Morning Meeting *Freebie*

Happy Friday Eve!

Didn't it feel like Friday should have been three days ago?!?  Man, tuckered doesn't even BEGIN to explain how tired I am.  My forehead is numb.  Really. Does that ever happen to you? It's okay if you say no...but for real, I'm so tired the bridge of my nose and my forehead are numb.  Only happens when I'm tired. That, and my right eye sometimes twitches.  I've got issues.

I know Morning Meeting was "the thing" some years back. My teacher-friend we call "Barb" and I did a big inservice on it.  In front of LOTS of people. Hundreds.  Okay, felt like hundreds. It might have been 30 - give or take. Holy nervous.  As I remember {after the nightmares fizzled} it went very well. 

Fast forward 4 or 5 years - I still find such power in having a daily morning meeting {or whenever a person can squeeze one in}. You know that pendulum.  Seems that trends in education come and go faster than fashion trends {Gauchos anyone?}.  I love trying the latest and greatest but sometimes I have a hard time letting go of things.  Especially when I know those "things" are valuable! 

Morning Meeting is one of those "things" for me.  It's a great way to build community, set a positive tone, increase excitement about learning and improve and reinforce academic and social skills. This year I have a cutie with Down Syndrome; initiating meaningful contact was difficult for her at the beginning of the year, now she'll walk right up to a friend in our circle, greet them with a big smile on her face all while making great eye contact. So cool.

We pretty much follow the same routine:

Greeting

Sharing

Activity

Message

Greetings can be as long or short, formal or informal as you'd like.  I found a lot of fun greeting ideas from Christina Bainbridge's class website {here}. I printed, laminated, hole punched and put them on an "o" ring. I did the same with her activity cards.  Lots of great ideas in this book too...

My kids' favorite greeting has remained the same throughout the year...

You've gotta get a nice rhythmic chant going as you say it...

The activities change too. As part of our math program we have something called Number Corner {think: calendar}. We usually do these activities during the activity portion of Morning Meeting, but try to squeeze in a fun one here and there too.  You can find a whole bunch of good ones on Christina's website.  One of our favorites is "Pass the Koosh Ball".  I have more koosh balls than I know what to do with.  One year my kiddos deemed me a koosh ball collector and ever since that fateful day I've been given at least a dozen each year.  It's pure koosh madness.  The kids love them though.  When playing "Pass the Koosh" I'll name a category.  We'll be studying weather next week so I might call out weather.  The person who started with the koosh passes it to the right and has to name five things that fit in that category before the koosh makes its way back to its beginning.  Great way to review.

At the end of Meeting we read our message, fix any mistakes that are there, locate any word wall words, and answer the question of the day.

I love question of the day.  At the beginning of the year it starts off as a get to know you question, then evolves into either a take a stand type question "Should kids be able to chew gum in school" or an academic question "How much money is here" {I'll put a money flash card on by the question for them to count and answer}.  Sometimes they answer with a checkmark {on my whiteboard easel} in a designated area under the question or they'll take a small sticky note and put their initials on it and sick it in the appropriate spot. 

Sounds lengthy and at the beginning of the school year it is but as the year progresses I tweak and streamline it so it doesn't take quite so much time and some days we just can't get to it...

Do you do morning meeting?  If not, what do you do to help build classroom unity and community throughout the year?

Switching gears...

Can you believe I haven't finished Hunger Games?  I'm on the third book and have been nursing it since spring break.  I kid you not, I read a page or two, my eyes start to droop and I'm out for the count.  All I need is a Lazy Boy...yank out my dentures and call her a day.

Happy Friday Ya'll!  {I said ya'll - I had to look up where the apostrophe goes...that's up for debate apparently. Who knew?!}