A Not So Typical Morning Meeting {Mission Possible}

Morning meeting is probably my favorite time of the day. I joke and say that I get 90% of my instruction done during this time. {I PACK it in!} In first grade, I spent about 35-40 minutes each day in morning meeting {I know that is a large chunk of time…but I swear it works! Don’t knock it ‘til you try it! Ha!} and the benefits were amazing. I saw so much growth in my students abilities and understanding in math. We always sat on the carpet, sang songs, practiced on the SMART Board and the students learned along on their whiteboards. It was  a great way to begin the day.

As soon as I moved on up to 2nd, I knew I would need to change our morning meeting time up just a bit. Toward the end of last year, the kids just weren’t really into it anymore. The whiteboards didn’t have the “cool factor” anymore, the songs became a bit cheesy…they were just way too “mature” for this little meeting time {or so they thought}. Well, I am all about meeting them where they are at and convincing them that Mrs. King is super cool. So this year, I knew that my morning meeting would need to score some major cool points if I didn’t want my kids straight up falling to sleep on me. Here is how it all goes down…every morning…180 days a year! :)

We begin each morning with our Second Grade Rocks song {it's to the tune of Justin Bieber’s Baby} and they totally rock it out. Seriously air guitars and mic. checks…the whole nine yards. It is a true performance but nevertheless wakes them up and gets them ready for the day. As we sing, they make their way to the carpet for a quick meeting {like 5 minutes…give or take}. During this time, I give them a quick run down of our day and we spend about 2 minutes reviewing our calendar and tracking our days in school. I found this awesome SB lesson on SMART Exchange. How cute is this calendar?

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After we get our date all set for the day, we prepare for Mission Possible {A.K.A. The “Cool” Morning Meeting} Ha! During this time, we still review basic skills and things that the students need to work on {just as I have always done during morning meeting}. Each day, the students have four new problems to complete along with some number of the day exercises. We always read the problems and talk about a few things while they are still on the carpet {usually reviewing the steps to PSA which is our problem solving strategy). This is how that looks:

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After we go over the problems together, {not the answers…just some tips} the students return to their seats to get to work in their Mission Possible Notebooks. I forgot to take a picture of the front, but here is what the cover of their notebook looks like:

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And the inside:

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Here is how it works:

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Now…what kind of cool points would I earn if I just set a regular timer to keep us on track? {Don’t worry…I do that all the time too…just not here.} Instead of a timer, I play the Mission Possible theme song as they work. At the end of the song, time is up and we check together. As we check, we probably sing 3 or 4 more songs to review different skills. I think I may just have a song for everything. I figure if they can remember the lyrics to every Selena Gomez, Justin Bieber, and Victoria Justice song ever written…they can remember academic lyrics too! Ha!

Music totally pumps them up and makes them work super fast! {Totally wish I could take credit for the song idea, but it came from the hubs. He might be the coolest fifth grade teacher ever…wait…can I brag?!?}

Here is a look at the kiddos on a math mission!!!

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After we check together, the students record their grades, and I take the three highest grades for the week as a daily grade. I am horrible at taking grades, so this is a great way to track progress and get some grades in. The kids grade their own work with markers {which they love} and record their grade on their daily grade sheet that looks like this:

Daily Grades {We also do a little referee me morning sentence each morning. That is a completely different animal…but so fun and gets the kids moving. I will have to make a separate post to explain our morning sentence.}

All in all, our Mission Possible Math takes about 20-25 minutes and is EXTREMELY beneficial. Their reasoning skills and mastery of basic math concepts have improved a ton! I wouldn’t change this time for the world. It is our absolute favorite time of the day!

You are probably oh so tired of reading this by now, so if you have made it this far…here is a freebie for you. You can click on the pictures below to download our Mission Possible Notebook and the daily grade sheets…if you would like!

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Daily Grades

I would love to hear how morning meeting goes down in your room!

36 comments:

  1. I love the Mission Possible Math idea, but we go to Related Arts at 8:15!!!! Seriously, they come in and I'm like, "Hi. Bye." lol We do a morning work math "PASS" like question. Totally boring, I know. I need to get spice it up... We do something similar to this at the end of the day because that is literally the only time we have to do it. Our schedules are pretty much given to us. =(

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  2. Your morning meeting sounds amazing and super fun! Our schedule is so tight and we are held accountable that there is no wiggle room for us. :( I wish there was because I think the math review & repetition you are doing with the kiddos is incredibly important, and I'm sure beneficial like you said. I would love to see a video of you and the kids rockin' out to your songs. :)

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  3. ah! What a great new twist! I'm loving it :) And we dont' have time for a morning meeting because we have to immediately switch into our intervention groups....bleh!! What i wouldn't give to get that 1/2 hour back of my day! I could totally do my morning meetings again!!
    The Teachers’ Cauldron

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  4. wow! I want to be a second grader in your class. Sounds great!

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  5. What a fantastic idea! I would love to do something like that but so many of my kiddos go to our breakfast program that my morning work consists of some working with today's number and them promptly on to instruction, I'm totally racking my brain to think of a way to use this somehow throughout my day! :)
    Thanks so much for sharing!
    Lisa
    Stories From Second

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  6. I am in shock/awe at the level of math you guys do! We are just attacking 2 digit addition in Texas, haha!

