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?

 

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:

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:

And the inside:

 
Here is how it works:

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!!!

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:

{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!

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