How to run a morning meeting

1 What a morning meeting is

A morning meeting is a daily routine, not an event. Every morning, at the same time and in the same place, the class gathers in a circle where everyone can see everyone else. For a short while before the lessons start, the point is the group itself: everyone is greeted by name, a few people are listened to, the class does something together, and everyone knows what the day holds.

The Responsive Classroom approach, which is closely associated with morning meeting in elementary schools, describes it on its own site as having four components and lasting twenty to thirty minutes:

1. Greeting: everyone is greeted by name.
2. Sharing: a few students share a piece of news or answer a question, and the others respond.
3. Group activity: a short game, song, chant or challenge the whole class does together.
4. Morning message: a short written message about the day that the class reads together.

You don't have to follow any one program to run a good meeting. But the four-part shape is worth keeping, because each part does a different job: the greeting makes sure every child is seen, sharing builds listening, the activity builds a sense of a group, and the message turns the class toward the day's learning.

2 Setting up the space and the time

A meeting needs a circle. If students sit in rows on a carpet, half of them are looking at the backs of heads, and talking to each other becomes talking to you.

• Choose a spot where the whole class can sit in one circle: a carpet, a cleared space, or chairs pulled into a ring. In a room with no carpet space, students can turn their chairs to face the middle.
• Mark the circle so it forms quickly: tape dots, a rug edge, or numbered spots.
• Sit in the circle yourself, at the same height as students. You are part of the meeting, not in front of it.
• Put the morning message where everyone can read it: chart paper on an easel, the whiteboard, or the morning board on the projector.
• Keep a small basket nearby with what the meeting needs: a soft ball for passing, a chime, cards for the activity.
• Choose a time and keep it. Straight after arrival and attendance works for most classes.
• Plan twenty to thirty minutes. In the first weeks, a shorter meeting done well beats a long one that falls apart.

Decide how students come to the circle and how they leave it, and teach both. A one minute timer on the board and a calm signal are enough: "When the timer ends, I'll see you all in the circle."

3 Part 1: the greeting

In the greeting, every student is greeted by name and greets someone else by name. It sounds small. For a child who had a hard morning, hearing a classmate say their name kindly may be the first good moment of the day.

How to teach it

1. Model a greeting with one student while the class watches: face the person, look toward them, say their name, and use a friendly voice.
2. Ask the class what they noticed. Write two or three things on the board: "faces the person", "says the name", "friendly voice".
3. Practice around the circle with the simplest greeting: "Good morning, Maya." "Good morning, Leo."
4. Once the simple greeting is smooth, add variety: a handshake or a wave, a greeting in a different voice, a greeting passed with a soft ball.

What to say"Our greeting today goes around the circle to the left. Turn to the person beside you, say good morning and their name, and wait for them to say it back. Then they turn and greet the next person. Let's see if we can get all the way around with everyone's name said clearly."

Let students choose a wave or a nod instead of a handshake or high five; some children don't like being touched, and a greeting should feel safe for everyone. Make sure no one is ever left out or greeted last every day. Changing the starting point helps.

4 Part 2: sharing

Sharing teaches students to speak to a group and, just as importantly, to listen. It is not show and tell, and it doesn't need to include everyone every day.

Two simple formats

• Around-the-circle sharing: everyone answers the same short question in a sentence. "What's something you're looking forward to today?" Keep questions light and easy for every child to answer, such as favorites and choices.
• Focused sharing: two or three students share a piece of news, chosen in advance, and the class asks questions or makes comments. Keep a schedule so everyone shares once a week or so.

Teach the listeners' job as carefully as the speaker's. After a student shares, invite two or three questions or comments, and teach the difference: a question asks for more ("What did your dog do next?"), a comment connects ("I have a dog too").

What to say"Jamal is going to share some news. When he's done, I'll take three questions. A question asks him to tell us more about his news, not about something of yours."

5 Part 3: the group activity

The group activity is a few minutes of doing something together: a game, a movement, a chant, a quick challenge. It brings energy up or settles it down, and it gives the class shared moments to remember.

