Greetings

Greetings

·         Takes less than three minutes everyday

·         This is a time for students to interact with each other and start off the day on a positive note

·         Students make eye contact, shake hands and speak in a respectful clear tone

·         Gives practice in offering hospitality

·         Provides a sense of recognition and belonging

·         Greeting should be done every day even if you don’t have time for a full meeting

Here are some videos to show you the different types of greetings that you can do in your classroom.

• One Minute Greeting

• Formal Greeting

• Picture Greeting

Reaction to Greetings

When I read about the all the different types of greetings there are in book I was amazed. There are 45 different greetings in this book, some greetings are good for beginning of the year, later in the year, others are for ESL students, younger students, older students, academic, and song and chant. The author provides you with all these greetings so you won’t have to do the same greeting over and over again. You can change it up when necessary. By doing greetings, the students learn to use friendly and appropriate body language and tone of voice.  You can look up on YouTube for examples of greeting like I did above. This way you can see how it needs to be done. This is a great way to start off your day, when I was in elementary I don't recall having a morning meeting at all. I don't remember greeting my classmates. I do remember saying "hi" to my friends in the class. This would have been great for me because it would have allowed me to interact with other students and I would have probably remembered them more if I talked to them.

This site is a blog about a kindergarten teacher. He has his students greet each other by using numbers or shapes instead of their names.  

Resources

Kriete, R. (2011, 08). The power of morning meeting. Retrieved from https://www.responsiveclassroom.org/article/power-morning-meeting

Neft. (2011, October 22). Morning meeting greetings.mov. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwI1tmPWRlk

Responsive Classroom Newsletter. (2010, June 30).Morning meeting: One-minute greeting. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvqY5ybRcng

Responsive Classroom (2010, August 25). Morning meeting greetings - picture greeting. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0x-HGko8vJY
Smedley, Greg. “Morning Meeting Monday!” thekindergartensmorgasboard.com. 3 December 2012. Web. 28 January 2014. 

Overview of The Morning Meeting



My First Impression

I picked up this book,The Morning Meeting Book, by Roxann Kriete, in one of my classes because it was a required reading. We had the option of choosing one book from the five that were listed. When I first saw the book I thought about Morning Meetings in pre-school and kindergarten. I was not that excited to learn about Morning Meetings because I have seen them done and knew what occurs during these meetings. But as I read the first chapter, my initial opinion changed. The author starts out with a story about a young girl in high school. The girl thanked her (the author because she was her teacher) for greeting her every morning and for taking the time to notice her; the girl felt that she was letting her teacher down because she had decided to drop out of school. The teacher then realized just how important a greeting can be and how powerful it truly can be that it can make an impact on a student’s life.

 

The Morning Meeting consists of

·         Greeting The children greet each other by name, majority of the time they also do a handshake (depending on the greeting activity); they also clap, sing, and do other fun activities	•              Sharing Students share some news of interest to the class and respond to each other, articulating their thoughts, feelings, and ideas in a positive manner
•              Group Activity  The whole class does a short activity together, building class cohesion through active participation	·         News and Announcements  Students develop language skills and learn about the events in the day ahead by reading and discussing a daily message posted for them

These four components, up above, are very important when conducting a Morning Meeting.

Introducing the Morning Meeting to your students

You want to explain to your students that each morning you are all going to have a meeting on the rug. Share your hopes and goals for that day.

·         I hope that we will all get to know one another-not just out best friends

·         I want us to be able to practice taking care of each other so that we can all feel good about being in this class

·         I want us to be able to share different experiences and ideas

After you have introduced what a morning meeting is, generate the rules with your students.  

 

As a teacher you always want pay attention whom the students greet, where they sit, which students are rarely the recipients of thoughtful comments- these gestures state two messages; you value the skills and attitudes that specific actions reflect and you believe in the capacity of your students to accomplish them. Reinforce positive behaviors by framing your comments in a positive way; help them identify what would be a better way, rather than naming what it is they are not doing.  You can think of these comments as the “three R’s”----reinforcing, reminding, or redirecting comments. If you want to learn more about the three R's please read the responsive classroom news article.  This article tells you step by step on how to use the three R's effectively. 


The Responsive Classroom website is a great tool for teachers to know and use. They have great resources for educators, provide you with workshops, newsletters, and the site gives you book reviews and how you can use them in your classroom. 

 Resources 

Anderson , M. (2009, December 15). Handling the holidays: Morning meeting sharing. Retrieved from https://www.responsiveclassroom.org/blog/handling-holidays-morning-meeting-sharing

Anderson, M. (2009, December 16). Handling the holidays: Morning meeting group activity. Retrieved from https://www.responsiveclassroom.org/blog/handling-holidays-morning-meeting-group-activityResponsive Classroom Newsletter. (Winter , 2014).Reinforcing, reminding, and redirecting. Retrieved from http://www.responsiveclassroom.org/article/reinforcing-reminding-and-redirecting 

Submitted Article (2011, October 19). Apw implements responsive classroom to grades k-6. Retrieved 

from http://oswegocountytoday.com/apw-implements-responsive-classroom-to-grades-k-6/

Rules. (2011, September 14). Retrieved from http://tckteacher.blogspot.com/2011/09/rules.html

Valentine, T. (2011, June 02). Morning meeting and academics. Retrieved from https://www.responsiveclassroom.org/blog/morning-meeting-and-academics