Morning Meeting

The Morning Message

14th August 2024 shemogani Leave a comment

The Morning Meeting is a special time for the classroom community. It is a time when we greet the children and adults by name and prepare to settle in to play, explore and learn together. Morning Meeting activities help build a strong sense of community and set the children up for success. The children are encouraged to listen, look at the speaker and manage their bodies, which sets the tone for a respectful and trusting learning environment.

Another component of the Morning Meeting is the morning message. The children read and interact with a short message written by the children and/or teacher. The morning message may highlight a task for the day or provide information on the day’s activities. Creating and reading the message builds language awareness.

A small group of children were invited to write the message. Their task was to create the first part of the message. The children were encouraged to listen to the sounds in words to help with spelling. They will use this strategy to write for different purposes and situations in K2.At this developmental stage, the focus is on developing an understanding of letters and sounds through inventive spelling. We will continue to add to our message over the next few days.

Approaches to Learning (ATL’s)

understand symbols
understand that mark-making carries meaning
use mark-marking to convey meaning

Readers, Writers and Mathematicians

14th November 2023 shemogani Leave a comment

At the beginning of the school year, the children wrote the morning message. They used what they knew about letters and sounds to spell the words.

The Morning Message often includes a question or a wondering that leads to discussions, literacy or mathematical activities. While reading the message we identify letters of the alphabet and familiar High Frequency words. The children are encouraged to notice important reminders as writers; spaces between words, capital letters to start a sentence and punctuation at the end of a sentence.

Groups of children often meet with a teacher to work on key literacy skills. These are dedicated times when the children explore books to learn the different skills and strategies that readers and writers use to communicate effectively.

Activities that follow reading experiences usually involve reflecting on reading and using drawing, writing and spoken words to express an idea. The children might share an important part of the story, talk about the characters and settings, or discuss the different ideas presented in fiction and non-fiction texts.

It is important to remember that each child is an individual who works on specific skills while reading independently or collaboratively.

With prompting and support the children:

ask and answer questions about key details in a text
retell familiar stories, including key details
identify characters, settings, and major events in a story
ask and answer questions about unknown words in a text.

Creating Essential Agreements

3rd September 2023 shemogani Leave a comment

Over the last few weeks, we have been taking photographs and videos of the children engaging in different spaces around the Early Years. These images have helped us highlight and make observations visible.

At times, the images focused on celebrating learning, community and engagement. On other occasions, the images helped us hone in on challenges and problems that require attention.

Over the last few days, we have discussed these ideas in small and whole group situations, talking about what we see, think and wonder.

Link to Resource

See, Think, Wonder is a ‘thinking routine’ that places emphasis on the importance of observation as the basis for thinking and interpretation, through looking closely at an image, object or video.

After many discussions, we gathered to create our ‘Essential Agreements’. We noticed that the conversations often focused on the idea of feeling ‘safe’ in a ‘caring’ and ‘respectful’ environment.

Some of the key points were:

Expressing and communicating emotions in respectful ways and asking for an adult’s help when needed.
Being aware of how we touch others when speaking or playing with them.
Using manipulatives and resources in a safe and respectful way.
Moving our bodies safely in and around the different spaces.
Cleaning up after playtime to ensure we respect people, materials and spaces.
Using kind and thoughtful words to express ourselves.
Being inclusive by collaborating sharing and inviting others to play.

The key ideas by the children highlight the concepts of well-being, interaction, participation, belonging and inclusion.

As a learning community, we will continue to revisit our essential agreements to help us make appropriate choices that help us work and learn together as a community.

We are learning that by following agreements and sharing space we can participate safely in our community.

28th August 2023 shemogani Leave a comment

Morning Meeting is a special time for the classroom community. It is a time when we greet the children and adults by name and prepare to settle in to play, explore and learn together. Morning Meeting activities help build a strong sense of community and set the children up for success. The children are encouraged to listen, look at the speaker and manage their bodies, which sets the tone for a respectful and trusting learning environment.

Another component of Morning Meeting is the morning message. The children read and interact with a short message written by the children and/or teacher.

The message may highlight a task for the day or provide information on the day’s activities. Creating and reading the message builds language awareness.

