Why Classroom Morning Meetings are important?
Morning meetings, circle time, or carpet time which all mean the same thing are a very important component in starting any students day. Morning meeting helps children to build trust among their classroom community, allows students to feel important, and inform students about the schedule routine of the day. Morning meetings also build great social emotional skills, patience, and social skills.
When I was teaching in the self-contained behavioral emotional classroom I had about 15 students in my room who are all boys except for one girl but had pushed in full day in another classroom. Every morning along with my two other wonderful assistants we would hold morning meetings starting at 8:00 am sharp.
School started at 7:30 am and students would come in with their breakfast and eat at their desk while they completed their morning work which was to write a sentence to each of the 10 sight words that were listed on the board until 8:00 am when they knew they had to report to the carpet.
At 8:00 a.m in our morning meeting groups we talk about the following below and this was our routine from 8:00-8:30 a.m everyday!
- Calendar: we talk about what events would happen that day and month such as school related events that were upcoming.
- Jobs: all of my students had a job and, we would review them every morning and give out new jobs daily.
- Social Skills Lesson: every morning we would complete a social skills lesson to promote social emotional development in the classroom.
By doing of these things every day my students build character, trust, and relationships throughout the year, and if this can be implemented in a severe self-contained classroom for children with behavioral disorders then I know that it can be implemented for any classroom preschool through 12th grade.
Your classroom morning meetings may not be run the same exact way as mines but if you do it consistently for an entire school year you will have a better chance of reaching your students academically and emotionally.
Leave us a comment below of how you run your morning meeting routines
Great tips to start a productive day. We actually do this in my corporate job so it works for kids and adults as well!