i have yet to perfect my morning meetings but i try. i teach third grade. on mondays, we share what we did on the weekend. on tuesdays, we have a today in history. on wednesdays, a vocabulary word of the day. on thursdays, a current events. on fridays, we solve problems in the classroom, compliment others. i have a talking stick. i use nytimes for kids, time for kids, washington post for kids, etc. have the kids go in and find the today in history, current events, etc. i have tried to include more vocabulary....because our school is weak in that area. we also say good morning every morning in a different language....shake the hand of the child sitting on both sides....and look them in the eye while saying good morning....this has been something that we work on....because when the end of sitting next to someone they dont like, they look at the person, etc. i think speaking to someone and looking at them, is an important skill. hope these ideas help.
Wow! I love the good morning ideas! I also love the idea of the talking stick. What do you use for the stick? How does it work? How do you keep them from whacking the daylights out of someone?? (Or your own temptation to do so? )
These are wonderful ideas, Pigger. I will be getting a class that absolutely has social problems in a huge way. Your methods will work very well!
my talking stick is like a wand.....a parent gave it to me. it is carved out of wood...... they dont try to whack each other, but sometimes they get wrapped up in it and end up playing with the stick more than talking....they push it into the carpet, etc. it is about 12 inches long......smooth, we keep it in a special box. i start evey meeting with the talking stick and the only person that can talk is the person with the stick....no stick = no talking.....they do well with that part....some times it is a pain to get the stick from one person to another....but the stick slides nicely across the carpet. did i mention we sit in a circle?....very important, so all parties are apart of our morning meeting.
