Inside: Having a preschool morning meeting sets the tone for the day in the classroom. It’s a great way to greet your children, let them talk to each other, and then share what will be happening that day.
Have you ever made a change to your preschool schedule and wondered “WHY did we not think of this years ago”? Okay, I’m laughing now because, truthfully, I’ve wondered this about a lot of changes we’ve made. But adding a morning meeting was one of THE best changes. It only took me 16 years of teaching to figure it out! So I thought I’d share some preschool morning meeting ideas with you all, just in case you might like to add a change to YOUR schedule.
And if you do decide to try this, will you please let me know how it goes? I’d love to hear!
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Putting Together a Preschool Morning Meeting
If you’ve been following my blog for awhile, you will recall how we like to break our circle times up, so that instead of just having one, we have quite a few. (If you are not familiar with this, you can read about it in my circle time post.)
I like to think of our morning meeting as another circle time. (I really should be calling it group time, as our circle is now more like an oval.)
Two summers ago I took an online class from Fairy Dust Teaching and was intrigued by a photo of a classroom that used small wooden stools for the children to sit on during group time. I shared it with my staff and they were in love with the idea. We presented the idea to our committee and they loved them, too. The parents pay for part of the stool and fundraising covers the rest. Each child has her own stool that stays with her the entire time she is at our preschool. When she graduates, she takes the stool home as a keepsake of her preschool years.
Before we open the doors to greet our preschoolers, we set out the stools on our group time carpet and place their name sticks on top. We place a basket of books in the middle.
When the preschoolers arrive, they take their name stick and place it in their envelope which is on the wall. This is a visual to let us know who is here.
They then get a book from the basket to look at while waiting for their classmates to arrive.
Let me compare this to how it used to be. The preschoolers would arrive and we’d immediately start centers time. There would be a mix of energy and there was not near as much focus as there is now. I didn’t realize this until we implemented our morning meeting.
What now happens is that even if a child arrives full of energy (and it happens every single day), when they walk into the doorway, they find a calm environment.
Related: Energetic Preschoolers? 5 Important Tips for a Calmer Classroom
Starting our Preschool Morning Meeting
When it’s time to start our morning meeting, the children put their books either under their stools (so they can look at them again later), or in the basket.
We then sing our good morning song.
(Tune: If You’re Happy and You Know It)
Good morning, good morning, how are you?
Good morning, good morning, how are you?
It’s such a special day, I’m glad you came to learn and play!
Good morning, good morning, how are you?
Each day we have a class helper. That child’s name is placed on a pocket chart at the entrance of our classroom. A teacher will hold up the child’s name and call out each letter until someone figures out who it is.
Related: How to Have a Preschool Class Helper
Introducing Our Learning Centers
We then share what is happening in each of our learning centers. We talk about the materials and how we will use them. If we are introducing new tools, we might pass them around while showing how they are handled.
We might demonstrate something that is related to that week’s theme.
We will pass items around to touch and explore.
All of these tie into that week’s theme, making what we will be doing that day more meaningful.
We then invite the children to go work and play. And it’s amazing how they all go off into different areas, excited to explore!
Do you have a morning meeting?
More to read:
Easy Ways to Decorate the Classroom Using the Children’s Work
Tips for Dealing with Separation Anxiety
Choosing Themes for Your Classroom
Toddler and Preschool Activity Plans
Looking for an entire year’s worth of learning activities? We’ve done the work for you!
I have helped create each of these packets, along with a team of talented educators and homeschoolers.
Easy to follow activity plans include activity modifications and adaptations to meet the needs of all learners.
Every theme comes with recommended reading lists, songs, material lists, and more.
Click on the graphics below for more details.
Toddlers (18 – 36 months):
Preschool (3 – 5 Years):
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Hi Sheryl
First I want to tell you how much I love your site and how much I’ve gained from you!
I teach 3 year olds and I love the idea of morning meeting. The challenge I have however is keeping the kids from going directly to the centers when they first come in. I’ve also found that for those kids who have a hard time with separation anxiety, they seem to adjust better by being distracted with the sensory table or other activities. I’d really prefer to have a meeting first to introduce the centers. Do you have any ideas or suggestions for me to make morning meeting possible? Thank you so much! Emily
Hi Emily! I was afraid of the same thing, but having a spot where everyone meets seemed to really help those who were having a hard time with separation anxiety. They knew where they needed to be, and they could quietly look at books and not need to make decisions on where else they needed to be at that moment. As for children wanting to go directly to centers, we just reminded them that first we have our meeting, THEN we go to centers. There would only be 1 or 2 who would forget now and then, but happily joined us at the morning meeting once reminded. It’s been an all around positive experience for us, so I’m hopeful it will be for you, too!
Hi Sheryl
One more question ?
Do all your kiddos arrive at the same time? Mine tend to trickle in a bit and I’ve struggled with the kids who are there during morning meeting getting distracted when the latecomers come, either because they need me or my assistant to ease them in, or because they want to greet their friends also, or see whatever cool thing they brought to school that day and then our circle time falls apart. What would you recommend in that situation? Also would you start with morning meeting from the very first day of school? Or ease them into it? Thanks so much!
Our arrival time is 9:30, but we open our doors at 9:25. We usually wait until 9:35 to start our morning meeting, hoping everyone will be there, but there are usually a couple who arrive a bit later. The teacher that is not in charge of morning meeting will stay at the door to greet those who are late. They don’t bring anything into the classroom, so it’s not a distraction. I have found that by starting right off with morning meeting does get more children there on time, because it’s very obvious to the parents that we have already started class time. Yes, we start the very first day. We want to build that consistency right from day one. But we keep it short and simple.
Hi, Sheryl,
Thank you for sharing so many different ideas on your site.
I teach a class of 10- 2 year olds. In the past years I’ve usually waited until Dec. before I put the day’s first group time which involves greeting song and a story at the beginning of the day. My thinking: kids separate from parent/caregiver more easily with the table activities and home living centers available to them.
Would your idea work with 2s and maybe I can invite parents to sit a little w/ the book to help ease the separation?
Hi Sherri – With our 2s, I prefer letting them go right to an activity rather than start with a group time. I think with this younger age group it might be upsetting for some if they felt they had to sit in one spot right when they arrived.
Where do you get the stools? I like that design, but don’t know where to find them.
Hi Molly – We ordered ours from Michael’s Craft Store. We love them because they stack nicely and don’t tip easily. Thanks for reading!
Hi there,I am with the 2s and I would like to use that idea for my morning ring.But i think it will work by the 3rd term for me.Thanks for sharing
Hi Joyce! Good idea – it’s always best to wait until you feel it’s the right time. Thank you for reading!
I have tried the morning meeting and I think it’s great with my 3 year olds.
That’s great, Tondra! Glad to hear other teachers are trying morning meetings with their 3 year olds.