Magers Memo
October 12th, 2018
Grade Level Team Meetings are Monday! See you in the conference room!! You WILL need your device! 1st & 3rd will be moved to Tuesday, I am out at 1:30 for SAESP.
Updates from Crystal
- First, you all are "SO GOOD". Literally.
- Each morning in Rise and Shine, I will be teaching students greetings. We will focus on 4 each month and do the same one each day for a week. The students will get to choose between the 4 each week. The greetings I am teaching are linked here FYI. Some of these are a little strange and not "doable" in an assembly, but feel free to use them in the classroom!
- Thank you Kylee and Christy for offering to host our next staff meeting!
- If Deanna or Pam do not show up for interventions, it is because we had a sub. position that did not get filled, and they are covering or we have students in ISS and Misty & Crystal are either out of the building or unavailable. Thank you for understanding!
- Dinner will be provided on Tuesday, October 23rd during Parent Teacher Conferences. This will be considered our "late night" but feel free to do conferences any evening during the two week conference window.
- Please make sure your doors are locked at all times. Also, do not prop doors unless you are standing at the door, monitoring who is going in and out.
- PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE...ENTER YOUR SUB DAYS AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. IF YOU KNOW YOU WILL BE OUT FOR A TRAINING, ENTER THE ABSENCE NOW! It has been a struggle thus far, so let's do what we can to make sure we have subs. Thank you for being proactive!
- This week: I am out Wednesday at 11:30 at KAC for meetings, and also Friday morning. Misty will be here both days. Our first All Pro Dad Breakfast is Thursday! Please promote this in your weekly newsletters! Also, if you are not copying me on your weekly newsletter, please do so. Thursday I am out at 2:30 to attend the Compensation Study Group at GSC-just FYI-Carla will be lead teacher in charge and Kate Dunn will also be available as lead teacher in charge.
Mentor/Mentee Program
Intruder Drill
Friday, Oct 5, 2018, 09:30 AM
Sherwood Elementary School, South Golden Avenue, Springfield, MO, USA
HOW DO YOU CONNECT WITH STUDENTS? MORNING GREETINGS ARE A GREAT WAY FOR STUDENTS TO BUILD CONNECTIONS!
Here’s a greeting that gets students up and moving while also practicing their math facts.
Match Card Greeting
Give each student a card on which you’ve written part of an equation. For example, one student gets a card that says “50 – 35”; another student gets one that says “= 15.”
Students move around trying to find the match for their card.
When students find their match, they greet each other. A simple “Hello” or “Good morning” is fine.
Students sit with their matching partner in the order of an equation, visible to the rest of the circle. For example, the student with the “50 – 35” card sits to the right of the student with the “= 15 card.”
Going around the circle, students announce their equation while holding up their cards so all can see.
This next one’s fun when you want to rein in the movement a bit by keeping students in the circle rather than moving around the meeting space.
Doing the Wave
Students stand with one arm extended toward the classmate on either side of them and with palms touching (or palms facing but not touching).
Turn to the student on your left and say, “Good morning, Sara.” Sara greets you back. You both then raise your arms in a wavelike motion.
Sara turns to the student on her left and they greet each other in the same way, with the same motions.
Continue in this way so that the wave makes its way around the circle.
Q: I want students to have fun, but when we do bouncy, loud greetings, they tend to get silly and forget to take the act of greeting seriously. What can I do?
A: You’re right to be concerned about greetings becoming silly. It helps to focus on engagement rather than entertainment or frivolity. Remember that although greetings do need to be engaging, they don’t always need to be bouncy and loud. First, it’s not your role as a teacher to entertain students. Second, the best learning comes from engagement, which can take the form of deep concentration, even fascination, as well as playfulness and laughter. So instead trying to make greetings entertaining for students, look for those that will engage them. Here are a couple to try.
Spider Web
Holding a ball of yarn, a student greets someone across the circle and gently rolls the ball to that person while firmly holding on to the end of the yarn.
The student who receives the ball of yarn greets another student across the circle and rolls the ball to that student, making sure to hold onto the unraveling strand with one hand.
This continues until everyone has been greeted and the yarn has created a web across the circle.
To unravel the web, students greet each other in reverse order until the ball of yarn is wound up again.
Flightly Flight
Give the first greeter a paper airplane. She chooses someone in the circle across from her and greets him with a friendly “Good morning, ______!” and then gently tosses the airplane so that it lands in front of him. (Remind students to throw the plane carefully so that it doesn’t hit anyone.)
The student being greeted waits until the airplane lands and then retrieves it. (Remind students that only the person being greeted retrieves the airplane.) He returns the greeting: “Good morning, ______!” and chooses someone else to greet.
Repeat until everyone has been greeted.
Q: Coming up with enough greetings to keep things varied and fun takes time—the one thing I don’t have! How can I keep up?
A: Variety is important, but that doesn’t mean you have to change the greeting every day. It’s more important to gauge students’ interest level: If they’re enjoying a greeting—perhaps even asking for it—keep using it!
But it’s also a good idea to continue building the class’s stock so you can switch things up when you need to. One way to gather new greetings is to ask colleagues to share ones their students enjoy.
And remember that students themselves are excellent resources. When you ask for their help adapting familiar greetings or even coming up with new ones, their enthusiasm is sure to rise. Here’s a greeting devised by a fourth grader. It can be adapted for all grade levels and is especially useful early in the year when students are learning one another’s names.
Say Your Name
The whole class begins chanting the refrain: Say your name and when you do, we will say it back to you!
The first child then says his or her name aloud: Melanie!
In unison, the whole class repeats the name: Melanie!
The whole class chants the refrain again as the greeting continues around the circle.
Say Your Name is an example of a greeting that can be easily varied to feel new. Each student can use a different voice—soft, deep, high-pitched, spooky, etc.—which the whole class then echoes. Students can sing the refrain in rap style, add hand-clapping and thigh tapping, or clap out the number of syllables in their names. To make the greeting livelier, students can add a movement to go with their names, which the class then mimics when they repeat the name.
Here’s another greeting that’s easy to vary. A bonus: it folds in sharing for those busy days when you have less time for Morning Meeting.
Hullaballoo
Post a chart like this:
Ways to move: Tiptoe, Link elbows, Walk like a zombie, Skip
Ways to greet: Handshake, Pinky Shake, High Five, Fist Bump, Swim
Topics to Share: Favorite dessert, How many kids in a family, Favorite book
Favorite activities
Call out a direction from each category on the chart. For example, “Tiptoe, handshake, favorite book.”
Students tiptoe around the room to find a partner and greet them with a handshake. Partners then tell each other their favorite book.
Ring a bell to signal a new round. Call out three new directions. Students move, greet, and share in those designated ways.
Continue for three or four rounds.
Click here if you would like to print this off!
October 11, 2013 Categories: Activity Ideas / Getting Started / Message Ideas / Morning Meeting