I’ve been thinking about routines that worked for my class back in the spring. This year, I plan to start small and choose just one routine to establish at a time. When that is established and I’m feeling on top of the routine, I may add another. Keyword is “may.” I am going to do my best, but not put pressure on myself to keep adding on more and more.
I’m going to share several routines in the next few posts, so be sure to subscribe so you won’t miss anything!
Today’s post is about morning meetings.
Last year I wrote a post about how to get class circle/morning meetings started.
Some of the tips for getting class meetings started won’t work for virtual learning (such as the snake activity or the human knot, for instance), but many others will.
Here are 10 fun activities I’ve tried.
1 – ask a question and allow every student to respond. They can respond in the chat on Zoom or Google Meet, they can respond to a Google Classroom question or on a Padlet wall, or you can call random names and let students respond verbally. (The Popsicle Sticks app is great for generating random names, similar to having names on popsicle sticks in your classroom. This helps ensure that you include everyone, not just kids with cameras on who are raising their hands.)
Some fun questions to ask:
*If you could have any superpower what would it be and why?
*Give a compliment or an appreciation to someone in our class.
*If you could have one wish, what would it be?
*Share one rose (good thing) and one thorn (challenge) from your weekend or from the past week.
*Share one thing you like about our learning situation right now and one thing you would change.
*If you could be an animal/tree/season, what would it be?
*Share a sight/sound/smell that makes you happy.
*What is something that has made you smile this week?
*Who or what are you grateful for?
2 – Would you rather questions are fun too. (Rachel at Minds in Bloom is my go-to resource for great questions.)
3 – Share a fact from This Day in History
4 – Share a quote of the day from The Ultimate Book of Inspiring Quotes for Kids, Sparkle at Every Step, or 365 Days of Wonder
5 – Share something about the day from Days of the Year (obviously not all of these are appropriate to share with kids, but I can always find one that makes for a fun discussion!)
6 – Share the wonder of the day from Wonderopolis
7 – Discuss something from Kids’ Book of Questions.
8 – Go on a Friday field trip together (Here’s a link to my blog post of field trip options!)
9 – Play a favorite song. Here’s a list of my favorites!
*Rainbow by Kacey Musgraves
*Good Job by Alicia Keys
*A Million Dreams from The Greatest Showman
*Anything Could Happen by Ellie Goulding
*Be Nice by the Black-Eyed Peas
*Brave by Sara Bareilles
*The Champion by Carrie Underwood & Ludacris
*The Climb by Miley Cyrus
*Count on Me by Bruno Mars
*Eye of the Tiger by Survivor
*Firework by Katy Perry
*Good Feeling by Flo Rida
*Happy by Pharrell Williams
*Have it All by Jason Mraz
*I Am by will.i.am (on Sesame Street)
*Keep Your Head Up by Andy Grammer
*Roar by Katy Perry
*This is Me from The Greatest Showman
*Try Everything by Shakira
*Unwritten by Natasha Beddingfield
*Upside Down by Jack Johnson
*You’ve Got a Friend in Me from Toy Story
*Rise Up by Andra Day
*Wavin’ Flag by K’naan
*Fight Song by Alicia Keys
*Best Day of My Life by American Authors
*Can’t Stop the Feeling from Trolls
10 – If you need more ideas, here’s my post about fun activities to do in Zoom or Google Meet.
I hope you got some ideas for how to make your morning meetings a positive start to the day!