FEBRUARY 2025
I feel that morning meetings really set the mood for the children and staff for the day. I ALWAYS host a morning meeting, or a group time as it is also called, every day. Morning meetings provide a sense of safety for children, as the meetings become part of the predictable daily routine. Children know what to expect, and know what is expected of them, which contributes to that sense of security and sense of belonging.
Morning meetings allow me the opportunity to connect personally with each child, even if it is very brief. It provides a structure for all children to come together, to acknowledge each other and myself as the teacher. It provides a space for open discussion and connections to be made. All of this contributes to the children’s sense of self, their sense of belonging, and relationship building between myself and my students. It’s the perfect way to begin the day.
Morning meetings need to be flexible, both in regard to the direction they may take, and to the time frame you expect. Learning journeys in early childhood can be full of surprise and may be unpredictable. I feel it’s important to embrace the emergent nature of learning in early childhood, and allow the focus of the meeting to “go with the flow”.
Very young children may have very short attention spans. They will show signs of inattentiveness and restlessness with their body language. I find that it’s important to gauge how the children are responding to the meeting, how they are feeling, and either extend or shorten the meeting as needed. The length of my typical morning meeting, from the time that we gather together, to the time that the children are transitioned into the morning session, may be anywhere from five to fifteen minutes, depending on the capabilities and needs of the children that morning.
Usually, we transition indoors after playing outdoors as children arrive. Children are called to the classroom if we are outside playing, after they have been given a five minute warning. This may be through song, addressing the whole group vocally or with a sound signal like a bell, or walking around to each individual or group of children to let them know we are transitioning indoors. I feel it is important to ensure the morning routine is unhurried, relaxed, joyful, and allows the opportunity to connect with the children and set the mood for the moment.
Children gather at the door, to enter the room. If I have a large group, I prefer the children to form a line, so that children enter the room one at a time safely. If I have a smaller group, they tend to enter one at a time safely, anyway.
I usually sing a song as children put their belongings away and gather on the mat. I do this as a prompt, because although many children will remember what to do day to day, there are just as many that will require some assistance to remember.
I place myself on a chair or stool while singing and waiting for the children to gather. This allows a relaxed, unhurried time period for children to organise themselves.
Once most children are seated, we begin our morning song. Those that are still organising themselves soon arrive at the mat once the songs begin. I rotate my songs each term, so four different songs are sung each year. These are, “Good Morning To You” to the tune of “Happy Birthday”, “Hello How Are You” to the tune of “Skip to My Lou”, “Ciao Buongiorno” to the tune of “Frere Jacques” and “Good Morning” by the Singing Walrus. There are many, many other songs you can use that you can find on teacher blogs and YouTube. If you have a very multicultural classroom, you may be able to find songs in other languages that are suitable to sing. I like to begin our meetings with a song, as it allows for an easy way to greet everyone, make eye contact with everyone, contributes to children’s sense of self-worth and sense of community in the classroom and, it’s fun!
We move on to our days of the week song. Again, these are rotated each term, so four different songs are sung throughout the year. These are “Today is” to the tune of “Frere Jacques”, “Days of the Week” to the tune of the Addams Family theme song, and two songs from YouTube such as the Learning Station, the Singing Walrus or some other education channel. I like to incorporate these songs to assist children in developing their understanding of time, that each day is different, and build the understanding of the past, present and future. To young children, time and the terms we give to refer to time passing are quite abstract to them. By simply naming days of the week, the children are beginning to build their understanding of what a day is, what a week is, and how the days and weeks pass.
Once these songs are sung, most children are seated, seem settled and comfortable, and are giving their full attention. I will then mark the roll. I mark the roll by looking each child in the eye while saying “Good morning X”. When I call each child’s name, I usually request that they respond by saying “Good morning” back to me, and do something physical with their body, such as giving a wink, making a funny face, giving me a thumbs up, giving a wave or high-five, performing an action from Braingym, or something similar.
Sometimes I will mark the roll in another language and request the children respond in that same language, for example, “Ni Hoa X”, or “Bonjour X” or “Privyet X”. If I am working on an observation, I will try to incorporate that into our roll call. For example, if I have recorded an observation of the children playing that morning while discussing their favourite animals and playing with animals, I may ask each child what their favourite animal is during the roll call, record their answer, and use this when writing their observation and extending upon the play for further learning about animals.
Children often enjoy roll call more when I incorporate these fun ways (I will only ever use one method per day) to answer or respond. I have found many benefits to marking the roll creatively, such as higher levels of engagement from the children, contributing to children’s sense of self-worth and sense of identity, learning about cultural concepts of what a greeting is, children learn they are expected to respond when someone acknowledges them, physical movement and learning, and cultural and language learning.
If I am at a service that requires a morning prayer with the children, we will say our morning prayer or daily prayer together at this point in the morning routine. We will also say our acknowledgement to country. I refer to the advice from the Reconciliation Australia website for this.
