Morning meeting has evolved over the years in my classrooms, but I have always found it to be the most important part of our day!
Let’s clarify that this is NOT the same as morning circle, where you might check the weather and do a calendar based routine. Morning meeting focuses on centering the day and community building! There are many routines that teachers use for morning meeting based on specific formats, and all of them I’m sure have a very specific place and work for many teacher styles and classroom populations. Across my 9 years in the classroom, I have found a recipe of 6 steps that works for me:
1.) Classroom Song
2.) Check-in
3.) Morning Message
4.) Greeting
5.) Share
6.) Read Aloud
Are you looking for ready to go slides that can facilitate this process in a more “no-prep” fashion? Look no further!
1.) Classroom Song
At the beginning of the school year, I create a menu of songs for the class to vote on to determine what our classroom song will be. Some of our choices were Fight Song by Rachel Platten, The Power of Yet by Janelle Monet, Lean on Me by Bill Withers, Count on Me by Bruno Mars, and What I Am by Will.I.Am. Once the song was chosen, we listened to the song (and often watched the music video on the Smart Board) every morning. Music helps create a sense of community! All of the students know the same song, plus creates a special ritual that students can rely on everyday.
2.) Check-In
Next is checking in. Over the years I have had students check-in with feelings verbally, using pictures, using communication devices, or check in with their “zone” using the Zones of Regulation program. Regardless of communication style, I always gave students a menu of facial expressions that depict common emotions to help them determine how they’re feeling. Many students like to talk a LOT about what they did that morning, how their night went, or why they’re feeling a certain way. Your time constraints and classroom size will determine how much you want to do this. You can also encourage students to write you a note about their feelings if you don’t have the time for each child to have an extensive check in. This ritual helps your students understand that feelings are important, that you care, and builds empathy among the class. It’s also a great way for you to have an idea of where each student is coming from each morning.
Looking for some free feelings check-ins? Grab them in my free resource library, I have several to choose from!
3.) Morning Message
This is a common practice in many classrooms, and I love it! There’s many ways to run your morning message. Over the years I have had students copy our morning message into a notebook, use the information to fill in a daily page, or just simply listen to a classmate or me read it aloud. The morning message gives students some information about the day (like what’s for lunch/snack, if they have a specials class that day, etc) and notifies of any changes. I have found that this routine really eases students with anxiety about the day.
4.) Greeting
Greetings can be so fun, and help all students get comfortable speaking to each other. There are so many ways to facilitate greeting. It could be something simple (“Fist bump 3 people”), to something more complicated (“Look to the classmate on your right, say hello, and say an adjective that describes them that begins with the first letter of their name.”). During this time, I have found it really important to stay away from gender-based greeting ideas (ex: “Find a girl in the classroom and give her a high five”, “Say hello using manners by calling one another Mr and Miss”). This may be exclusionary to students who are unsure of which pronouns and gender names they identify with. This can also be a great time to teach students how to say “Hello” or an informal greeting in a different language. I have had students that knew greetings in languages other than English that they want to share with the class!
5.) Share
This is always my favorite part of morning meeting! Share is when a question is posed and students get a chance to answer it. Depending on the size of your class, you can have students turn and talk to a classmate, or share their response out loud with the class. Questions can be things like, “What is your favorite pizza topping?”, “What is one thing you would change if you were the President?”, “What is your least favorite breakfast food?” On Mondays, I always have students share what they did over the weekend, and on Fridays we share our most memorable moment from the week. A fun idea would be to do “pow wows” on Fridays – a “pow” being a not so great moment from the week, a “wow” being a great moment from the week.
6.) Read Aloud
Once students are engaged and (hopefully) feeling settled, I love doing a read aloud! Here are some awesome books that can help infuse SEL themes into your day.
All of morning meeting steps can be modified to meet a wide range of learners. Asking yes/no questions for share, recording the morning message on a Big Mac for students to press so the class can hear, having a student hit a switch to begin the classroom song, making the read aloud an opportunity for choice making, etc.
How will you make morning meeting accessible in your classroom?
