Morning Meeting

Morning Meeting

“Thousands of K-8 teachers across the nation launch their school days with Morning Meeting, a daily routine that brings students and teachers together in a circle to greet one another, to share and respond to each other’s news, to think together, to play together, to look forward to the events in the day ahead.”

Roxann Kriete, author of The Morning Meeting Book

Morning Meeting occurs daily as a time for teachers and students to start the day in a positive tone, build community, and foster active participation while practicing academic and social skills. Morning Meeting has four components that occur in this order:

1) Greeting

2) Sharing

3) Group Activity

4) Morning Message

5) Greeting

Purpose:

• To greet and welcome each other to the room
• To set a positive tone for the day
• To establish friendships
• To learn and use everyone’s name

Children greet each other by name. This may include clapping, handshaking, singing and other activities in the greeting. Teacher encourages a variety of greetings including greetings that would reinforce academic skills.

Sharing

Purpose:

• To know and be known
• To develop the ability to speak in front of a group
• To value the opinions of others
• To provide the opportunity for children to articulate thoughts, feelings, and ideas in a relaxed environment
• To learn about each other
• To develop self-esteem and respect for others

One at a time, children share experiences with the class. Experiences could be social or academic based. The sharer asks the class for questions and comments and then responds to the questions or comments.

Group Activity

Purpose:

• To make learning fun
• To foster active participation
• To build class cohesion and spirit
• To encourage cooperation rather than competition
• To allow children to participate at their own level

The group activity should include games, songs, poems, problem solving or cooperative playing. The activity could be academic based and always has an element of fun and includes all group members.

Morning Message

Purpose:

• To transition and orient children to the class day
• To make sure children are aware of special events or changes in routine
• To develop and reinforce language, math and thinking skills
• To make the connection between spoken and written language

The morning message is an exciting interactive chart. It includes special events and any announcements that differ from the regular schedule. It also includes curriculum content.

Parent Communication

• Open parent communication is a vital component of a successful social skills curriculum. Ideas for communication include:
• Having students share what they have learned about this topic with a parent
• Addressing this topic in your weekly newsletter home
• Sending home a letter to parents addressing the topic in your classroom.  

For more information, consult The First Six Weeks of School and The Morning Meeting Book or visit www.responsiveclassroom.org