Good morning meeting activities are short (three to seven minutes), include everyone, need few materials, and have no losers who sit out for long. A few that work in almost any room:

• Pass the clap: a clap passes around the circle as fast as it can, then reverses.
• Count around: the class counts around the circle by ones, twos or fives; on each multiple of a chosen number, that student claps once instead of saying the number.
• Category circle: pick a category, such as animals or things that are round, and each student names one without repeating.
• Mirror: partners face each other; one moves slowly and the other copies, then they swap.
• Brain break card: a student draws a card from the brain break cards and leads it.

Teach each activity once properly, then repeat favorites. Children enjoy knowing a game well, and a familiar activity runs in three minutes, while a new one takes ten. Add one new activity every week or two.

6 Part 4: the morning message

The morning message is a short note to the class, written before students arrive, that greets them, says something about the day, and asks them to do or think about one thing. Students often read it as they come in, then read it together at the end of the meeting.

Keep it to three to five sentences, written in the same shape every day so young readers can predict it:

What to say"Dear Readers, Happy Tuesday! Today we will start our weather unit and visit the library. Yesterday it rained. What kind of weather do you think we'll have today? Write your guess on a sticky note on the chart. Love, Ms. Reyes"

The message can also do quiet teaching work. In kindergarten and first grade, the class can find this week's sight word, count the sentences, or spot the capital letters. In older grades, the message can hold a puzzle, a vocabulary word from the day's lesson, or a question that previews the science lesson.

Some teachers put the message on the projector, alongside the day's schedule and a timer, using the morning board. Others prefer chart paper they can save. Either works, as long as everyone can read it from the circle.

7 A plan for the first week

The first week teaches the routine itself. Introduce one part at a time, and keep each meeting short enough to end on a good note.

1. Day 1 (10 minutes): coming to the circle, the simplest greeting with names, and reading a short message together. Practice leaving the circle.
2. Day 2 (12 minutes): the same greeting, then add a group activity you'll use often, such as pass the clap.
3. Day 3 (15 minutes): add around-the-circle sharing with one easy question. Teach how to listen while someone shares.
4. Day 4 (15–20 minutes): all four parts. Reflect at the end: "What went well in our meeting? What should we work on?"
5. Day 5 (20 minutes): all four parts, with a new greeting. Let a student help lead one part.

Expect it to be clumsy. Stop and reteach whenever a part goes wrong, calmly, and try it again. Steady daily practice turns a new routine into a habit, and once it is a habit the meeting runs itself and becomes the calmest part of the day.

For ready-made greetings, sharing questions, activities and messages for the first weeks, see our list of morning meeting ideas, linked at the end of this guide.

8 Older students and short schedules

Morning meetings come from elementary classrooms, but the idea adapts to older grades and tighter schedules.

Grades 5 to 8

• Keep the circle, but make the greetings grown-up: a handshake, a nod, a greeting in another language students are learning.
• Use sharing questions with more thought in them: "What's one thing you'd change about school lunch, and why?"
• Choose activities that are quick challenges rather than songs: a riddle, a logic puzzle, a would-you-rather vote.
• Let students run it. A rotating pair can plan and lead the meeting each week.

When you only have ten minutes

Keep the greeting and the message, which do the most work, and alternate sharing and the activity day by day. A ten-minute meeting every day does more than a thirty-minute meeting once a week. In a middle school advisory period, a meeting two or three times a week is a good start.

If your class has a closing circle at the end of the day instead, the same four parts work in reverse: a goodbye, a reflection on the day, a short activity, and a note about tomorrow.

9 When it isn't working

Every class has rough meetings. Most problems have simple fixes.

• It takes too long. Time each part for a week. Usually sharing is running long; limit it to three sharers with two questions each.
• Students talk over each other. Use a talking object: only the person holding it speaks. Teach and practice a quiet signal, such as a raised hand that everyone copies.
• The same students dominate sharing. Use a sharing schedule so each student has a day, and give everyone the option to pass.
• Students are silly in the greeting. Stop, model it again, and practice. Then praise a pair who did it well.
• A student won't join. Let them sit just outside the circle where they can still see and hear, and invite them back each day without pressure.
• You're behind before the day begins. Move the meeting, don't drop it. Even a five-minute greeting and message holds the routine.

Ask the class, too. Children usually know what isn't working, and a meeting they help fix becomes their meeting.