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Resources
for Teachers
Morning
Meeting is actually just a component of the
Responsive Classroom approach to teaching.
This is a whole new system of discipline in
the classroom, which promotes student
responsibility and reflection on their
actions. I was trained in Responsive
Classroom in 2006, and have incorporated
many of these strategies into my classroom.
Although many people haven't heard of
Responsive Classroom, they have heard of
Morning Meeting, which is just one element
of this approach to teaching, however it's
critical to bringing your class together as
a community. Many people have asked me how
to do Morning Meeting, and I hope that this
information is helpful to you!
Knowing The
Rules of Morning Meeting
I have certain rules for each of the
components of Morning Meeting. Every
day, you should review the rules of
each component and ask the kids to
tell you what you're looking for.
Morning Meeting Rules:
* Students will sit next to
different people each day, so as to
have the opportunity to greet a
variety of friends.
Greeting Rules:
* Students will smile at one
another while greeting
* Students will give a firm
handshake, not too limp, not too
hard.
* Students should have the
intention of making their partner
feel welcome when they're greeting
them.
* Students will make eye contact
while greeting.
* Students will speak loudly, so
that everyone can hear them.
Share Rules:
* Students who are listening are
making eye contact (or looking at)
with the person who is sharing.
* Students who are sharing should
call on a variety of people for
"questions and comments", so that a
variety of people will get to ask
questions and share their thoughts.
* Students will speak loudly, so
that everyone can hear them.
* Students will share about things
that are appropriate for school
conversations.
* When you're "commenting or
questioning" make sure you stay on
topic.
Activity Rules:
* Students will play fairly, and
not cheat.
The Components
of Morning Meeting
Morning Meeting has 4 parts:
1. The Greeting
2. Share
3. Activity
4. Morning Message
Before starting Morning Meeting,
you might want to develop some
type of signal (bell or song)
to tell children it's time to
meet on the carpet in a circle.
Greeting:
Ok, so now that you know the rules,
you're ready to start. You should
start the first week by focusing on
the Greeting. Review and model the
rules. Maybe do a few "fishbowl"
greetings with kids who you know can
do it correctly for the others to
see what you expect. The first week,
I'd just do a simple, "Good morning,
so and so." and shake hands. This is
just the basic greeting, around the
circle. Do this until the kids get
more comfortable, and then start
adding in some fun greetings. My
favorite greeting is on Monday
Mornings when we do "What's the
News?" Students say, "Good morning
so and so, what's the news?" and the
other student says back, "Good
morning so and so, this weekend I
went to the beach with my family!"
This allows students to talk about
their weekends, which they can't
wait to do anyway! You can also do
different languages.
(3-5 minutes,
depending on the greeting)
Share:
Once they've gotten the Greeting
down, move onto the Share. Make a
laminated "share schedule" so that 5
kids can share daily and you can
wipe it clean at the end of the
week. Create a space at the top for
the "topic of the week". You can
always do a "free share" and kids
have the option of sharing for that
week. (We usually do that on short
weeks) Usually the first week we do
share, I do "Share Your Garbage" and
they bring in 5 pieces of their
garbage from home that represents
them. Do some type of "getting to
know you" type of share. Now, the
other part of share is after the
students sharing have completed
their talk. Then they must say, "I'm
ready for questions and comments."
at which point the other students
will raise their hands and either
ask questions or comment on what's
being said. They must remember to
stay on topic though, sometimes kids
tend to veer off in another
direction! The student who was
sharing may take 3 questions or
comments and then they end their
share by saying, "Thank you, that
was 3."
(10 minutes
typically (2 minutes per child), but
you can tone it down by having short
shares, or not doing "questions and
comments" or just one question or
comment, etc...)
RESOURCES:
Share Topics1
Share Topics 2
Activity:
Ok, so once they're comfortable with
share, add in the activity portion
of Morning Meeting. This is
basically a way to bring the class
together. They learn to play by the
rules, and play as a class.
(5 minutes)
RESOURCES:
News and Announcements
(Morning Message):
Now the Morning Message, you should
be doing every single day, starting
from day one. Basically, you should
write the kids a letter telling them
about the day ahead. You should
model things that they should
notice, such as new word choices,
paragraphs, cursive handwriting,
etc... Each day, there should be
something interactive about this
Morning Message. It can be them
correcting grammar or spelling, or
them adding better word choices to
your "boring words". You can also
have a question/poll at the bottom
of the message, where they have to
come up and write their opinions or
vote on something. You can use this
information to create graphs, or use
in the day's lesson. You read this
Morning Message together as a class
at the end of the Morning Meeting.
(3-5
minutes, depending on how
interactive it is)
Meeting Closing:
I always close my Morning Meeting
with our Class Pledge (hands over
your hearts!):
"I pledge today to do my best, in
reading, math, and all the rest. I
promise to obey the rules, in my
class and in my school. I'll respect
myself and others too, I'll expect
the best in all I do. I am here to
learn all I can, to try my best and
be all I am."
Other Morning
Meeting Ideas
Advice Box
To avoid "tatteling", I have an
"Advice Box". When conflicts arise,
children are encouraged to write an
anonymous question (without
mentioning names) that they can
bring to the class to help them
solve. This can be a problem with
school, home, friends, homework,
etc... I read the questions aloud
during Morning Meeting, and then the
kids raise their hands and say how
they would solve the problem. At the
end, I then state my opinion on the
best way to handle the issue based
on our class discussion. This is a
great way to solve issues because
they're anonymous, the kids are
responsible for coming up with ideas
for solving the problem, and if it's
not a big issue to begin with,
children will just not want to take
the time to write it up, and they'll
forget all about it. No more
tattling! Tell it to the advice box!
Calendar Activities
I don't know much about this,
since I teach 3rd grade and we don't
have daily calendar activities, but
this would be the ideal time for
them.
Mrs. McDowell has some great
ideas for Morning Meeting Calendar
Activities on her site.
Morning
Meeting Must-Reads
Morning
Meeting Websites
Responsive Classroom
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