I have been working on a really big project...it is absolutely the biggest blogging project I have ever.ever.ever attempted. I began this project over a week ago and I awoke at 5:30 Saturday morning to attempt to finish it. I was able to get my 7 year old to let me continue working until 12 pm. The pressure was on with my self-imposed deadline and a cutie patootie wanting to get her fun Saturday started. Needless to say, I am SO excited to begin sharing what I've been working on with you today!

I'm launching a blog series on "Implementing the Community Meeting" aka Morning Meeting! I have implemented different versions of morning meeting over the past 5 or 6 years and I am in LOVE with the impact it makes on my students. I have always had a passion for building a classroom community. I've had times when my classroom community and those sweet faces staring back at me as I read aloud, shared a new lesson with them, or saw the excitement on their faces when they accomplished something challenging in math was all that kept me coming back to my job. That was a dark place. Those times are over for now. But, our classroom community gave me something I needed and I watched as it gave students what they needed.

Today, I'm just going to tell you a little bit more about why I love community meeting and share my loose definition of community meeting. In my next post, I will reveal the other topics in the series. You won't want to miss this! It's a long list of helpful routines, tips, and answers to frequently asked questions.

As I know you do, I build a classroom community in many ways. However, "morning meeting" which I will usually call "community meeting" is the most sure-fire way to launch a strong classroom community, troubleshoot when the community is not feeling so "communal," and keep the love going all year long. A routine classroom community meetings provides a time and a place for you and your students to take care of classroom business, to take care of one another, and to grow ourselves.

My passion for building a classroom community and the importance I place on it cannot be swayed by district mandates, a litany of math, reading, and science standards, or the concern that I won't get my students to where they need to be. Believe me...where they need to be is HERE and NOW having important discussions with an adult who can help guide them through life. The fulfillment I get when I watch the investments I have made during community meeting shine in a students' improved behavior, their growth in friendships, or their belief in themselves is worth more than a few more points on a state test. I believe that. I think most of their parents do, too.

I use the terms “classroom meeting,” “community meeting,” and “morning meeting” interchangeably. I'm going to try my best to stick to “community meeting” for simplicity. I define my community meeting as a routine classroom experience that allows older elementary students an opportunity to develop personally, academically, and socially through the use of read alouds, videos, quotations, key vocabulary, classroom discussions, and the teacher as a trusted guide.

community classroom meetings in 4th 5th grade

When can you catch another morning meeting post? Well, since Saturday morning with a cup of coffee puts me in my happy place (and my teacher life restarts in one week so Saturdays will become even more of a big deal again), I've decided that this series will post each Saturday morning at 7:30 am. I'm also working on being a morning person since it gives me time to myself before the sweetie wakes up! Come be a morning person with me and spend time thinking about building a classroom community routine that you will LOVE driving to school for on Monday mornings!

Now, I really am brimming with so much excitement that {just this once} I'm going to post on Thursday! This is when I will reveal the list of topics that I will cover in my "Implementing the Community Meeting" series.

Want to get started right away? The series has begun so take a look!

→ Post 1: Why I Devote Time to Classroom Meetings

→ Post 2: The Design: An Overview

→ Post 3: Why a Theme-Based Morning Meeting?

→ Post 4: Morning Meeting: Materials and Resources

→ Post 5: Launching Morning Meeting at the BOY

→ Post 6: Day by Day in the Morning Meeting

→ Post 7: Scheduling Classroom Meetings

→ Post 8: I Still Can't Fit it all In: Finding time for Morning Meetings

→ Post 9: A Structure for Solving Classroom Problems During Morning Meetings

→ Post 10: Justifying Your Morning Meetings (with the standards!)

photocredits: Adventures of a Schoolmarm