I work with middle schoolers in special education. Let me tell you, some of my students walk into my room with anxiety. So, if we don’t kick off the day with a chill soft start, it’s a recipe for frustration all around. We really have no idea what morning they had—did they sleep well? Have they been up for a while before school? Did they grab a bite to eat, or are they relying on our breakfast? Was there some drama happening at home?
In my room, we start with a morning meeting, which provides a soft start for the day. Each year, it changes depending on the students’ needs.
Three years ago, my morning meeting looked totally different from last year’s morning meetings.
Calendar: Month, date, year, season (video for season)
Weather: Clothing
Either Jack Harmon: alphabet or counting videos
Snoop Doggy Dog’s Doggyland’s affirmations
The morning meetings took a long time because of my students’ needs. One student worked with a staff member using Velcroed pieces and a hands-on calendar. The other students worked on calendar sheets.
Last two years:
- How do you feel today? Share your emotions and, if you feel comfortable, why you feel that way.
- We briefly discussed the weather, season, and date. They understood those concepts enough that we didn’t need to spend a lot of time on them.
- Then, we discussed the obscure holidays. National Day Calendar has a video about one of them. The only issue is they didn’t post the video for the day on time. It was posted an hour after we did the morning meeting. So, we watched the video from the last day.
- Then, we went over the agenda for the day.
It was a chill way to kick off the day. The laid-back start let my students wrap up breakfast and tidy up. They got to share how they were feeling. Honestly, I didn’t feel all annoyed that they weren’t ready to dive into learning yet.
Before you start planning your morning meeting, you need to decide which would help your class more.
- Discussing the weather, seasons, and date
- Obscure holidays and celebrities’ birthdays
- Social Emotional Learning topics – Those nonacademic skills students need but are not taught directly.
- Or something different
Happy planning!
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