Morning Message

Two years ago, I taught 3rd Grade with a very high number of English Language (EL) students. One thing that I dreaded was Morning Meeting or Community Gathering as we called it. I hated writing the notes. I hated the activity. I hated the greeting. I hated everything. 

Since moving to the computer lab, I have started loving Morning Meeting. Morning Meeting in related arts? What?! Now, my Morning Meeting looks a little bit different, but still involves the component of message and sharing which for a Morning Meeting hater, I will take 2 out of the 4.

When students enter the classroom, I have a message already written for them projected on the screen. 

Students have learned from day 1 that you do not ask me what we are doing in class or if we are going to get on the computers. (We are a computer class -- of course we are!) Uf they do ask, I tell them to go read the message. While they are reading the message, it gives me a quick minute to check in with the teacher or grab what I need for my lesson. So even though I have no time buffer between classes, I've built in some with a structured read.

Now I know you are thinking, but what about Kindergartners? They can't read! Well no, most of mine can't even this far into the school year. But they do know their letters and some sight words. I still let them "read it", but they know they need to be looking for something they do know how to read. Before I read it aloud, I let students come up and point to a sight word or a letter that they know. 


What classroom management do you have in place for when your students enter?