The PROVEN Benefits of Morning Meeting in the Elementary Classroom: The What, Why, and How
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Every class needs Morning Meeting! Read on to learn more about the proven benefits of Morning Meeting, including what it is, why every class should have one, and how to implement Morning Meeting starting TOMORROW!
What is Morning Meeting?
In formal terms, Morning Meeting is a classroom management practice that allows a teacher to focus on the social-emotional learning needs of the students.
Informally speaking, it’s a great way to interact together and start the day with a bang! Morning Meeting truly sets the tone for a successful classroom community while building necessary skills along the way.
4 Basic Components of Morning Meeting
Morning Meeting can be as simple or complex as you’d like, but 4 components are essential in order to reap the full potential of Morning Meeting’s benefits:
- Greeting
- Share
- Activity
- Message
The Proven Benefits of Morning Meeting
Why You Should Have Morning Meeting
Morning Meeting is a quick snippet of the morning– 10 to 15 minutes max! – that allows for new skills to be learned and other skills to be reinforced.
It’s also a fun time to engage students together and start the day with excitement!
Skills Learned During Morning Meeting
The different skills learned and practiced during Morning Meeting are endless:
- Speaking and listening
- Social-emotional skills
- Language arts
- Science
- Problem-solving
- Asking and answering questions
- Asking and answering jokes
- Math
- Social skills
Kids learn all these skills and more while also learning about each other in a safe and inviting way.
Successful Classroom Community
The benefits of Morning Meeting are innumerable! Morning Meeting is a great way to build a successful classroom community while ensuring that each student feels heard, valued, and respected. When children feel supported and cared for (by you and their peers), the classroom environment changes in a beautiful way.
It also sets the tone for a positive day with your students! Unfortunately, some kids don’t come to school on the best foot. As the teacher, you can take these few minutes to change the trajectory of the day!
Even if no academic skills were targeted during this time, these reasons alone would be enough to commit to these 10-15 minutes each morning with your students.
How to Plan Morning Meeting Activities Your Kids Will Love
Morning Meeting should NEVER be stressful for you!
Consider each component of your morning meeting and select different products already created for you that are sure to be full of fun for your kids:
Greeting
Use an attention-grabbing greeting to get Morning Meeting started! Songs, chants, positive affirmations, jokes, or questions are perfect to use here.
Songs and Chants
Grab this FREEBIE for 10 engaging songs and chants to use during your greeting. Print them out or use them digitally.
Questions
A Question of the Day is a great way to work on speaking and listening skills with children– hidden benefits of Morning Meeting!
BONUS: Easily add in a journal writing component to address even more skills.
Jokes
This Joke of the Day activity helps children practice handwriting and writing skills while sharing lots of giggles.
(There’s truly no better way to start your day than with lots of laughs from your favorite little ones!)
Share
Use feeling check-ins or social skills stories to encourage students to share about how they’re feeling or what’s going on in their lives.
This component of Morning Meeting promotes empathy and understanding for others.
Feelings Check-In
Children learn to identify their emotions as they start the day with a “Feelings Check-In”.
This piece of the morning routine will also provide invaluable information to you as you move through the rest of the daily routine.
Emotion of the Day
Use emotion cards and the related activity found in this resource to highlight an Emotion of the Day.
Direct children to reflect on when they might have felt that emotion before or what would make them feel that way.
Social Skills Stories
Social skills stories are a great way for children to understand difficult or new concepts, in this case– emotions.
You will find a social skills story about different emotions in the resource above. This social skills story uses kid-friendly language and focuses on how and why emotions change, differences in emotions, and accepting the emotions of others.
Activity
Use an exciting group activity to promote togetherness while practicing academic and social skills.
Games
Review emotions while playing “I Have, Who Has”. Find this game in the Emotions Resource.
Use the Word of the Day to expand vocabulary skills by introducing a new word each day. Encourage them to incorporate the new “grown-up word” into their conversations that day.
Puzzles
Lovingly referred to as “brain burners”, this Puzzle of the Day is such a fun way to encourage working together and problem-solving– such a great community-building activity!
Trivia
The crazier the better with these fun facts! Kids will be anxious to share the fact of the day with every visitor who enters the room.
Message
During the final component of Morning Meeting, students read or interact with a simple verbal or written message.
Written Message
Prepare a fill-in-the-blank message on the board or chart for students to read and interact with to end Morning Meeting. It can be a:
- Summary of the plan for the day
- Question to answer
- Directions to follow next
- & more
These messages are perfect opportunities to incorporate skill practice and review!
Extra fun: Add intentional mistakes from time to time, and encourage your students to be detectives and find the “silly” errors!
Class Promise
A class promise reinforces classroom rules and expectations in an enjoyable and memorable way! Recite it aloud like a pledge together.
It’s also a great way to create a positive classroom community and belonging with students. Grab this FREEBIE to start reciting a class pledge with your students.
Looking for More?
Get all of these Morning Meeting activities and more in a huge money-saving bundle HERE!
The bundle is also available as a digital version for an even easier no-print option.
Now you know the proven benefits of morning meeting– the what, why, and how! Be confident in your amazing teaching skills, and implement this routine TOMORROW. I believe in you!
Let me know if you have any questions about anything you see here. Don’t forget to pin this post to refer to it later!
You also might like to read:
10 Tips for a Successful Morning Routine
Most Important Classroom Routines and Procedures
MAKE MORNING ROUTINES IN YOUR CLASSROOM FUN AND ENGAGING WITH THESE
Free Morning Meeting Songs & Greetings
The perfect way to get students energized and ready to go in the mornings!
Diane Romo
Thank you for being here! I love sharing ideas with other teachers! If you are looking to enhance your teaching and build a positive classroom community, you have come to the right place!