Approaches to Learning (ATL’s)

observe carefully
record observations using drawing and emergent writing skills
listen actively and respectfully to others’ ideas and listen to information
participate in conversations
understand symbols
understand that mark-making carries meaning
use mark-marking to convey meaning
be self- and socially aware
follow the directions and classroom routines
share responsibility for decision-making

Morning Message

8th September 2022 shemogani Leave a comment

The children began to write the morning message. They volunteered to come up and write the letters that spell the words ‘Good Morning’. The children were encouraged to listen to the sounds in words to help with spelling. They will use this strategy as they write for different purposes and situations in K2. During the next few days, we will continue to add to our message.

Developing a Sense of Community

18th September 2019 shemogani 2 comments

We gather as a group each morning to welcome the day, to greet each other, to share news and to talk about the projects that we might want to follow or complete.

Our Morning Meetings are a time to learn about each other. A time to share our individuality, diversity and common aspirations. We sit in a circle, where there is no hierarchy. We are all the same in this space. Together we find ways to create a democratic environment where we respect, care and learn about each other’s perspectives.

During this time, a member of the community checks in with others to place the lunch order. While completing this task, we learn each other’s names. We learn how to listen to others, respond to questions and collect data.

One member of the community then goes over to the cafeteria to deliver the cards to the staff, placing the order for lunch. They bring back the fruit snacks, which we eat together at the snack table.

At lunch time, a few children go over to the kitchen to set the table, to prepare for our meal together. We all sit together to eat our ‘school’ and ‘home’ lunches. We focus on independence, encouraging and learning good table manners. We pass the food platters around, serving only what we can eat, talking about balanced diets and good hygiene. We discuss waste and care for the environment. After lunch, we pack up all the cutlery, crockery and clear away the dirty dishes. Taking responsibility for the spaces we use is an important part of our learning together.

Being caring and accepting others is one of our Essential Agreements. We seek out and celebrate instances when these agreements come to life in the community.

The teachers frequently sit together with the children, sharing what they have noticed.

Making invisible actions public and celebrating instances when the community have been able to solve problems together through dialogue and collaboration. These are great opportunities to highlight the role of kindness, empathy and care in communities.

The children frequently create with blocks, loose parts and other materials in the classrooms. Sharing the materials as we create can be a challenge for some of us. It is important to be able to capture instances when we act as a community.

In the picture below, the students noticed that there were many people crowding around the library check out counter.

When the teacher shared her observations, the children quickly lined up behind one another, waiting patiently for their turn to check out their books. Being mindful and respectful of different behaviours in different places helps us create a calm and positive learning environment.

In order to make this happen we spend a lot of time, learning about ourselves; our actions and behaviours, how they affect us and the others around us, how we can manage these emotions.

The Zones of Regulation help us visualise and verbalise emotions. We refer back to this language to help us learn how to manage our feelings, emotions and actions.

Here are some examples of kindness in the Early Years.

We aim to seek out opportunities that bring us together as a community. In order to celebrate our PreK-K1 community, we worked together to bake muffins that we then shared with our friends.

Our community is more than just our PreK-K1 friends. The children frequently visit the other campfires in our Early Years space, to play with the other children and explore the different centres. In the picture below, a K2 student reached out to a K1 student, when he could see that she was unhappy in the playground.

Caring for others helps us develop a safe, kind and positive environment where everyone feels valued and empowered to learn.

Central Idea: What we do matters to others.

Lines of Inquiry:

how we behave towards others (perspective)
appropriate behaviour in a variety of settings (connection)
the impact of our behaviour on others (responsibility)

Key Concepts: connection, perspective, responsibility

Related Concepts: acceptance, relationships, attitudes, behaviours

Building Relationships through Kindness and Cooperation

21st August 2019 shemogani Leave a comment

The children have been creating homes and trains with blocks and loose parts. These creations live around the classroom, and the children frequently revisit their creations to build upon ideas or reconnect with the stories that live within them.

Felix “They are building the house. I was building an animal train.”

A train that carries animals

A home for animals

The children use ‘people blocks’ (wooden blocks with pictures of the children on them) to signpost important structures or ongoing creations that need to be protected. Unfortunately, as the children played around the classroom, the creations were knocked over. The children were sad.

Sebastian “Breaking.”
Michelle “Sad, because it’s broken.”

They wondered what they could do to help.

Sebastian “Fixing. Me”

We had pictures of what the structures looked like before they were knocked over. The children looked at the pictures and began to recreate them with the blocks. They worked together and helped rebuild all the broken sections of the structure.

Felix “I take the thing on the animal train and build from Sarah, Michelle and Charlotte.”

While working together, the children were able to show empathy towards others. They had opportunities to talk about their feelings and the different ways they can express themselves.

