I thought I would share a script/routine for a morning meeting you can do with your family, give you a little background on what it is and why I think it’s important. When I was in the classroom, I loved the opportunities a morning meeting provided. It helped set the tone for the day, fostered connection between students and myself, and became an important time to set expectations for the day. For a little more background on morning meetings, this was my go to source for planning them: https://www.responsiveclassroom.org/what-is-morning-meeting/.
Why do morning meeting?
This is an opportunity to come together and connect with each other. It doesn’t have to be a long time, it could be as short as fifteen minutes. The goal of morning meeting in a classroom context is to start the day with connection, setting intention, and building classroom community. I think that especially now, this is a great thing to adapt into family time. There are lots of unknowns and unanswerable questions in the world right now. Giving our kids and ourselves some structure is a great gift towards maintaining mental health. It also gives you the chance to teach your kids some VERY important skills. Modeling for your kids how to talk about what they are feeling right now, how to listen to each other…these are the kinds of things to focus on during homeschool time.
When should I do morning meeting?
Usually in my classroom, I started morning meeting about half an hour after students arrived for the day after completing some simple tasks and getting settled. To adapt this idea to family time, I think a great time to do this would be during breakfast, or right after. Things to consider when choosing a time to do this would be, are my family members slow wakers? Do my kids need time to eat before having to engage? Do my kids wake up ready to conquer the world? What time do I or my spouse need to start work from home? Whatever works best for your family in timing, try and stick with it and make it a regular routine. Find something fun that indicates the meeting is starting — maybe a funny alarm on your phone, a song you sing, or just yelling IT’S TIME FOR MORNING MEETING!
How long is morning meeting?
Between 15–45 minutes. There are a lot of factors that will impact this — how many people are in your family, how much everyone has to talk about, how much time you are able to allot, etc.
Who should participate?
I think ideally, you would find a time that makes sense for every family member to be there. Again, it will not be a long chunk of time.
What to do?
There are 4 components to a traditional morning meeting: Greeting, Share, Activity, Message.
- Greeting (<5minutes) — In a classroom this is a chance to practice things like eye contact and being sure everyone has been greeted by name in a day. In the family context, this can feel a little funny, but I think it’s still important. This can be as simple as going around the table/room and saying good morning to each other, or you can get fancy by learning how to say hello in another language. This takes just a couple of minutes.
- Sharing (10–20 minutes) — This is the time for students to learn both how to share important details about their life and how to listen and ask questions with empathy. In a family this is a hugely important skill. This time can be really open ended or structured with prompting questions. It would be a good idea to use something like a talking stick to ensure that whoever is sharing has the chance to speak without interruptions. Encourage everyone to respond to show that they’ve heard what’s been said. This will likely be where you spend the most time.
- Activity (5–10 minutes) — There’s lots of room for fun at this part! The goal is to get the group participating together in something lively to foster cohesion and practice a skill. Maybe you play a rhyming game, maybe you have a balance spoons on your nose contest, maybe you all do a GoNoodle.com yoga video or maybe you take this chance to teach everyone how you wish they were loading the dishwasher!
- Message (5–10 minutes) — The goal of the message sets an intention for the day. This can literally be a sentence everyone reads together, maybe practice some sight words with your littles, or it can be a bible verse or a meaningful quote. Think about what
I also like to add in what is essentially “calendar time” and talking about the days schedule. You choose where that fits best. In my example, I chose to do it between the activity and the message, but it could be how you start the day.
Here’s a script/plan you can use and adapt! It is for a family with two parents and a 4 year old and 6 year old. I have LOTS of ideas for activities and using this for a broader age spectrum like with both teenagers and young elementary ages in the house and if there is interest, I can write more on that later! I’m hoping to get a resource together to put up on my Teachers Pay Teachers site that will help, but in the meantime, google and pinterest are your friend. This site also has good ideas for keeping it fresh!
A morning meeting with the family
Materials:
- A speaker/phone to play an alarm sound/song to start the meeting
- A bucket/bowl with slips of paper with each family members name written.
- A “talking stick” (Maybe you can make this for the activity at your first morning meeting!)
- A big piece of paper or whiteboard to write the message on
Put On Your Sunday Clothes” from Hello Dolly/Wall-E starts to play at 8:58. Everyone should be at their spot at the table by 9:00.
Greeting (<5minutes)
Go around the room and greet each other by name. Whoever is greeted responds and then greets someone else.
Good morning Kid A! — — — — Good morning mommy!
Good morning Kid B! — — — — Good morning Kid A!
Good Morning Daddy! — — — -Good morning Kid B!
Good morning Mommy! — — — -Good morning Daddy!
Sharing (10–20 minutes)
Whoever is in charge of morning meeting gets the talking stick and begins. It could be helpful to write questions down for a visual reminder for everyone.
Today, let’s share our answers these questions: What is something you wish you could do today but can’t? What is something you are looking forward to? I’ll start:
Today I am missing getting coffee and a donut with my friend. We usually had a coffee date on Tuesday mornings and even though we will still call each other, I miss being able to sit next to her and hug her. Something I am looking forward to is a livestream of the sloth from the zoo later this morning! Even if we could go to the zoo she is always hard to see, so I’m really excited to see her up close and learn more about her! (P.S. this is really happening on the Nashville Zoo Instagram). Ok, now I’m going to pass the talking stick to Kid B. Kid B, what is something you wish you could do today?
Continue like this with passing the talking stick, letting people ask follow ups if they want, until everyone is done. Before moving on, see if there is anything else anyone wants to share.
Activity (5–10 minutes)
There are SO many different types of things to do here. I think doing something that helps everyone get in their bodies a little is a good filter when searching for ideas.
We are going to create our own family dance move today! We are each going to come up with one action and build on each others ideas. I’ll draw a name out of our bucket and that person can choose the first move. Ooooh Daddy starts! Daddy is doing what he calls the Pharaoh Pharaoh! Ok everyone practice! Who’s next daddy? Kid A, what should we do next? Ooo a jump and spin! Ok let’s do Pharaoh, pharaoh and then jump and spin in a circle! …
Please someone do this and tag me on instagram @cjoylewis! :)
Message (5–10 minutes)
The message is a great moment to address your family’s needs. Does everyone need to laugh? Find a favorite movie quote. Is there a lot of anxiety and worry? Find a verse or quote about peace. Is everyone a little lost on how to spend time? Make the message a goal setting statement. Stuck? Find a quote from a famous person whose birthday it is.
Ok everyone, before today’s closing words of the day, let’s go over the schedule. Today is Tuesday, April 14. The weather is sunny but windy with a high of 50ยบ, so when you play outside you’ll want a jacket and long pants. Me and Daddy each have work calls from 10–12, so you will be able to have some independent screen time after finishing your reading and learning time. Tonight for dinner we’re having tacos! Kid B is in charge of setting the table and Kid A is in charge of putting plates in the dishwasher after dinner. Any questions?
Today’s special words are a quote from our favorite stuffed bear, Winnie the Pooh!
“You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think!” I’m going to pass our name bucket around the table. I want you to each draw a name, and say today’s quote that person.
Have a good day everyone!!
Good luck! Let me know how it goes or if you need more ideas for different ages! Here’s a little bonus from an old go-to favorite site of mine: coloring page.
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