Morning Meeting is one of my favorite times of the school day. I know many teacher can use it in many different ways! Recently I asked my Instagram audience what questions they have about Morning Meeting. Today I’ll be answering those questions here on the blog.
How do you set up Morning Meeting?
Morning Meeting has 4 different components – Greeting, Share, Activity, and Message. To help me plan out my meeting time, I use a planning page that you can grab here for FREE. When planning I consider what content we are covering and try to find activities and messages that will either provide an opportunity to review content or offer a chance to introduce or find out background knowledge on new content.
Morning Meeting is always the first 30 minutes of the school day. In a normal – not pandemic year – I would have students create a circle on the classroom rug. This year to be socially distanced students stay at their desks and more of the activities are independent where in a normal year the would be group activities.
What is the most valuable part of Morning Meeting?
This is a tough question to answer. Each part of Morning Meeting is important in it’s own way. Greeting is important because it gives each student a chance to feel welcome and seen in the classroom each day. Share is important because it provides opportunties for students to get to know each other and practice speaking and listening skills. Activity is important because it often gives kids a chance to move and can include get to know you games or content activities/games. Morning message is also important for content review and background knowledge. I really wouldn’t say that one is more valuable than the other. They each have their important aspects that they bring to the meeting.
How long does it usually last?
The meeting is supposed to last around 30 minutes give or take. Here is roughly the amount of time that each component takes (obviously depending on the day things might take longer or less time):
Greeting: 2- 5 minutes
Share: 5 – 10 minutes
Activity: 8-10 minutes
Morning Message: 5 minutes
How do you have time to fit it in?
Morning meeting is what we do at the very beginning of the day so I make sure to make time for it. That being said some days and years I have to cut components. For example, this year due to all of the constraints with COVID and how everything seems to take longer, I have cut out the Morning Message. So that saves a bit of time so I can make sure I fit it in each day. You can definitely shorten the components and run a 20 minute morning meeting – whatever works with your schedule.
How do you do Morning Meeting (circle style) while socially distancing?
So this year due to socially distancing and since I was virtual the first semester I don’t do the traditional circle for Morning Meeting. In a normal/typical year, I would have students sit in a circle on the rug, but I don’t have a rug space this year due to social distancing. If you do have a rug space and a small amount of kids you could potentially still do the circle, just make it a very spread out circle. This year students are in their seats for Morning Meeting. They are able to move around for greeting with their masks on, but still need to keep their distance.
What are you favorite greetings?
In a typical year, below are a few of my favorite greetings…
Ball Toss Greeting – Stand in a circle and have one person start with the ball. The person tosses the ball across the circle wishing good morning to who they passed it to. This continues until all students have had a turn. To add a challenge, we’ve used two or three balls. We start with one and add in more. When adding more, kids have to pass to the same student each time.
Handshake, high five, fist bump, elbow bump
Snowball Greeting – Hand each student a paper and have them write their first name 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. Can repeat a few times.
With our social distancing this year, here are a few greetings students can do without making physical contact and getting too close…
Mirror Greeting – Student completes an action (dance move, silly pose,etc) and says “Hello, my name is Jordan.” The other students mirror the action and say “Good morning Jordan.”
Silent Greeting – Students have to figure out a way to silently greet each other.
Foreign Language Greeting – Students greet each other using a foreign language. For example, Buenos dias Matt, Bonjour Cindy, etc
Air High Five or Air Fist Bump
FREE Morning Meeting Planning Page
To help you get started or organize your meetings, check out my digital or printable planning sheet and guide with activity ideas. Click below to grab your FREEBIE today.
FREE Digital Morning Meeting Planning Page
FREE Printable Morning Meeting Planning Page
For More Info
If you are looking for more information about Morning Meeting, check out my blog post – Morning Meeting Round-Up >>> HERE.
