3 Reasons to Have Morning Meeting in Your Classroom

Do you do Morning Meetings in your classroom?  The 15-20 minutes I spend to do Morning Meeting in my classroom each day is so valuable, for myself and my students!

Here are my top three reasons why I think it is worth spending time to have a Morning Meeting with your class each day.

1.  Communication skills  the kids learn beneficial skills like speaking clearly, making eye contact, not interrupting the speaker, asking questions and more!  We start Morning Meeting with a greeting.  This can be a simple handshake that is passed around the circle or something silly like a wacky voice greeting, or a frog hop greeting.  The kids learn the importance of making eye contact when greeting their neighbor, and learn how to do an "appropriate" handshake.  (yep...5th graders like to try and throw in the death grip handshake- we talk about why that's not cool).  I always discuss how these skills aren't just Morning Meeting skills, but life skills they will use forever.  If you go into a job interview and shake the boss's hand with the death grip and look at the floor while greeting them you won't get very far :)

2.  Everyone gets to know each other better-  Sharing is a big part of my Morning Meeting.  I used to have kids sign up to share.  I had a clipboard with spots for 2 to 3 kids to sign up to share each day.  I noticed that kids didn't sign up to share unless they thought they had some major event to tell about, or the same kids signed up all the time.  This past year I changed things up and started letting everyone share.  I worried that this would take way more time than we had, but it really hasn't taken any more time than before.  On Mondays I always do "weekend update".  We go around the circle and share one or two highlights from our weekend.  Every other day I either let the kids share anything they like or sometimes I will choose a topic/question and have everyone respond.  Getting rid of the sign up sheet for daily sharing has been great for everyone!  More kids share each day and we get to hear about so much more about everyones lives outside of school.  I feel like I really got to know my kids so much better this past year!  

3.  Team Building-  The final part of my Morning Meetings always involve some kind of group activity.  We might play a game, tell jokes, or watch a funny video clip.  The important thing is that we are all doing something together that is fun!  It starts our day off on a positive note and gives us a shared experience that is supportive, fun and builds teamwork!  

If you haven't tried doing Morning Meeting with your class, I highly encourage you to give it a try this fall!  I will be posting some of my favorite Morning Meeting greetings and activities in future posts, so stay tuned!