A Warm Welcome!
2/22/2020
In our Early Kindergarten class, we greet each other with a warm welcome each morning. Greeting students at the door sets a positive tone for the day and gives students a sense of belonging. According to a study from the Journal of Positive Behavior, positive greetings at the door increased students' academic engagement by 20% and decreased disruptive classroom behavior by 9%. After students have settled into the classroom, we begin Morning Meeting. During this time, students and teachers gather around in a circle to greet each other, share stories, and engage in an activity together. There are four components to Morning Meeting. Greeting: Children greet each other by name. This helps create an atmosphere of trust and establishes a friendly tone for the day. Sharing: In around the circle sharing, every student has the opportunity to share ideas, tell stories and discuss the study topic while the rest of the students listen and respond with questions/comments. In EK, we practice showing respect and take turns speaking. Group Activity: After sharing, students participate in a lively whole group activity. This might include singing, chanting, or playing a game. Morning Message: Students read and interact with a short message written by their teacher. The morning message is designed to serve as a transition to the rest of the school day. During morning meeting, we also discuss the date and weather. Calendar time introduces the concept of time to young children. It also teaches numeracy, vocabulary (month, year, week), sequencing (yesterday, today, tomorrow), and patterning (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday). We sing songs like “Days of the Week” and “Months of the Year” to reinforce these concepts. Morning Meeting is also a time to go over the daily schedule and weekly classroom jobs. We end our meeting by answering the Question of the Day that is written on the board. The question is typically related to our unit of study and is designed to make circle time engaging and educational at the same time. There are many benefits to morning meeting. It builds a sense of community in the classroom, sets a positive tone for the day, merges academic and social learning and gives students a sense of belonging.
Source: https://www.responsiveclassroom.org/sites/default/files/pdf_files/SMMbooklet.pdf Comments are closed.
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April 2021
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