Are you looking for an awesome way to kick-start your classroom mornings and engage your students right from the get-go? Morning meeting activities with an academic focus is the answer you are looking for! These brief but powerful gatherings provide the perfect opportunity to set a positive tone for the day while seamlessly integrating important academic concepts. By infusing your morning meetings with academic content, you can create a fun and interactive environment where learning begins right from the start. Let’s explore some exciting ways to make your morning meetings educational and engaging for your students. Get ready to supercharge your mornings with meaningful academic connections!
Morning Meeting Greeting
Greeting is the first part of Morning Meeting and a great way to start the day with a positive tone. It can also be a time to review current academic skills. Here are a few ways to include academics into your greeting:
- Greet a classmate and share a fact you learned about _____ (moon phases, 3 branches of government, etc).
- Greet a classmate and share two nouns (verbs, adjectives, etc).
- Snowball Greeting with a Twist – Hand each student a blank paper and have them write their name and a math problem on the paper. Then, once in the Morning Meeting circle have students crumple up their paper like a snowball. Next, they throw their “snowball” in the middle of the circle. They all grab one and that is who they greet and solve the math problem on a white board. Can repeat a few times. (You could have this focus on whatever math skill you are currently working on.)
Morning Meeting Share
Share is often a time to get to know each other, but as the year goes on and we’ve established a classroom community, I like to throw in some academic questions. These Morning Meeting questions could be answered one at a time going around the circle or having students find a partner and/or small group.
- Share and describe your favorite character from _____ (read aloud or book of the week).
- Share 3 nouns and tell if they are common or proper.
- Solve this math problem (give them a problem type that you are currently working on) and share your strategy and thinking.
- Share 3 facts you learned about _______. (Social studies or science topic you are studying.)
Morning Meeting Activity
Activity is an easy time to add in review of academic content. Below are a few of my favorite activities that are focused on academics…
- Digit Place – Place Value game that can be differentiated. See directions for how to play >>> HERE.
- Cards – I hand each student a different card from a deck of cards. While the music is playing they are dancing around and switching cards with each other. When the music stops, they need to find a partner and add their two cards together. Then, we share out whole group. This can be done a variety of ways – addition, subtraction, multiplication, making numbers, adding 3 numbers, etc.
- I Have, Who Has – Great game to play during activity with really any skill. Here is an example of some Phonics versions – I Have, Who Has – Phonics Bundle.
- Story Starter – This activity is a great way for students to be creative with their writing. Students begin their story with the story starter and can then take it wherever they want! I love seeing them use their imaginations and try to choose fun and silly story starters. Afterwards, students can share their writing with a group/partner.
- Noggle – Noggle is just like Boggle but with numbers! For this activity, students create as many number sentences as they can with the given numbers. They can use addition, subtraction, multiplication, and/or division.
If you are interested in Morning Meeting activities already created and ready-to-go with an ELA, Math, and community building focus – check out my Themed Morning Meeting Activities >>> HERE.
Morning Meeting Message
The message component of Morning Meeting is another wonderful opportunity to review and practice new and old content.
- Write a word with the /oa/ sound (or whatever sound you’re focusing on).
- Which character would you be friends with? (from the read aloud or story of the week)
- Pose a story problem and have them solve it.
- Fix the errors in a sentence.
Here’s an idea for an Academic Schedule Routine for Your Morning Meetings:
Monday – Math Monday
The activity and message fit around math topics. It could be review, it could be building background for new content. Either way – it’s all math!
Tuesday – Fluency and Phonics Fun
I’ve had a hard time fitting in fluency whole group, so now it is a part of activity on Tuesdays. We also discuss our phonics focus during the morning message and greeting.
Wednesday – More Math…
This day has been about fact fluency during the activity and review during the message.
Thursday – Vocabulary
Vocabulary is another area that I touch on, but haven’t given enough time. Now that vocabulary is our focus on Thursdays, I tailor our greeting, activity, and message to it. For example, when students greet each other they have to also use one of their weekly vocab words in a sentence. I’ve also found a ton of fun vocabulary games for them to play during the activity.
Friday – Fix It Friday
Another skill we always need to review is grammar and editing. On Friday, our morning message sentence always needs to be fixed. This gives us a chance to review editing skills and continue to add in new grammar skills as we go.
Grab FREE Week of Morning Meeting Activities
If you’d like to try a sample of my Morning Meeting Activity Slides, I have a free week for you to try HERE. This FREE week includes 5 different activities to give you a taste of the Morning Meeting Fun. CLICK HERE TO GET THIS FREEBIE!
Here are some other ideas for Morning Meeting:
Morning Meeting Round-Up Blog Post
Morning Meeting Activity Slides – Volume #1
3 Favorite Morning Meeting Activities
Morning Meeting Activity Slides BUNDLE
