Do you hold a morning meeting in your special education classroom? Morning meetings are extremely beneficial for our students in special education! Guess what- they are actually super beneficial to us too! Let me tell you the 3 reasons you NEED a morning meeting in your special education classroom! If you are a new self-contained teacher, you will want to check out the last paragraph!
#1 No prep work
Okay the very first reason that you need a morning meeting in your special education classroom is a simple reason- for your sanity! Special education teachers (especially self-contained teachers) have so much to plan throughout the day- ELA, math, science, fine motor, life skills, the list goes on. Wouldn’t it be great to have a 30-45 minute chunk of your day that you prepped ONCE and then was ready for the ENTIRE year?! This is it!
I always started my day with having a morning meeting when I was in the classroom. I loved it, my students loved it and my paras loved it. The best part? If I got called out of the room or needed to help with a student behavior, any of my paraprofessionals could easily take over during our morning meeting time. It runs the same every day and is a super simple routine to follow! If you want to host a digital morning meeting, check out this post on how to set-up a digital morning meeting!
#2 Gives a structured routine to students
Speaking of routine… this is just another reason that I LOVE having a morning meeting in my special education classroom! Our students in special education totally THRIVE on routines. Starting the day the same way each morning and having your students know exactly what is expected will help increase their confidence and decrease their behaviors in your special education classroom. My students always came in, unpacked and then got ready for our morning meeting in my classroom by grabbing their morning meeting book to be able to follow along. Check out exactly how I ran the morning meeting in my classroom here!
You can make your morning meeting fun using simple songs that your students can follow along to as well. Check out these 10 Youtube Videos To Use for Morning Meeting.
My students always loved when I used REAL pictures of items in our classroom just like this morning meeting set has. They are more relatable for them than clipart pictures. I love that they can see real pictures of weather and what kind of clothes you could wear to help generalize this skill.
#3 Gives a sense of class unity
The final reason that I love to hold a morning meeting in my special education classroom is that it gives our class and students a sense of unity. Building class unity can be difficult at times in special education due to having multiple grade levels, different abilities and students constantly coming and going to general education or related services. Morning meeting time is generally a time of the day in which ALL students can participate as well as get to know each other better. Sometimes I have them pick a friend for the next turn or make them check to see who is absent that day themselves. Students love morning meeting time because everyone knows exactly what to expect and everyone is involved and engaged.
If you want to host a simple morning meeting in your special education classroom, you can check out: Morning Meeting with Real Pictures. You can print it or use it with Google Slides. It is not grade specific and it’s also available in this larger bundle-Special Education Classroom Set-up Bundle for New Teachers.
What’s Included in the Morning Meeting with Real Pictures Set?
Digital + Printable versions
Large set for board
Mini calendar book for dry erase
Velcro calendar book set
Worksheets
Digital Version
WHAT TOPICS ARE INCLUDED?
Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow
Days of the Week
Today’s Date
Month and year and day
Temperature
Weather
Emotions
Who’s Here today
How I came to School
Colors: My shirt is
Colors: My Pants are
Seasons and Clothes
Song Choices
Book Choices
Morning Stretches
Say Hello
Days in school
Are you ready to host your first morning meeting yet?! Click Here!
Happy teaching!
Are you a new self-contained special education teacher? Did you know that there is a course that I created just for you to help you during your first year of teaching? (Hello overwhelming!)
With my new course, Simple Self-Contained Setup 101, you can say goodbye to that uneasy and apprehensive self-contained teacher who dreads the daunting classroom setup, back-to-school prep process! You’re not even going to know her anymore. You will instead be CONFIDENT and EAGER to take on anything that comes your way with rock-solid plans and systems in place from day 1-such as how to create a morning meeting in your classroom!