Our Daily Responsibilities chart is then completed. Depending on the number of children I have in my cohort each year, I will select between six to nine daily jobs, or responsibilities, for children to complete, and the children will have either one or two jobs per week depending on their enrolment. These are rotated for a number of weeks related to the number of jobs. For example, If I have six jobs in the classroom, then my rosters will be rotated for six weeks. Here are some examples. I make sure I choose jobs that are easy for children to complete independently, as part of the daily routine. These may be the art monitor, who assists to tidy the art area at pack up time, the floor sweeper, who assists to sweep the floor daily, the chair stacker, who assists to pack away the chairs, the meal helper, who assists with setting out meals, the weather chart person who completes the chart during our morning meeting, and the tech helper, who contributes during use of technology as group time, such as typing key words into the search bar, or ensuring tablets are placed on charge after use. These are just a few jobs or responsibilities that are suitable for kindergarten or preschool.
I have always loved children’s reactions to being assigned a responsibility for the day, they are often so excited about their jobs. In terms of learning, the children are establishing a desire to contribute to their learning community, and are developing a sense of agency within the classroom. By learning how to care for the learning environment, these skills then transfer to the children’s personal lives and the skills they will use to care for themselves.
The Day Chart is then completed. I typically use a digital chart, from ICT games, which is presented on the interactive whiteboard. Some teachers prefer to use a physical paper, magnetic or fabric chart which is visible to children all day, to complement children’s early literacy learning. I know these can be bought from educational suppliers, but you can just as easily make your own. The day chart is usually large enough for the whole cohort to view from the group time area.
The child who has been allocated the role of day chart helper for the day is invited up to complete the day chart with assistance. This typically involves selecting the image that best represents the weather for the day, selecting the name of the day, the date of the day, and the month. This early literacy and numeracy experience is very valuable for the children. It is amazing to see how the children, some after just a term, are able to recognise numbers to thirty one, and recognise days of the week as sight words, just by participating in the day chart completion each day.
We then move on to show and tell. I typically leave show and tell open and allow it to go as long as the children want it to, within reason. If I have to cut show and tell short, I ask children who missed out to remind me during the afternoon group time, that they still need to present their show and tell. Show and tell has many benefits for children’s development, such as building confidence, developing presentation skills such as using stance, vocal projection and eye contact to deliver a presentation, and of course children’s language skills also benefit from show and tell times, as children get to practice how to describe something, recall events, and decide what aspects of their personal life they wish to share with their peers.
I place a show and tell basket at the front of the morning meeting area, where children can place their item for show and tell upon arrival, so I know they are waiting for a turn, and their item remains safe. In regard to what I allow for show and tell, I always request for no toys to be brought in, due to the very common occurrence of them getting lost, broken or stolen. I will occasionally make exceptions to this rule, if the toy is related to a retell that the child is presenting for show and tell, such as a birthday party or family trip away.
At the beginning of the school year, I always set my expectations for show and tell with families and children. I encourage children to present for their show and tell, topics such as family events and trips, retells of weekend events, family photos, found natural items, a favourite book, an artwork completed at home, sports equipment or medals, cultural artefacts, or photos and stories about pets. This generally works well, and children learn very quickly what they prefer to bring in for show and tell.
Our Morning Chat then unfolds. I facilitate the conversation by addressing some things I saw during morning play time or drop off time. I may address topics of interest that presented themselves during play that may offer teachable moments, and then follow this up with research as a group on the interactive board. This then paves the path for further learning opportunities. I may address positive or negative behaviour I noticed to facilitate thinking and discussion around social expectations. I may address something that a parent shared with me that may allow for further teachable moments. I may set expectations for the day if something is happening that is out of routine.
Children are then expected, depending on the age and size of the group, to either raise their hand to speak in response, or, if I am speaking with a younger or much smaller group of children, to wait for a turn to speak, one at a time. Children do become very good with this, after about one term of practice. Our morning chats give the children an opportunity to express themselves, to let their voice be heard. If I don’t always have time for this in the morning, I try my best to have a group chat during our midday or afternoon group gatherings.
Children are then transitioned to the next part of the daily routine, which may be washing their hands for morning tea, beginning indoor play time, or preparing to attend a specialist lesson.
- For younger children, morning meetings or group time might be centred around meal times. I have seen educators in a toddler room transition from play time to morning tea time, where one educator then sits with the children during the meal to mark the roll, or take attendance, speak with the children, and talk about the plans for the day, while the other educator assists with the children eating. I have seen educators in an infant’s nursery host a morning meeting whenever children are seated in their highchairs to eat. The educator sat in front of a semicircle of highchairs, then read books, sang songs, used puppets to interact with the children, and the children were able to view the educator and their materials clearly. There are many ways to host a morning meeting, and a little flexibility and creativity can be applied to design an effective and suitable morning meeting.
- Resource Prep: I always try my best to ensure I have all the resources prepared that I will need for the meeting, to ensure a smooth flow, and maintain children’s engagement.
- Voice and hands: Something that many occupational therapists have shared, is the importance of keeping children engaged with their voice and their hands/bodies. I achieve this through our roll call activities, some Brain Gym exercises, and also using hand-actions and voices during our songs, prayers and acknowledgement to country.
- Leave your thoughts below, I would love to hear if you like to use a particular step in your routine that has not been mentioned, or if you have seen a particular step of a morning routine that works really well for the children and educators.
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