The morning meetings in the classroom ensure a sense of community at the start of each day. We start by the "Good Morning" greeting song. (I have noticed that my co-teacher sings ALL the time. Is that something that all early elementary teachers do?) After the greeting, students have the opportunity to share how they are feeling that morning. In sign language they sign: “I feel _____” and fill in the blank with the correct sign. Then the rest of the class gets to ask three questions about how the student is feeling. This is important in building social skills in students. Then everyone preforms a "celebration" for the student who shared. These celebrations include songs, a giant clap, or just a friendly saying. Next, they do an activity! (This seems to be the classes’ favorite part). They have a ton of fun playing "Doggie Doggie Where's your Bone" and "Heads Up 7 Up". After the activity my CT goes over the morning message with the class.
My CT is so creative and bright. She thinks of activities and different teaching methods that I would have never even known about. It is a privilege to be in her classroom, I enjoy every minute of it. I cannot wait to see how much more I can learn from her.
Libby- I'm in a Kindergarten class and my CT sings ALL THE TIME too!! For example, when they form a circle in the mornings after breakfast she sings a song about "making a circle" and the kids all gather around making a circle by holding each others hand and sitting down on the carpet for their morning meeting. Also, my CT uses this stuffed lion named Leo who is like their talking piece so if they are holding Leo that person is the only one who can talk during the sharing part of the morning meeting. It's always fun for the kids because as soon as Leo gets back to my CT, she asks Leo the same question she asked the class to share about and Leo will "talk" in her ear but only she can hear what he says because he "only talks to her!" She will then tell what Leo said to her but Leo is too shy to talk to the whole class! My CT has been teaching now for 18 years and she has so many resources and classroom management skills that I have also learned so much from her already and I know that when I'm done in her class I'll have so many ideas for my own class that I should start writing them down or I will forget! Sounds like you're really enjoying your experience!
ReplyDeleteSo cool to hear that you are enjoying your classroom. I love hearing about what the other teachers do. I am in a 1st grade classroom and she is always reading along/singing too. I think it just helps the students - when they look up to her to know what they should be doing it helps a lot. She also moves along when they do GoNoodle.
ReplyDeleteHope the rest of your time stays great!
Libby,
ReplyDeleteI agree these past two weeks have gone by so quickly! I love that your teacher sings in the morning. That is a great way to brighten up the day. Feelings are very important to share especially when they are little. I am so happy to hear everything is going so well. It sounds like you have a wonderful classroom and you're learning lots.