Benefits of Morning Meetings

• Building Community

Morning meetings are a cornerstone in building a strong classroom community. They provide a consistent time each day for students to come together, share their thoughts, and listen to one another. This fosters a sense of belonging and mutual respect.

Include activities like greeting each other, sharing personal news, and trying group tasks. Through this, students learn to appreciate their peers’ perspectives and develop empathy. This daily ritual strengthens relationships among students. It also creates a supportive and inclusive environment where everyone feels valued and ready to contribute.

• Setting Expectations

Morning meetings help set the tone for the day by giving the class a consistent, structured start. They make expectations clear and help students feel comfortable and ready to learn. With regular activities like greetings, sharing, and group discussions, students get used to following routines and can transition smoothly into lessons. This daily practice keeps things orderly and shows how cooperation makes the classroom a better place for everyone.

In addition, morning meetings are a great time to talk about classroom and other school issues that the students are dealing with.  We all have issues at recess or problems with voice levels and other behaviors. Morning meetings are a great time to discuss them.  We can brainstorm solutions, talk about how these problems are affecting learning, and so on.

• Promoting Social-Emotional Learning

Tips for Successful Implementation

• Be consistent.  Don’t just use morning meetings to solve problems.
• Involve the students.  Find ways to take their ideas and incorporate them.
• Celebrate together!  When your class has done something amazing–maybe made some huge academic gain or solved a problem or did a great job on a project, celebrate!
• Share about YOUR life.  Help students get to know you as you get to know them!
• Be flexible.  Our specials schedule makes it tricky to do a meeting first thing in the morning.  Instead, I often have our morning meetings after our recess as a great transition.
• Consider a sharing tool such as a stuffed animal to pass if you find students are interrupting.
• Explicitly teach students how to share, how to be active listeners, and how to make other students feel valued.

Easy Help for Morning Meetings

There are so many different types of conversations that you can have during these morning meetings, especially if you aren’t trying to solve a specific problem.  Check these out!

• Greetings: Start with a friendly greeting where students say hello to each other by name. This helps everyone feel acknowledged and sets a positive tone for the day. This is SO important for the first part of the school year!
• Sharing Time: Allow a few students to share something about themselves, like a fun experience, a favorite hobby, or something they’re looking forward to. This builds community and helps students practice speaking and listening skills.
• Morning Message: Share a short written message that outlines the day’s agenda or includes a positive thought or thought-provoking question. I love to use little quotations and growth mindset quotes all year long. At the beginning of the year, I love to use THIS SET of questions to help my students learn to share ideas, piggyback off each other, and more! (Sometimes I print them as task cards to give to desk groups and other times I project them for the entire class.)

Just a few more!

• Mindfulness Activity: Incorporate a short mindfulness exercise, such as deep breathing, a guided meditation, or a few moments of silent reflection to help students center themselves. Because I often do my meetings after recess, this is a big one for me.
• Team-building Games: Play a quick, cooperative game or do a group activity that fosters teamwork and problem-solving skills.  From “Silent Koosh Ball” to “Guess my Number” games, this can be a fun meeting activity as well.  Here are some more cooperative activities that are great for the beginning of the school year.

• Agenda Preview: Give a brief overview of the day’s schedule and highlight any special activities or announcements. This helps students mentally prepare for the day ahead.

Hope this inspires you!

Want to read more tips for back to school?  CLICK THIS POST!

Want to grab a back-to-school freebie?  Try this great math game!

Do you follow me on social media yet?  I’d love to connect there!