Morning Meeting Sharing- Back to School Fun!
Before we dive into all things back to school morning meeting sharing, let me share a little story! When I was little, the first day of school was terrifying. I hated leaving my mom I hated being in new situations with new people everything about it made me nervous- I guess honestly not too much has changed about that!
Anyway, situations that put me on the spot to talk in front of the class were so hard and scary for me! So as I teacher I am always very aware to not do that to my students. I know there is a time and place that you need your kids to talk in front of the class, but the first week of school during morning meeting sharing, in my room they do not have to!
However, that makes morning meeting sharing a little difficult right? The goal of sharing in morning meeting is to foster empathy, caring, connections, and meaningful relationships. The first week of school morning meetings though, you need to take that time to teach procedure teaching like any other subject needs and build the confidence in your students to WANT to share with their classmates.
Keep reading for the student morning meeting sharing tracker FREEBIE!
How I Set Up Our Morning Meeting Sharing Time for Success
There are so many morning meeting sharing strategies to choose between! I will explain the process I go through with my students to get to the type of sharing I want to use all year- all about me sharing.
Step 1
I always start with a round robin morning meeting sharing. This is when every student will share a quick 1-2 word response. I post the question students will answer as part of the morning message, so they can prepare their answer. I also allow students to pass if they are uncomfortable sharing. You never know what could be a touchy subject for a student especially the first week and if the might not be ready to talk in front of the class.
When picking morning meeting sharing topics for the beginning of the year I carefully choose things that give me some insight into the kids life outside of school! It is a great opportunity to learn about them and build a classroom community!
The first week, I use morning meeting share questions from my year round Morning Meeting Sharing Cards:
- What makes you feel calm?
- What is your favorite smell?
- This or that- author or musician?
- What do you wish you could have more of?
I also use morning meeting share topics from my September Back to School Morning Meeting Sharing Cards:
- Did you spend more time inside or outside this summer?
- What is your favorite school supply?
- What is our most important rule? *could do as a class, school, community, country*
Step 2
Then, I move to combination morning meeting sharing. This is when students can share something about themselves or answer the given question. At this time, I also when I start to schedule students to have specific sharing days. This also helps to decrease worries for children because they know they will only have to share once a week, and they know what day.
Click the picture or button below to get the FREE morning meeting sharing student papers!
So when it is each students’ day to share they can choose if they want to tell us something personal or answer the given morning meeting sharing question. Some students are still more comfortable answering a question at this point because they might be unsure what to share about themselves. Sometimes I keep the same question for the whole week and sometimes I do it day to day depends on the group of kids.
During these first couple weeks of school we learn what a short share is when they are doing an all about me share about themselves. For example, a short share would sound like “this weekend I went to my cousin’s birthday party”. I model this by telling them stories about my weekend with full details and a short share summarized version.
During this time I also introduce QUESTIONS! Students get to ask each other questions after each morning meeting sharing. I also teach my students that they want to share something they did or about themselves, but since their classmates get to ask questions they do not want to give away all of the details!
Step 3
Then by the end of the first month of school we are at full all about me morning meeting sharing. Each student still has their day of the week and they can share whatever they want about themselves. They can also pass still if they do not want to share! I have had quiet students pass for the first few months of school, then all the sudden they have all these stories they are so excited and confident to share. It is so exciting when this happens and I love that they made that decision on their own terms.
The Questions Part of Morning Meeting Sharing
So more about classmates getting to ask questions after the all about me shares. When a student is done with their short share they say, “I am ready for questions and comments.” This is when students can raise their hands to ask a follow up question. The sharer can call on two classmates to ask them a question or share a comment. I explicitly teach and model over and over again how to ask appropriate questions. We continuously practice and review the question words that they should start with to keep them focused.
THE QUESTIONS THESE KIDS COME UP WITH! They are so amazing, personal, and thoughtful. I like to let students give comments also because an important part of morning meeting sharing is making connections. So when they say I got that new video game this week too- now they have something to talk about at lunch!
I think it is important to let the sharer call on the students because it empowers them that their voice is important! They don’t need me to interject and facilitate! Morning Meeting Sharing can give them the power and leadership! Think about it- everyone has their eyes on them, people raise their hands because they are interested in what they say, AND they have the ability to choose the person. This really helps to cultivate morning meeting into the incredible time of the day that it is!
Don’t forget to grab the morning meeting sharing schedule freebie!
What else is on your to- do list? My favorite back to school morning meeting greetings and first week of school activities can help you finish planning your morning meetings!
Feel overwhelmed? I got you! I have the whole year planned for you! Start with the 4 weeks of September Morning Meetings and see what you think!
