Your Perfect Morning Meeting Routine
Do you want to bring your morning meeting routine that flows perfectly in your head to life?! YOU CAN! Today, you are going to benefit from my mistakes! The first year I taught in an elementary school that was not a fully responsive classroom. As a result, I had to teach my students to do a morning meeting when they had never even heard of one!
I started the first week of school explaining the directions for morning meeting, then just moving on to do our first one. The kids had no idea what I meant! This is when I learned that I needed to explicitly TEACH & MODEL what the morning meeting routine looks like to them. After that, my dream daily morning meetings became a reality!
Click the picture above to download this freebie I made to help you plan!
You need to decide what you want the procedures and routine for each aspect of morning meeting to be in order to effectively teach it to your students. It is way more fun to think about the engaging morning meeting greetings you will do or which morning meeting activities will promote your classroom community. However, you need to lay the foundation of a structured, calm, routine in order for your classroom meeting to be successful.
In the video below, I summarize my morning meeting routine and some ideas that you should think about if you want to watch that to get some ideas for your own morning meeting routine! I will go through and answer all of the questions on that freebie below, so you can see exactly how I structure my elementary school morning meetings.
I am going to answer all of the questions from the freebie about my 2nd grade morning meeting routine. If you have any questions about adapting this for your grade level or needs let me know! I am happy to help you figure out what will meet you, your classroom, and students’ needs best!
My Morning Meeting Routine
Location
Where will morning meeting take place?
on the rug
What will be your transition phrase to send students there?
“Clean up your breakfast, push in your chairs, and meet me on the rug for morning meeting.”
Will seats be assigned or picked daily by students?
My students chose their seats daily. They are not allowed to save seats or switch seats though once they sit down.
What is the expectation for how students sit? (on the floor, on chairs, etc.)?
My students sit on the floor in a circle around the outside of the rug.
Greetings
Will you have the morning meeting greeting of the day posted or will you tell students?
I post the greeting on the board the first few months of school, then evaluate if students still need it once the know the greetings.
What do you expect from students during the greeting? (eye contact, body language, volume level)
Students need to turn their body, make eye contact, and smile while they greet their neighbor. The whole class needs to track who is speaking as the morning meeting greeting is passed around the circle. Their bodies should show respectful listening. Students should only talk when it is their turn.
Read more about the importance of the morning meeting greeting.
What should students do if they do not remember the name of the person next to them who they need to greet?
I always give time for students to ask the names of the people on either side of them before we begin. If they forget during it, they know to just pause and ask.
Who will start the classroom greeting?
I usually start the greeting.
Sharing
What type of morning meeting sharing will you use? (round robin, all about me, etc.)
I always start the year with round robin, then progress to an all about me share. With my all about me share, each student is assigned a day of the week to share.
How long should students share? How will you model a short share?
My students share 30- 45 seconds. I model a short share by telling them stories about my weekend in a long detailed format, then in a summarized version.
Will other students be able to ask questions if doing an all about me share?
Yes, two students may ask questions for each sharer.
What transition word will show the sharer is ready for questions and comments?
“I am ready for questions and comments.”
Who will call on students to ask questions?
The sharer themselves!
How will you model what questions are appropriate?
I ask students questions the first week and model thinking aloud to show how I come up with my questions.
How will students know who is sharing or what they are sharing about?
During round robin sharing, I post the question of the day on the smart board. Each student has a day of the week that they share. The morning meeting sharing schedule is posted up on my board. Grab that freebie here!
What if a student misses their share day, will they get to make it up? When?
I had students make up their sharing day the next day they are back during morning meeting.
Will you share one day? Which?
I always share on Mondays, because I usually have something from the weekend to share!
Activities
When will you teach students new games?
Most games my students were able to understand with a short modeling and teaching during morning meeting. If they required more explanation, I usually practiced them during indoor recess or at dismissal.
I have TEN free games for you here to help get you started!
How will students know what game they are playing that day and the expectations?
I post the morning meeting activity on the board the first few months of school, then evaluate if students still need it once the know the activity.
What are the safety expectations?
Students may not run, they need to keep their hands to themselves, maintain an indoor voice, and show good sportsmanship.
What will students do if the game is one where students get “out”?
Students go sit at their desk.
What is the consequence of unsafe or inappropriate behavior while playing?
They talk to me about the problem and how to solve it. Students take a break if they need to before rejoining the game.
Message
Where will your message be posted?
on the smart board
When will you write it?
I write drafts Monday morning for the whole week.
Will it be hand written or typed?
typed
When in the students’ morning routine should they read it?
My students routine is to greet me as they enter to room, unpack their backpack, get their breakfast, then read the message while they eat.
Will students interact with the message?
No, because my students eat breakfast in the classroom my smart board pen was constantly sticky with syrup so we changed that plan!
Will it tell them a task to do or simply greet them?
Sometimes my messages ask the students to get out a certain notebook or remind them to turn in a paper. Overall, it greets them and gives them a taste for the day ahead!
Overall
How will you praise or recognize desired behavior during morning meeting?
verbal recognition or a short note
Can students go to the bathroom during morning meeting?
only during the game (because they don’t want to then anyway!)
Will you do all 4 parts of morning meeting everyday?
Most years I do! One year the schedule was too tight and I needed to do the activity as a break mid- day. It was not ideal but our class still loved morning meeting!
Will subs do morning meeting?
YES! My students need morning meeting to start their day!! I leave simple and calm greetings and activities for them to facilitate or I have one of my students facilitate it!
How will you handle students misbehaving?
They talk to me about the problem and how to solve it. Students take a break if they need to before rejoining our daily morning meeting.
Will you allow students to choose the greetings or activities?
Yes! About mid-way through the year I start doing this.
Will students ever be able to lead morning meeting themselves?
Yes! I usually start this around April.
How will you bring the meeting to a close and transition to the first school subject?
The message serves as a good transition for my class to calm down from the game and refocus on our responsibility in our classroom as learners.
How much time will you set for each aspect of the meeting and how will you keep to that expectation/ schedule?
My whole morning meeting is 15 minutes. Greetings- 3 minutes, Sharing- 5 minutes, Activity- 5 minutes, Message 2-3 minutes. I watch the clock to check time as we move through the different parts.
Conclusion
I really hope that this helps you in planning your own morning meeting routine and procedures! You can also grab my first week of school morning meeting plans, too! Please let me know if you have any questions and how I can help you make the most of this special time of the day with your students.
Feel overwhelmed? I got you! I have the whole year planned for you! Start with the 4 weeks of September Morning Meetings and see what you think!
Want to know my top 5 favorite morning meeting activities for back to school?! Click the picture!
Check out my morning meeting resources in my store!
