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I have a class meeting every morning.  I do greet children as they walk in the door, but I am often distracted with first-morning activities like attendance and they should be getting ready for their school day & working on morning work.  Then we have all-school chapel.  So after chapel, this is really my turn to greet them, see how they are, talk, and announce things.

We start with our Newscaster (a weekly job) recalling the "news" board: calendar, # days of school, & temp/weather. Then I talk about school or class events & homework & test reminders. This is a pretty informal time, so the kids talk often during the meeting. If we have something the whole class needs to talk about, like recess problems, etc., we do it then.

Then, I read a short devotion from a book and ask for prayer requests. They'll pray for anything from family/friends to hurt pets and safe travels to good work on tests this week! This is a time when I can really listen to their joys and concerns! Usually I pray, but sometimes I invite a student to pray for us. Lastly, I tell them what we're doing that day and make it a point to be enthusiastic so they'll (hopefully) be ready to get started with our school day!

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Ambassador

Game Day

I like to stand at the classroom door and greet the 8th grade math students as they enter. After the bell rings, we say good morning with lots of enthusiasm and positive energy like this:

Mr. Mitchell: Gooooooooooooooooooood Morning Class!

Students: Gooooooooooooooooooooood Morning Mr. Mitchell!

Mr. Mitchell: We are off to a great start and it’s going to be a great day! I am so excited about being here today, I almost don’t know what to say. So, somebody tell me what time is it.

Students: Its SHOW TIME!

Mr. Mitchell: There is no time like SHOW TIME cause SHOW TIME is YO TIME.

Mr. Mitchell: Why do you like Show Time?

Students: Because, we get to Show what we Know!

Mr. Mitchell: Are you ready?

Students: Yes!

Mr. Mitchell: Are you ready?

Students: Yes!

Mr. Mitchell: Are you ready?

Students: Yes!

Mr. Mitchell: Well alright. I know all of you are going to perform great. So, let’s get this show on the road.

This is a routine that I use for getting students ready to take a Math test. However, we don’t call it a test. We call it GAME DAY. The students are so pumped up before the test with positive energy and self-confidence, that if you were a fly on the wall and witnessing our positive prelude, you would compare it with a championship football team leaving the locker room and headed to the field just before the game. I even go down the rows giving high fives while students are giving each other high fives.

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Each class period I stand in the doorway and welcome each student to class. Middle school kids don't really like to greet teachers, but we are working on this problem. Sometimes I am silly and they think I am crazy, so I just laugh, which usually gets them laughing too.

The students pick up their folders and do their daily warm-up, which I walk around the room and score. At this time I will have a short chat with each student. If something seems to be bothering them, I try to get them out of their funky mood. I do like the 'troubled basket' idea. I wonder how it would work with middle school kids. Of course, they love to be dramatic, so it might be a good idea.

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Each morning, I meet my class in the gymnasium and walk them down to our classroom. We stand together in the hall as they put away their things, and I say "Good Morning" to each one of them- looking directly into their eyes, waiting for a response. This is a time for some of them to share what took place over the weekend, or the night before. Some students want to talk forever, and some never say more than "Good Morning" in return. To help with this, I have added a "What I wish my teacher knew about me..." card, they can grab any time of the day, and drop it in a glass bowl I have on my desk. I have learned, they want to share things with me, but finding the time is difficult. I take time to look at these cards, and talk about what they have written during momentary windows that take place throughout the day. I can get to the heart of what is on their mind because they have already taken me there.

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So far during my substituting career I have been able to do my absolute favorite invitation to students. Greeting them in the morning is something that I love doing and it truly makes them happy and excited to get into the classroom and begin learning. It is amazing how being positive and energetic can lift up the overall feeling of the room. I also really like to make the students laugh first thing in the morning so that they know that the classroom is a place where fun is to be had. If you cannot get them excited when they first step into the classroom it makes it more difficult to do so later in the day.

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I greet every class at my door. Even though I see hundreds of students a week, I can use that time to assure them that I'm on their side and that we are a team in learning. Sometimes I add high fives (germ-x is great for those teachers squeamish of germs :) or a short greeting. If a student looks a little out of sorts, sad, or upset I can take them aside to talk about it while everyone else is settling on the music risers. They need to know I care and that they are safe. I can also use their time on the risers to listen to a few stories or thoughts and incorporate them into that day's lesson.

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Something I felt was not inviting was limiting side topics, or go chasing an idea that acts like the white rabbit in Alice and Wonderland and disappears into a rabbit hole that we inevitably fall into and go chasing through an intriguingly curious world.
What I've done is at each class there is a pile of random half used post-it note pads in the center of each table. Students are encouraged to write down the idea that sparked in their mind through the lesson. It may have nothing to do with the topic, but it had some relevance to them, and thus important.
Students are encouraged to share their post-it at the end of the lesson. We discuss what ever was on that post-it, their thoughts are valued, their ideas have value, however they also get to follow where the rabbit went down its hole that may have gotten the class off track, or disengaged another student who was not as interested in their little rabbit as they are.
After the students have used up either all the time or all the rabbits in the room I have also shown that they are invited in exploring the ideas with me.