The children continue to show respect for others through their actions and language. These are wonderful opportunities for us to talk about the essential agreements we create as a community, that help us have fun and stay safe.

Through this exploration we had opportunities to…

• Use discussion and play to generate new ideas and investigations.

• Listen actively and respectfully to others’ ideas and listen to information.

• Express oneself using words and sentences.

• Participate in conversations.

• Practise empathy and care for others.

• Be respectful to others.

• Play cooperatively in a group: sharing, taking turns, helping.

• Be aware of own and others’ feelings.

• Be aware of own and others’ impact as a member of a learning group.

• Use strategies to problem-solve.

-Approaches to Learning (ATL’s)

Routines That Build Independence

15th August 2019 shemogani One comment

Each morning we gather in a circle to greet each other using our words and gestures. It is a time to be part of a community, sharing our feelings, cultures and stories. It is a time to celebrate our diversity while being respectful and inclusive.

Each morning one student checks in with each member of the class to place the lunch order. Student ID’s are assembled in a graph to help sort the information collected.

The cards are then taken to the cafeteria by the student helper. The lunch order is placed, and snacks are brought back to the Early Years kitchen.

After we wash our hands, we line up to get our snack boxes.

We are now ready to have our healthy snacks!

Approaches to Learning (ATL’s)

Seek information.
Gather information from a variety of sources (people, places, materials, literature).
Sort and categorise information and materials; arrange into forms or order, for example, with graphs, marks or symbols using emergent writing skills.
Analyse and interpret information.
Listen actively and respectfully to others’ ideas and listen to information.
Express oneself using words and sentences.
Follow the directions of others.
Follow classroom routines.

Take a Vote!

21st November 2018 shemogani Leave a comment

A student wanted to play with the coloured sand while there were hammers at the table, so she asked her friends if they want to play with sand or hammers. All students and teachers took a vote and there were 11 people that chose sand, 5 chose the hammers. Therefore, we got to change the table activity to sand play!

Agency: Through these experiences students are learning that they have an active voice and stake in the classroom and community.

SLO’s

Data Handling

Record observations using simple tally marks (1 line/1 object)
Be able to explain data using simple language such as same and different/more or less/most or least

Morning Meeting – Leader of the Day

12th November 2018 shemogani Leave a comment

Morning Meeting is a special time for the students. It is a time when students greet their peers and adults by name, and prepare to settle in to play, explore and learn together. Morning Meeting activities help build a strong sense of community and sets the students up for success. Students are encouraged to listen, look at the person who is talking, and manage their bodies, which sets the tone for a respectful and trusting learning environment.

This morning, one student was in charge of the lunch order.

I asked Nicolas, “School lunch or home lunch?” Because he needs to eat.

Letter ‘s‘ is for school lunch and letter ‘h‘ is for home lunch.

Alejandra “We put it into the packet and then we put it on the door.”

Each morning, the students will be responsible to place the order.

We wonder, how many students will eat lunch tomorrow?

Self-management

• Complete tasks independently.

• Follow the directions of others.

• Follow classroom routines.

• Share responsibility for decision-making.

Morning Meeting

6th March 2018 shemogani Leave a comment

We start each day by greeting one another by name. This is an engaging way to start each morning. It also builds a strong sense of community and sets the students up for success. Students are encouraged to listen, look at the person who is talking, and manage their bodies, which sets the tone for a respectful and trusting learning environment.

Another component of Morning Meeting is the morning message. Students read and interact with a short message written by the students and/or teacher. The message may highlight a task for the day or provide information on the days activities. Creating and reading the message, builds language awareness.

The K1 students worked as a team to create the first part of the message. They took turns to write the different letters that spell ‘Good Morning’.

SLO’s

write letters of the alphabet
listen and respond in small or large groups for increasing periods of time
focus on a speaker and maintain eye contact
participate in shared reading and writing experiences

Stay Safe!

15th April 2017 shemogani Leave a comment

The students noticed that some children were opening the safety gates during playtime. They took action by creating a video about playground safety. They shared their video with their peers.

https://twitter.com/NISPreKK1/status/853163861142196227

Agency: When students have an active voice and stake in the classroom/community. When students reflect on their actions and self-regulate.

12

9th December 2016 shemogani Leave a comment

How can you show the number 12?

Students were encouraged to think of all the different ways they can make or show the number 12. We used the 10 frame to help us think about the number.