Articles

It might be hard to believe, but our elementary and middle school course presenters were once themselves Responsive Classroom beginners. In this installment of The Presenter’s Point of View, they look back on their own experiences applying the Responsive Classroom approach for the first time and share valuable insights into…

Responsive Classroom Morning Meeting is an engaging way to start each day, build a strong sense of community, and set children up for success socially and academically. Each morning, students and teachers gather together in a circle for twenty to thirty minutes and interact with one another during four purposeful…

I enjoy planning Morning Meetings for my students, and each year I see how beneficial these gatherings are in creating a positive classroom community. I’ve also found that sharing and being exposed to new Morning Meeting ideas is a great way to keep things fresh, deepen my practice, and learn…

It's hard to believe that the school year is upon us. I remember the excitement—and apprehension—I felt as I made my lesson plans for the first weeks of school. One of the things I was most excited about was getting to know the children and helping them get to know…

Do you often wonder how to keep the sense of comfortable routine while also varying Morning Meetings enough to keep students (and adults) interested and engaged? Greetings can be especially important because they set the tone for the whole meeting—and the whole day. Here is an answer to a question…

Do you think a lot about how to create Morning Meetings that positively impact each day and prepare your students for the learning to come? I'll share a little secret that has worked for me: Try planning Morning Meeting after you do your lesson plans for the rest of the…

An adapted excerpt from The Morning Meeting Book, 3rd edition Sharing is a rich and vital part of a daily Morning Meeting, a key Responsive Classroom practice in which all classroom members—grown-ups and students—gather in a circle for twenty to thirty minutes to greet each other, share news and ideas,…

A Standards-Based Approach to Morning Meeting Sharing Ryan holds up the book so all his classmates can see the cover and begins: "Reptile Facts is my favorite first grade book. Every first grader should read this book because it shares facts about reptiles." He displays a few pages showing similarities…

After doing many Morning Meetings, teachers often wonder how to keep the sense of comfortable routine while also varying the meetings enough to keep students (and adults) interested and engaged. Greetings can be especially important because they set the tone for the whole meeting—and the whole day. Here are answers…

The earnest fourth grade girl straightened up tall and looked around the circle, drew a deep breath and began: “Our greeting today will go like this. First you say your name, then you say when you would like to have lived. Then we’ll all greet you back by saying ‘Hello’…

Welcome to Morning Meeting in my full inclusion classroom. Twenty-one first graders sit in a large circle on a brightly colored rug. I'm in a small rocking chair, my hand lightly touching one child's back. Another adult sits behind a child, supporting him as he sits with his legs, encased…

In the spring of my first year as a secondary school teacher, I got a letter from a student for whom I had a particular fondness, letting me know that she was dropping out of school. School wasn’t making much sense to her and little that she was being asked…

What happens in your classroom during arrival time? Those first minutes are so crucial for setting the tone and the pace for the day! The routines you put in place for arrival time help children reconnect to the classroom and their place in it, as learners and as classmates. Think…

Here’s another children’s book that might come in handy early in the school year. Say Hello!, a picture book by Rachel Isadora, is a good one for when you are introducing Morning Meeting, especially greetings, to your class. In this book, Carmelita, her mother, and their dog Manny run errands…

During a recent school visit, I marveled at the myriad tasks and responsibilities that comprise the first few minutes of the school day.  Watching one teacher calmly direct all this activity reinforced for me the value of establishing and practicing routines. It’s 9:00 am on a Monday morning in November.…

There’s a happy buzz in Mr. M’s third grade class. It’s late fall, and the children take pride in knowing just what to do as their school day begins. First, there’s the morning message their teacher has written for them. The children gather at the easel a few at a…

I firmly believe that the better I know students—the more I understand the joys and challenges of their daily lives—the more responsively I can teach them. Similarly, the better they know each other, the more cohesive and empathetic a classroom community we can build. In my classroom, several kinds of…

I’m new to the Responsive Classroom approach, but even in my first year of having Morning Meetings, the children’s social growth exceeded what I had typically seen in my kindergarten classes. For example, during the Sharing part of Morning Meeting, the students learned appropriate ways to ask questions about each…

Teaching Children to Make Caring Comments during Morning Meeting Sharing On a late spring morning, Mr. Marino’s fourth graders are gathered quietly on their Morning Meeting rug, all eyes on Joe, whose turn it is to share. “I played a basketball game on Saturday,” Joe says. “We lost, but my…

When Eric's father died suddenly just before a long weekend, Morning Meeting gave our school the safe structure we needed to help this second grader and his schoolmates cope with the tragedy. When we first got the sad news from Eric's family, we let each of the second grade families…

One March morning, children entering a fourth grade classroom take turns gathering at a chart on which their teacher has written a message just for them: March 7, 2005 Dear Invertebrate Investigators, Yesterday we continued our studies about invertebrates, and we put two types of food in our worm farm.…

Adapted, with permission, from an article in Childhood Education, Spring 2001 With twelve years of elementary teaching experience, four years of teaching music, two grown children of her own, and a master’s degree, Sharon Ketts is confident about her teaching skills. Nevertheless, she was astounded when the news broke that…