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Computer class is a bit more structured so there is not much that we do besides come in and get started. During summer school, I like to have all of their stuff ready for them that is my responsibility such as morning work. I stand at the door and greet them as they come in. Then I like to read to them while they eat breakfast. I have learned that this is something that the little kids absolutely love! They always want to see the book when I am done with it. I then ask them about their night or weekend and we discuss good things that happened to us or something that we did. I feel like this allows them to share something about themselves and allows them to become comfortable with the entire class and not just the teacher so they can be comfortable working with each other when they are working together. I learned that the older kids like to just do morning work. We talk about what the assignment is and they ask their questions. Then they are able to work on their assignment on their own

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Today I changed the way I approached making meaning - today I decided to instead make it meaningful. I placed an anchor chart over my Elmo while I held the book - the chart said Readers Ask Explicit Questions. Writers Answer the Questions. I read the district prescribed read-aloud, and then asked my students on every page to really look at the book, and come up with a question.  Each page, every student would come up with a variety of questions about the book, we made real world connections, and we talked about if we were writers how could we answer the questions we had from reading.  We thought about the book from both a reading and writing perspective.  It was amazing all of the ideas, questions, comments, and connections shared about the story with not just one person but the whole class.  They then were given a graphic organizer/planner and a sheet of writing paper to go and write me a story about themselves, just like the kids in the book.  They could share anything with me but had to answer the questions who, what, where, why, when, and how.  For the first time this year each student wrote more than just one sentence with a picture.  I was able to conference with seven students out of the eleven in my room - it was a beautiful Language Arts learning time.  I invited them to question, and in doing so they were able to make connections to the content, and provide answers.

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A wonderful way to invite students into my classroom would be to meet them at the door with a smile on my face. I did this for my 500 internship yesterday and the students really appreciated it. I would also have my door as welcoming as it could be. I think students should always feel welcome to come in my room.

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I would meet my students at the door to greet them. I wou

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As I was reading this chapter I had an idea for a way to incorporate morning work into the process of understanding students. I'm going to make a monthly booklet for morning work that acts as a journal. At the top of each page will be a "mood meter" featuring different emojis, and students will color in the ones that reflect their mood that morning. They can then write about what has them feeling that way, or use the optional writing prompt if they can't think of something to write about. When they are done they will bring it to me to "check" and we can talk about anything that they need to express.

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Each morning, I stand at my door as the students come into the room.  I say hello and I welcome them.  As they turn in their daily folders, I have small conversations with them about what is on their minds to help them clear their mind before the day starts.  Then I go over the agenda and learning goals for the day to give them a focus.

I also like to start the day with a Good Morning song I made up.  If you’ve ever seen the old musical Singing in the Rain you’ll know the song I’m talking about.  It goes to the tune of “Good Morning”.  It starts the day on a positive note.  It lets the students know that it is a brand new day and learning is going to happen.  Here are the words:

“Good morning! Good morning! Today’s a brand new day. Good morning, good morning to you!

Good morning! Good morning! It will be a fun, fun day. Good morning, good morning to you!

We will learn a lot of things and have a lot of fun.

We’ll work hard and do our best until the day is done. So…
Good morning! Good morning! It’s time to start our day. Good morning, good morning to you!”

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To invite my class to learn with me, I first show the students that I care. I always greet my students when they get to school and after morning work we all sit in a circle and have morning meeting. The first thing we do at morning meeting is greet all of our friends. I use a stuffed animal and we take turns passing it around the circle. Everyone knows that whoever has the stuffed animal is the person we are greeting and we must look at them and welcome them. Every week I use a different greeting song. The students love their turn to be greeted and it allows them to know that they are important and part of our classroom. After everyone has been greeted we go over our daily focus wall, which reviews all the major concepts we have been learning and gets our minds ready for what we will learn today.

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I have some chart paper hanging right inside my classroom door. The paper says, "What can Miss Meyer do to help you be successful?" At any time my students can write ideas or needs on the paper or stick a post-it on there. I look over this chart paper at least once a day and reflect. This is my version of the "problem basket." I also greet each of my students outside of the door as they are walking in and then once the bell has rung I have my students greet/welcome their shoulder partner since they sit in groups. Having them greet each other is a buffer in case I missed someone while they were walking in; they don't go "unwelcomed."

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Like Ms. Codell, I welcome each student at the door. I say, "Good Morning!" with a genuine smile on my face. I can immediately notice my students' behavior based on their response. Some of my children reach out their arms for a  hug. Other students will giggle a little and smile back. Some others give me a high five. However, others will walk down the hall on the verge of tears. I can see this from a mile away and I know to pull them aside to chat. Most of the time, they spill their guts and tell me what is going on. For others who are more private, I offer them an opportunity to write it in their journal. Each morning, I have a writing prompt on the board. This was a great way to get my students reading and writing. Even my "struggling" readers will be excited to read the board. Sometimes, the prompt will be heart-warming, or creative, or funny, or even meaningful. The students know that if they have something in particular they need to get off their chest, they can write this in their journal instead of responding to the morning prompt. If they want me to read it immediately, they put their journal in the "notes to teacher" bin so that I know it is important to read immediately. One day, a newer student wrote about her family situation. It was heart-wrenching. I sought help from the counselor because I felt it was important for her to know. Now, that student has at least two people who care and reach out to her. I have noticed a change in happiness and even a change in academic performance since responding to her journal.

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I've been thinking about putting up a "Google It" board in my classroom. It's funny how many times throughout the day in the course of our reading and writing, students come up with questions (sometimes random, other times an offshoot of our discussions) to which I have no answer. I usually say, that's a good question, we should look it up later. However, a lot of times we forget. If we had a place to post those questions, students could find the answers when they have time and share them. Then we are all learning together because they are things I do not know either.

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I used to love to use a graffiti board in my classroom. I wold cover a door with paper and hang markers. Then when students were entering the room or had free time, I would have them post a word, phrase or drawing about a particular "topic". This invited them to begin thinking about a new topic we were going to study.