Right now, most teachers are more worried about the social-emotional well-being of our students than how their math and reading scores will look in the fall. Yes, academics are important, but so is building classroom community and checking in with your lucky little learners. I advocate for an encouraging classroom, and one way students can start every day off on a positive note is with a morning meeting. Find out why morning meetings are more important than ever in your classroom!
Improve Classroom Management with Morning Meetings
Good classroom management is all about routines and expectations. It's so important to start the year off with clear expectations and routines.
Starting each morning with a consistent morning meeting where students can check-in and answer a positive question to get classroom discussion started will help your learners stay on-task. Your students will have a consistent way to start their day with this format to kick off your morning meeting.
In addition, many teachers often include the agenda for the day, materials needed, and approximate time spent on task in their morning meeting slides. Most importantly, it's a time for your students to know what they'll need to keep their day on track.
Start the Morning with Character Development.
Morning meetings focus on good character traits, like the ones taught in the Social Emotional Learning Curriculum. Even if you are directly sharing character trait lessons, morning meetings focus on respectful learning. In addition, each morning is about building community and therefore establishing a trust between classmates and teachers. Morning meetings also help with self-esteem since every member of the class is contributing and collaborating. Many of the morning meeting check-in questions focus on social-emotional learning and character trait questions, such as “How could you help or welcome a new student?”
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Have Fun with Your Morning Meetings!
Yes, morning meetings are about consistent expectations and building character and community, but they are also about having fun! Use the morning meeting to have your students share a unique way to say good morning or hello. Get excited with music to pump up your class for a fun way of learning on or offline. Some safe online music includes Kidz Bop or awesome songs from the Social Emotional Learning Curriculum. How can you get your students excited in your morning meeting?
There are so many reasons to start every day with a morning meeting whether you're in school or teaching virtually. Your learners deserve consistency and community to start their day off right. Check out these digital morning meeting slides to get your students excited for a new school year each and every day
If you need more ideas for back to school or building a classroom community, we have some great ideas for you!
Read More about Morning Meetings
Classroom Morning Routines & Ideas to Calm the Chaos
Morning Bin Ideas for 1st & 2nd Grade
Try Google Slides for Morning Meetings
Morning Meeting discussion slide – are they available through All Access?
Hello Carol, Here is a direct link to browse all of the morning meeting discussion slides in All Access. Have a great day!