Morning Meeting Greeting
One of the most impactful moments of professional development in my first year of teaching was when a guest speaker opened the staffs’ eyes to the potential mornings students have before they come to school. They could wake up, have a delicious breakfast and leave or they could wake up to a screaming baby that they have to feed, or wake up to an empty house and have to find their own food. We can’t control what happens to them before they get to school, but we can control how their day starts when they enter our classroom. Our first greeting with every student can enhance their day or change the direction of a not so good day.
It is important in Responsive Classroom to stand at the door and greet each student as they enter the room. Morning Meeting takes it a step further however, as it provides a way for students to greet each other while practicing a variety of social skills. When I first read that students take turns saying good morning around the circle I thought WHAT? who was time for that?! Then, while doing morning meeting my first year it hit me why that was so important. Although they are not personally saying the greeting to every single student in the circle, being quiet and listening to each student being greeted acknowledges the importance of every single member of the classroom. The greeting could not be complete without every person just like the classroom family could not be complete without every person.
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The most important parts of the morning meeting greeting is that students:
- make eye contact while speaking
- speak clearly
- state their neighbors’ names with their greeting
- have their eyes on others in the circle as they are speaking
Greetings are relatively quick unless you choose a more involved greeting that involves movements or objects.
Below are two of my students’ favorite morning meeting greetings:
To find more morning meeting greetings to use in your classroom, check out my greeting pack here.
Keep greetings fun and fresh with my monthly themed greetings bundle here!
Contact me at any time if you have any questions about morning meeting, I am happy to help!
