15 Guaranteed Easy Daily Morning Meeting Activities For Kindergarten
A daily morning meeting is something every kindergarten classroom should consider implementing! Why? Well, it gives you a chance to get to know students, to let them get to know their peers, and so much more!
Before Getting Started with Daily Morning Meetings
Being on the rug may be something new during those first few weeks of kindergarten. I remember my students all racing to the rug the very first day and calming but loudly yelling, “Woah, Woah, Woah!”
Totally my fault, and I quickly realized I have to teach my students exactly how to deal with the rug and my classroom procedures.
I decided to create a little social story to help students see what it looks like while they are sitting on the carpet. This way, they know exactly what is expected every time. Each page has a picture with words to help all students understand.
I love to have a student model each page on the rug each time I read it during the first few weeks of school. I also keep it right in my rug area if I need to review expectations, like after an extended break or if I have a difficult class.
This rug social story also includes community-building scenarios to help students know what to do when they make a mistake and how to fix it when possible!
Grab the At The Rug Social Story for FREE below!
15 Daily Morning Meeting Activities
If you have ever read about daily morning meetings before, you probably have heard a few of these ideas. They help create a classroom community and are inclusive and fun! There are four main parts of a morning meeting, and you want to try and include all parts. Here are some daily morning meeting ideas to help get you started!
Greeting
All morning meetings should start with a greeting. There are many different ways to do this. In kindergarten, it may be best to pick the greeting at the beginning of the year. I know it may seem tempting to go full force and let your students pick the greeting because it’s “their morning meeting.” But you want to use the first couple of meetings and weeks to help everyone learn how a morning meeting works and runs.
Morning meeting greetings:
- Quick left and right, hello
- High five or handshake
- Whale language (Finding Nemo)
- Ball toss
- Find your match
- Signing “hello”
Greetings are a great way to get your morning meeting started and will get your students excited!
Sharing
Sharing is not show-and-tell! This is the part of the classroom morning meeting where you want to allow students to share things going on in their lives. This time allows students to ask each other questions and practice listening and responding. To ensure it doesn’t become a brag session, many teachers like to use sharing slides or have sharing themes.
Daily Morning Meeting Sharing Themes:
- Favorite book
- Something you did with a family member
- Something you created
- A hobby you enjoy
- Favorite food
A few students share each day. This way, each student can share before the end of the week. If you want to get all your students to share each day and have a little more time available, you could ask open-ended questions and allow all students to answer.
Group Activity
A short, fun activity is always included in a daily morning meeting. This part is normally a favorite in kindergarten. You can even incorporate some of your curriculum into the group activity. It can seem like a lot of work to think of a group activity each day. But these activities do not need to be long or crazy in depth!
Simple Group Activity Ideas:
- Read a book, poem, etc.
- Practice phonological awareness (clap syllables, names, list rhyming words, etc.)
- Practice counting (forwards, backwards, skip counting, etc.)
- Do a brain break video from GoNoodle or Cosmic Kids Yoga
- Sing some songs
The point of group activity is to build a classroom community and help students with social-emotional skills like problem-solving, cooperation, and more.
Morning Message
This is the part of the meeting where you can connect with your students. During the morning message, students interact and read a message from their teacher. You make the message about what you plan on doing during the day and whether there is anything special (library, field trip, etc.). In kindergarten, you will probably have to read it to your students. But, you may be able to write simple messages by the end of the year that they can read.
How to Get Started with Morning Meetings
Before starting your daily morning meeting, you want first to get a couple of things in order.
Learn About Morning Meetings
Read and discover a little about morning meetings and take it slow. Ensure you have all the pieces you need to get started. Talk to other teachers who use morning meetings and ask for their advice or what they feel works best for their students. You can even get a little ahead in planning and get things organized and ready for future meetings.
Figure Out a Time
Before fully committing to a daily morning meeting, you must ensure it fits into your schedule. It should happen every day, and you should try to fit it in right in the morning. But if that doesn’t work with your schedule, pick a designated time that works best for your class. Morning meetings normally last 15-30 minutes.
Introduce Daily Morning Meetings
Take a few days to introduce the morning meeting process to your students. Just like with every other classroom procedure and routine. Let students know what you hope to get from the meetings, and let them discuss what they hope to accomplish too!
Daily morning meetings are not only helpful when building a classroom community. They also help with social-emotional skills. Including morning meetings will let your students connect, become closer, and hopefully form some friendships based on their common interests, activities, etc., that are shared during this special time.
