Whole School

"Good morning, friendly learners. Today we have a visitor joining us for Morning Meeting!” This is an announcement that students hear frequently when they begin their Morning Meeting at School 14. Every morning at 8:30 am, as part of their 90-minute literacy block, each class holds a Morning Meeting. The…

Our school celebrates and welcomes our new kindergartners with a special all-school Morning Meeting affectionately known as “Crowning Day.” Planning for Crowning Day begins before the kindergartners start school. The fifth graders look forward to their new responsibility as we match each of them with a K-buddy. The third and…

It’s language arts time in Mr. Jeffrey’s third grade class. The children have settled into their writing assignments. Mr. Jeffrey is working with a small group when he notices Lucia across the room distracting her neighbors with chatter. “Lucia, do your work and let others do theirs,” he says in…

A whistle blows, signaling that the day is about to begin. The children scamper to organize themselves into grade-level lines. On an adult’s signal, one line moves toward the building, pausing at the door. “We are about to go inside. What kind of waves will we use?” the adult asks…

“They’re fine when they’re with me. But when they step outside the walls of my classroom, their behavior falls apart,” says a fifth grade teacher. It’s a common lament. Many teachers have success in teaching children to be calm and respectful in the classroom, only to have the children “lose…

In a school with over 500 students and more than eighty staff, it can be difficult to get to know one another. At K.T. Murphy Elementary School in Stamford, Connecticut, the staff and administrators addressed this by creating an all-school meeting format that uses the structure of Morning Meeting. Every…

Q: The classroom environment is calmer and friendlier when I work with the children to create classroom rules. But I still get reports from lunch, recess, and special area teachers about problematic behaviors in these areas. How can I help the children pay attention to our classroom rules even when…

Adapted excerpts from Northeast Foundation for Children's new book, Kids Taking Action: Community Service Learning Projects, K-8 Over the years, third grade teacher Karen Lefave had become increasingly concerned about how the morning bus ride affected her students at Brayton Elementary School in North Adams, Massachusetts. "Bullying on the bus…

It's a cool, crisp, autumn morning as 100 second and third graders burst onto the playground for a much-needed break from the academic demands of the day. Some make a beeline to a kickball game starting up in a far corner of the playground with the "recess/lunch teacher" serving as…