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  7. @Amy - Don't get TOO excited! I don't know if the looping has anything to do with this, but they are just a special bunch! I can literally teach them something in five minutes and they've GOT it! Things will be SO very different next year! How will I ever manage?!? Ha! Oh geeze! :)

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  8. I want to be in your class!!!!!
    Sounds like we have very similar teaching styles - I use music A LOT along with movement! :)
    Thanks for the freebies!
    A Teeny Tiny Teacher

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  9. I am so relieved to see this post! Morning Math Meeting has been dragging for me lately, and I've been wanting to create something to make the kids more engaged. (Sidenote: We do Saxon Math, so there is a lot to cram into the meeting.) I love this and wonder how I could do it without a Smartboard. What a great idea!
    Kristy

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  10. Hi Hope, love your blog!
    Quick question: do you get your math problems from anywhere specific, or just make them up off the top of your head?
    Thanks!
    Ester

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  11. I love this!! There are a LOT of calendars on smart exchange. Which one is it that you use?

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  12. Thanks so much for sharing how you do Morning Meeting. My grade has intervention time first thing and when everyone is back in the room, we have to go straight into reading. I hate it because I big fan of morning meeting, and I know how much benefit it could give my kiddos. I try to do a short math meeting at the beginning of math time, but it's not quite the same. Hopefully I will have a different schedule next year so I can incorporate some of these ideas!

    Kayla
    Primary Junction

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  13. How awesome is this! LOVE all the review each day!

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  14. I love your blog!! I use this same calendar in my 2nd grade class and during our morning meeting. We do similar activities, but keep them in our Math journal, which is not nearly as cool as your idea!! I think there's a'change a'coming! I love the grading idea. Definitely going to borrow that idea also! I'm very curious about the Morning Sentence that you do. You'll have to fill us in on that when you have time!!
    Tamee Daniel in OK

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  15. I love this idea!! We morphed our Morning Meeting/Calendar Time into a Calendar Journal. Basically it's all the "calendar procedures" that you would typically do, but the students write it out in their composition journal. I've found they are more ENGAGED because each of them is doing the work instead of just observing! We do a few short sentences along with all the math that we would normally practice during calendar. I've got some big ideas (binder style - like you) for next year!

    Amanda

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  16. Thank you, again, for such a great idea! I've been doing the calendar idea with a math warmup in my morning meetings daily and agree, they benefit greatly from that daily repetition! However, not NEARLY as cool as your mission possible...I immediately youtubed the song for a little refresher :) I'm wondering if you could possibly share those academic songs from your talented hubby? My kiddos LOVE anything musical and I'd love to utilize them! Thanks again for all that you share!
    Natalie-MN

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  17. I love this idea! Where did you get your questions from that you ask each day? I'd love to know and incorporate this into our classroom.

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  18. I would love to hear the song also. My students are still hooked on Gotta Keep Reading but I'd love something for Math.

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  19. I'm so glad I stumbled upon your page. I just found out that I'll be teaching 1st/2nd grade (multi-age/combined) this year. Clearly, you have the experience with both grades and I LOVE LOVE LOVE your ideas. I've been trying to come up with a morning meeting routine that would be fun and educational!!!! Part of my problem is the mix of the grade levels and making sure to engage everyone appropriately! I'd love it if you wouldn't mind sharing your thoughts/ideas about this with me, and also your academic songs????? Thanks soooooo much!
    Amy- PA

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  20. I am in love with this website! I've been teaching K for years and have a new position as a 2nd grade teacher. SO happy to have access to your ideas! Thank you!

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  21. Thank you for this fun idea! If you have a chance, I would looove to know how you do your morning sentences as well. Thanks for the continued inspiration!

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  22. I too am interested in hearing about morning sentences! I'm planning on incorporating Mission Possible Math into my calendar routine as well! I've already got the theme song set on my iphone and ipad! Thanks for the great idea!

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  23. I moved up to 2nd grade this year and brought a few of my former students with me. I have really been trying to change things up for them. LOVE the Mission Possible idea and will be implementing it soon. (When I call them to the carpet for morning meeting now, I see their eyes rolling in the back of their heads! LOL) Thank you! Merinda

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  24. Hi Hope. I love the Mission Possible idea. Just curious ~ do you have a collection of problems that you would be interested in putting on TPT to go along with this? I would love to see what you used to start this and how you progressed throughout the year. :)

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  25. What a great idea! Thank you for the freebee!

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  26. did we ever find out what morning sentence is? I am dying to know!!!

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  27. This is A-MAZE-ING!!! I recently got hired for my first teaching job ever... I'm going to be teaching 2nd grade and looking for as many ideas as possible. This post by far has been my favorite!!!! I hope to check back often!!! Thanks so much for the freebies!! I don't know what my schedule will look like, but I will try to incorporate this in a morning meeting session. Wow, you are brilliant!!! (:

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  28. Love your math ideas! I know a few people asked this as well but, where do you get your math questions for each morning?

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  29. This is great! Love your ideas! What is the exact link to the SB calendar? I can't seem to find it. Thanks! :)

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  30. I would also love to know where you get the daily math problems and sentence work! Was there another post about this? Thanks for the great ideas!

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  31. What do I type into the search on SMART Exchange to find this calendar?

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  32. Can you post a link to the exact calendar you have there? I have been looking everywhere for something like that on smart exchange but cant find it! Thank you!! :)

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  33. I am dying to know what the morning sentence activity is and I cannot find any other blog posts about it. I would love it if you can share it sometime.
    Thanks for the awesome ideas!

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  34. I just received my teaching certificate and was offered a second grade position. Your website makes me so excited to teach Second. Thank you! I will definitely follow you.

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  35. Do you have your slides available (or template) for the four boxes for math problems? Is this all available on TPT? If so can you post the link??
    Thank you!! :)

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  36. Do you have your slides available (or template) for the four boxes for math problems? Is this all available on TPT? If so can you post the link??
    Thank you!! :)

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