Make the Most of Your Morning Meeting

Do you want to implement a morning meeting but struggle to find a way to fit it all in? When I first started, I struggled to get every important component incorporated into my meeting. Here are some tips on how I implement my morning meeting in my classroom.

Greeting (1-2 Minutes)

Our greeting is generally a very quick way that we say good morning to each other. Sometimes, we are playing a game by saying hello, sometimes we just say hello as a class, sometimes we say hello in a new language, sometimes we say hello to our neighbors, it all just depends on the day! This is a quick and easy way for each student to get their morning started right.

This is the pack I use that includes morning meeting greetings already typed and prepared, so all you need to do is prep once and use all year long.

Morning Message (3-5 Minutes)

Our morning message is usually one of our quotes of the day. I read the quote, then the students repeat the quote, then students talk about what they think the quote means with a buddy and we share out. We talk about what the quote means, and how we can show the meaning of the quote as a second grader THAT day. Then, throughout the day students look for examples of people or book characters that show the quote. My students LOVE this part of the day and have become fantastic detectives to find examples of the quote throughout the day.

This quote pack includes 150 quotes that are appropriate for all elementary aged students that are perfect for your morning message.

Schedule/Calendar (1-2 Minutes)

Morning meeting is a great time to go over the schedule and objectives for the day. This provides students with consistency, and allows them to know what to expect throughout the day or for any upcoming days. I always allow time for questions about our day, so that students feel at ease and ready to tackle all of the tasks throughout the day.

  

Snag these schedule cards for FREE here, and check out this calendar set here.

Sharing (2-3 Minutes)

Usually, I allow my students to pick their own journal prompts each morning. Typically my students choose to write a story about something or to write their opinion about something. I always let my students share their journal prompts with a buddy right after, but then we share about the topic again during morning meeting. On Mondays, we always skip our game portion and we talk with a partner about what we did that weekend. Then, we go around in a circle and students have to tell us who their partner was and what they did that weekend. This is a great way for students to be heard and feel validated about their experiences over the weekend. After a long break, I set a 1 minute timer and let students share about their own breaks rather than a partner’s break.

Need ideas for journal prompts? Check out this daily journal prompts perfect for any primary grade.

Game or Brain Break (4-5 Minutes)

At the end of our morning meeting, we do some type of physical activity or a class game. My students really love to play cooperative class games, and this is a great way to build a classroom community and have students work as a team to meet a goal. If time is involved, we keep our scoreboard up on the whiteboard all week and constantly try to beat our class’ previous times. We also talk about smart strategies on how we can improve our timing on games as well.

This pack includes games appropriate for your morning meeting that can be taught quickly and played throughout the year.

I hope that you found what you needed in this blog post! If you liked it or have questions, please comment below. Follow my blog for more ideas for your elementary classroom!