down, knees up and arms wrapped around their legs right under their knees. {The boy in the airplane shirt is sitting mountain.})
The Greeting
The greeting is the time in the morning meeting where students will greet each other daily. This was a new endeavor for me this year. When my school told us that we had to incorporate this into our day, I was worried that they might get bored of this. However, I was proven wrong. I wish I snapped pictures of my students greeting each other because every day, without fail, when it was time to pass around the greeting, each student’s eyes LIT up. They loved this and it developed such a nice report amongst my kindergarteners.
To kick off the greeting, we start by simply learning our friend’s names. We did this a few ways. One way was by using chants and poems. Here are some of our favorites:
“We Are Here“
(sung to the tune of “The Farmer In The Dell”)
“Isaiah is here”
“Isaiah is here”
“It’s a great day because Isaiah is here”
In the beginning of the year, you can have the child who you are singing about wave to his friends, and have everyone give him a thumbs up. As the year progresses and your students feel comfortable with each other, the child can step inside the circle and either hop around the circle, skip around the circle, give high fives, or dance.
Another great beginning of the year greeting is:
“Bumblebee“
“Bumblebee, bumblebee, tell us your name!
Say it real loud, and we’ll do the same!”
(The student says their name and everyone responds with, “Hello, _______”)
Another favorite is called “Our Class.” (Tune of Old MacDonald)
There was a class that had a boy/girl
and _____ was his/her name-o!
Jump, Jump ____
Jump, Jump ____
Jump, Jump ____
We’re glad you’re here today!
Once your class is familiar with everyone’s names, you can practice going around the circle and saying “Good Morning, ______” in a kind voice. I make sure the students look their friend in his or her eyes as they greet them. As the year progresses, I teach my students how to shake their friend’s hands, introduce a pinky shake, an elbow shake and many other variations!
The Share
Sharing is when students get a chance to be heard. This time in your classroom allows your students to share news, events, their point of view and so much more. In the process, your students will truly get to know one another and practice careful listening. (Yes, that’s a common core standard!!) In the beginning of the year, I present a question and then have each student answer the question around the circle. These questions are usually “getting to know you questions.” Some examples might be:
“What is your favorite ice cream flavor?”
“Do you have a pet?”
“Did you go on a vacation this summer?”
Before I ask a question, I remind my students the rules of our circle: We look at the person who is speaking and listen without talking. This is hard for kindergarteners at first– they are very eager to jump in when they hear something that reminds them of themselves.” To avoid this “jump in and respond” I teach my students a hand signal that means, “the same as me!” I don’t have a picture of it but hopefully my written description will make sense. To show agreement or a connection I have my students put their index, middle, and ring finger down and their pinky and thumb out. (It looks like the “hang ten” sign.) They then move it towards the sharer and then back towards their body a few times. This means, ” I am the same as you!” We use this ALL.THE.TIME. Students are eager to make connections and this is a way students can do so without having to use words. It takes some practice but I promise you it works!! Another motion I teach my students is if I raise a peace sign (which I call my ‘quiet rabbit,’) everyone needs to silently put their quiet rabbits up, too. If everyone starts talking at once, this is a quick way to silence the class, regroup, and move on. With these tools in place, share time is very successful and students LOVE to share about themselves!!
As the year continues, I teach my students how to ask questions about what was just shared. After a student shares I have them say, “I am now ready for questions and comments.” We practice how to make thoughtful and empathetic comments and talk about things that we can ask our friends (and how to stay on topic!) I tell my class that coming up with questions and comments is part of their job as good listeners.
As the year progresses, some sharing ideas include:
*Sharing art work
*Bringing in pictures of their family
*Sentence frames (You can hold up a cone and say, “I know this is a cone, but it could be a ________”)
*Students could share a fun fact that they learned
After “The Share” it’s time for the “Group Activity.”
Group Activity
For this game I gave my students a magnetic ornament and they had to hide it behind a Christmas tree while their friends’ eyes were shut. Once they hid the ornament they would then say, okay, “open your eyes!” And the studets would raise their hand to guess which tree it was under by reading the blend. The hider then picks a friend and they come up, read the blend, and peak under the tree. If they were correct, they got to hide the ornament next.
The group activity can be SO many things. It’s a way to provide all class members to learn a common set of poems, songs, and games as well as a way to foster cooperation and inclusion. You can play academic games or team building activities.
Some of our favorite activities last year were learning new poems and songs. My class loved singing “Aroostasha” early on in the year. (as a note, in my class I don’t use the word “butt” I was the word bottom.)
We also love the tooty ta and Greg and Steve’s listen and move! (I LOVE my Greg and Steve cds– we use them OFTEN!!)
*Switch Spots!
To play this game, one person will stand up in the front of the class. They will say one truth. (I have a brother, I like to play soccer, etc.) Whoever connects to the statement has to stand up and switch spots with another person who agrees with the statement. As people switch spots, the person who spoke tries to get in an empty spot. The person who is without a seat gets to share next.
An academic game that we play is mix and mingle (I give everyone a card/object) and they have to go and ask their friends something about their item. Ideas include: what is the beginning sound in this picture? What sound does this letter make? What is a word that rhymes with my picture/word? Is my word a real or nonsense word?
Finally, after the group activity comes the morning message.
The Morning Message
The morning message provides information to the students through a letter written by the teacher. This is an easy way to reinforce skills that you are learning about and actively engage your students. On the following chart we had learned how to write a capital D, F and R. I had different students come up and trace my yellow letters. I had different students pick out their favorite (scented) marker and circle a certain letter. (this serves as a quick assessment as well!) Finally, we practiced our sight words together.
In this next letter, I used the morning message to intrigue my students as to the book we would be reading that day. My students guessed what book it might be based on my illustrations. (We’re Going On A Bear Hunt)
In my classroom, after the morning message is over, I have my student of the day dismiss us from the carpet and sign our sign in chart. One way that we do this is by using bells. To do this, I hand my student the bells and have them walk to a friend without making the bells jingle. Once they get to their friend they tap the friend on the shoulder with the bells and go sign in. This continues until everyone has gone to sign in.
At the beginning of the year, I write all my student’s names on post it notes and they pick how they answer the question with their post it note. After they get the hang of signing in, they sign their names on the chart or white board. (As they wait for their friends to finish, they practice their grace and courtesy lessons.)
Then they get to work to choose a center activity!
I hope you enjoyed this post!
If you are looking for more resources for understanding the morning meeting, I highly recommend this book!
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