Morning Meeting/ Circle

Calendar & Weather center

There are so many great skills to practice each day in a calendar and weather activity. We call it our morning meeting, but at this point we are not all meeting together in one spot. We have found that it helps to separate our students into centers allowing each to work to their strengths and learning styles. The following activity has been put into a folder or bound as a book for each student. It used to supplement and create repetition as well as offer support for other skills including data collection, graphing, writing name, writing numbers, and support many other important skills!

For some of my students, the day begins with an interactive calendar or weather app on a classroom iPad. For one, it begins with physically updating the wall calendar and weather data center. For others it begins with a self-directed slide show at a student desktop computer in my Technology Center. Click on the bolded links below for some of what goes into my students self-directed PowerPoint:

Rise & Shine & Welcome to School Today

They can do this in their seat or standing up and joining the motions. My students love to be welcomed to school where they feel important.

Macarena Months

Singing this every morning not only helps them to learn the names of the months, but teaches them in order so they can use that knowledge to decide which one comes before and which one comes after another.

Days of the Week Song

Again, a catchy memorable song to learn their days in a fashion that allows them to answer yesterday, today and tomorrow questions in the future.

Seasons

My students love this rap which not only covers the seasons, but what the weather feels like in each season as well as how to spell each one.

Color Farm

Learning colors with a song and a visual helps students to remember them more clearly. I have another color song that I used last year, but it only introduced 4 colors. For half the year, one of my students could easily identify those 4 colors, but did not know the others and had trouble learning them until we added this video.

Alphabet Song

I have a student who was non-verbal for the first 14 weeks of Kindergarten, until he started singing along with the alphabet song. By winter break he was talking to his parents by calling them Momma and Papa for the first time in his life. By the second week of first grade he was talking in full sentences saying things like, “thank you Mrs. Hardisty” and “No. You can’t do that in here.” It’s so inspiring to see them come alive and change their behavior for the better as they learn to speak and advocate for themselves.

Count to 100

I have students who could not count past 32 the week before we implemented this set of video’s, and two weeks later they are counting to 97! The visual and auditory delivery functions together to create a counting pattern that the students can easily remember.

Counting school days per month using tally marks

Students tally each day and then count their tally marks at the end of each month with this worksheet.

Marking the date on the calendar

Students write the month in their best handwriting and write down the number for each day of the month on this worksheet. Often my students have dysgraphia or other issues with writing so we tend to use markers with students who need more support with their writing skills.

Great exercise for counting and writing numbers in sequence

Students see how the numbers increase as the month moves forward.

Calendar Data Sheet laminated for reuse

The above page can be laminated or placed in a page protector so students us the same page every day and paper can be saved.

Graphing daily weather for each month

Any time we can add graphing to our daily routine I welcome it. Students need to be able to chart and find trends in various ways to support their learning in science and math especially.

I found this freebie at Mama’s Learning Corner. It’s also posted on my Pinterest Science Board.

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