♪[theme music]
Thank you for sharing. Alright, who else wants to share how they're feeling today?
Blessing, how are you feeling today?
It's fun Friday and I get to go see my auntie tomorrow.
You get to see your Auntie tomorrow? Does she live far away or close by?
Far-far. -Far.
Why do you love to see her so much?
Cause...she's awesome.
She's awesome. Ahh. Make sure you tell her that when you see her.
People love to hear complements. Okay. One more...
My morning meeting is uh an activity I do every morning for about ten to fifteen
minutes to kind of set the tone for the day and it's part of my social and emotional
learning curriculum.
♪[ding]
Good morning.
Morning Sebastian.
Welcome back sir, we missed you yesterday.
Good morning Miss Blessing.
Morning Ariceli.
So even before they enter my classroom uh the social emotional learning is beginning.
So I go and pick them up outside. I say Good morning to them there. Greet them
with a smile even if I'm having a bad day I always have to smile and put everything
to the side. And then we walk together to the door and then that's where we do the
greeting. And I love that greeting because it's a choice.
So if they feel like giving me a hug today, they give me a hug.
If they feel like giving me a high five, it's a high five.
And then I have some, today's is just a wave, they want to give me a wave.
And I always say good morning or I give them a complement about what they're wearing
or if I have a student who was out, oh thank you, I'm glad you're back today.
Just to let them know that I do care and I am noticing when they're here, and I'm
letting them know that it is important that they're here.
Hi Miss Genesis. Are you going to talk today? Yes, no? [laughs]
♪[ding]
Alright, so we always start with our feeling check today. Alright.
So if you're feeling a little angry today, put a 1 close to your heart.
If you're feeling a little sad, a 2 close to your heart.
If you're tired, a 3 close to your heart. If you're happy...
a 4 close to your heart. And if you're excited a 5 close to your heart.
I am 5 today.
Very good. So we have lots a feelings today. Lots of mixed feelings.
Anybody want to share why they're feeling a certain way today?
So my morning meeting uh begins with the feeling share. So the sharing. Um that kind
of gives me a feel of the class - the class pulse.
Let's start with Hannah. You're a little angry today.
You want to share why you're angry?
Cause my brother...he gets me mad.
Are you comfortable sharing why he makes you mad?
Cause he...
I remember he bought a toy, and he has a toy hammer.
He-he what-when I went inside...the office
my brother had hammered my backpack so that's why I'm mad.
Ahhh. So her brother wasn't respecting her belongings. Huh?
That would make me angry too. Yes. I would feel very angry if someone went and put
a hammer on my purse. Huh? Kinda the same thing?
And the reason why we discuss the sharing is so then that can lead to a discussion
about how to handle those feelings and let them know that those feelings are okay.
I always let them know, any feeling you have is justified but we just have to learn
how to handle those feelings properly. So the morning meeting sets up those discussions
for me.
My students need that opportunity to let me know if something is going on and I have to
validate those feelings for them. And most of the time they're ready to learn after.
Yes, it's very important for them because then it's going to be on their mind all day
or they're going to be distracted. So I have to eliminate any distraction that I can
and reduce the stress in their brain. Their brains are stressed out, so I have to
lower that stress for them.
♪[ding]
Thank you for sharing your feelings. Sometimes it can be hard to share feelings. Huh?
But we're really comfortable with each other so I think we're good. Okay.
Who's here today? -Oliver [class in unison]
Oliver's here today. And...
Oliver and I we had a little, little argument yesterday. I'm going to tell you about
it later. Okay? Alright? Okay?
You guys ready? Okay, so we're going to follow along or read with Mrs. Balderrama.
Your choice. All eyes need to be up here though. Okay?
Ready? Good morning fabulous firsties...
So there's always a greeting at the door, uh...the...
sharing aspect of it with the feelings, and then we always do the message.
So the message, I love the message because it's so open ended.
I can tie it to curriculum, I can tie it to PBiS, I can tie it to...vocabulary,
community building, behaviors.
As the weeks go by, the questioning gets a little more difficult for them.
I go higher level thinking than just a what question. So we do more a why, what might
be, putting themselves in other people's shoes. That's harder for first graders.
So I wait as the weeks go by to ask those more difficult questions.
Are you guys ready to hear about the little problem that Oliver and I had?
Yes [students]
Okay, so I have my favorite snack is fruit and believe it or not I really really love
apples. Guess who else loves apples? -Oliver [students]
So Oliver and I we were doing some work after school yesterday and I looked in my bag
and there was only one apple left, and guess who was hungry?
Mrs. Balderrama and Oliver. We both wanted to eat the apple.
Is that a problem?
Yeah, cause there's how many people? Two people, and how many pieces of fruit? One.
I'm not going to tell you right now how we solved it but I want you guys to think.
So think about this, how would you feel if one of your friends took your last snack?
So take a second, think, think, think.
Your friend took your very last favorite snack.
How would that make you feel?
And when you're ready to share how you feel about that, go ahead and raise your hand
and I'll give you Oliver and you can share.
So boys and girls, remember when we're sharing our feelings we try to use complete
sentences. So a good sentence would be, I would feel blank.
And if you want to tell me why you would feel that way, that would be great as well.
Okay? Alright, who do we want to start with...
The question is going to be the part where they're discussing or sharing and sometimes
it's feelings and sometimes it's me trying to front load information or trying to
activate prior knowledge as well.
I will feel mad...
because...
then I wouldn't have nothing to eat.
Yep. So if someone took her snack you would feel mad because you would-would you still
feel hungry too? Yes. So made and hungry. Alright, thank you Brooklyn.
Who else wants to share?
So this is Oliver, and Oliver he just uh
he started out as just kind of like a talking stick tool.
So I introduced him to the class and he's our unofficial other set of eyes in the class.
So basically Oliver is my-my little helper. He lets the students know when it's their
turn to talk.
Having a stuffed animal I think it does remind them of something soft at home.
Um I always think back to Mr. Rogers. He reminds people to think back of their
favorite toy, their favorite object when they're feeling stressed.
So this little guy helps with that as well.
If I feeled if my friend took my favorite snack, I would be happy.
You would be happy? Hmm, why?
Cause I'll-cause I can buy more.
I like that, a positive attitude.
So she said, Okay they took my snack. Yeah, but I'm going to be happy because I can go
buy a new one, maybe an even better snack.
I like that. Thinking differently. I like that.
The great thing about having morning meetings is it hits all five areas of
social emotional learning and I have seen a huge improvement in my classes.
It's just been a great reward for me.
♪[theme music]