1. Morning Meeting

2. What is Morning Meeting?
Morning Meeting is an engaging way to start each day, build a strong sense of community, and set children up for success socially and academically. Each morning, students and teachers gather together in a circle for approximately twenty minutes and interact with one another during four purposeful components:
Greeting Students and teachers greet one another by name and practice offering hospitality.
Sharing Students share information about important events in their lives. Listeners often offer empathetic comments or ask clarifying questions.
Group Activity Everyone participates in a brief, lively activity that fosters group cohesion and helps students practice social and academic skills (for example, reciting a poem/chant, dancing, singing, or playing a game that reinforces social or academic skills).
Morning Message Students read and interact with a short message written by their teacher. The message is crafted to help students focus on the work they'll do in school that day.

3. Morning Meeting is NOT…
A disconnection between morning meeting and the academic curriculum
"Morning Meeting isn't another thing you add to the plate—it is the plate.“

4. The purpose of Morning Meeting:
Sets the tone for respectful learning and establishes a climate of trust.
The tone and climate of morning meeting extend beyond the meeting.
It motivates students by addressing two human needs: the need to feel a sense of significance and belonging and the need to have FUN!
The repetition of many ordinary moments of respectful interaction in morning meeting enables some extraordinary moments.
Morning meeting merges social, emotional and cognitive learning!
It will build an even stronger community amongst our Hoover family!

5. Before Morning Meeting, consider…
 A well-crafted arrival time routine supports and enhances that tone and it sets the pace that kicks off the day. What—and how much—you choose to have students do at arrival time can have a powerful effect on how children feel about school. Try to structure the first minutes of the day so that children feel competent, calm, and excited about the prospect of working and learning together.

6. Components of Morning Meeting
Greeting
Sharing
Group Activity
News (message) or Announcements
You will NOT always have each component, however! Sometimes your greeting and activity will be one activity—and that is OK! Some days, time constraints may prevent you from having a sharing portion of the meeting- don’t sweat it!
In the beginning of the school year, we will have to explain our expectations for morning meeting and establish rules. Honor this time, and provide plenty of modeling for students.

7. Cheer Greeting Yeah! And I like to _______. Uh-huh!
S(tudent): My name is ______.
My name is ______.
G(roup): Yeah!
Yeah!
S: And I like to (activity).
And I like to _______.
G: Uh-huh
Uh-huh!
S: And I’ll be a (person who does this activity)
And I’ll be a _________.
G: Yeah!
Every day of my life.
S: Every day of my life.
Every day of her life.
G: Every day of (his/her) life.

8. A Warm Wind Blows
How to Play: Move chairs into a circle. The number of chairs should be one less than the number of participants. Participants sit in the chairs and one person stands in the middle of the circle. She/he says, “A warm wind blows for anyone who____,” filling in the blank with a category such as “has a dog.” Everyone who fits that category comes into the center of the circle and then quickly finds a new place to sit. The one person who doesn’t find a seat now stands in the center of the circle and says, “A warm wind blow for anyone who ____,” naming a new category. The activity continues for several rounds. This lively activity is a great way for children to learn about each other and what they have in common with classmates. Encourage students to name categories that relate to interests, hobbies, and family rather than clothing or appearance. You could brainstorm a list of categories before beginning the activity.

9. Gotcha
Have students stand in a circle and ask them to place their right hand out flat. Then have them make a “thumbs down” with their left hand. They will place their thumb into the flat hand of the person next to them. As the facilitator, you will count to “3” and they have to try to grab the thumb that is in their hand without having their own thumb grabbed. Once they have done this a few times with lots of giggling, ask students to switch their hands so that their left hand is flat and the right hand is “thumbs down.”

10. Tele-Draw
This is similar to the game of “telephone,” with the exception that there is no talking during this activity! Line students up. The facilitator will show the person at the very back of the line a simple picture (tree, boat, house, etc.). This person will “draw” what they see on the back of the person in front of them using their finger. The person receiving the message can ask for one redraw, but must then pass the message along. This continues to the front of the line, where the final person to receive the message will draw what they received on a piece of paper or dry erase board and share with the group!

11. Heckety Peckety Bumblebee
Teachers starts chant and passes a stuffed bee around the circle.
Group: Heckety Peckety Bumblebee, who can say their name for me?
Student: (name)
Group: (name)
Group: clap syllables and says (name)
Group: whispers (name)