Morning Meeting: A Great Way to Start the Day!

When the students arrive in the morning they have their morning jobs to do and then they make a quiet choice of reading, shopping for books, writing, math, or drawing for a few minutes while all the other students arrive.  At 8:10 each day the students hear the song that starts out our day, "I'm Glad You Came"- the Kidz Bop version.  This song signals for everyone to clean up their morning choice and head to the rug to begin our morning meeting.  This song is a perfect way for us to start our day because not only do the kids sing along all the way to the rug, but it sends the message every morning to the students that I'm so glad they are at school and we are all together!

We begin our morning meeting with a greeting that goes around the circle.  Each student hears, "Good morning!" and gets a high 5 or handshake greeting.  The next part of our morning meeting is our share.  Three to four students share each day, and this is just an oral share of anything the students would like.  The sharer takes 3 questions or comments from other students.  This helps us get a few more details and gives the students a great opportunity to show interest and empathy for another.  The final part of our morning meeting includes a quick 5 minute activity.  This activity is fun and upbeat and gives us the chance to smile and laugh.

Morning meeting is such a small part of our day (15 minutes in total), but it sets a positive tone for the rest of the day and helps build classroom community.  I can't think of a better way to start our day!