Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Morning Chatter

Wow! It's been over a week since my last post! I'm trying to get back in the swing of things as far as school stuff goes since we had Spring Break last week. I didn't go out to my classroom once during the week...can you believe it?? I used Spring Break to clear my head and gear up for this last 9 weeks of school. Sunday night (of course the best ideas come at the last possible minute, right?) I stumbled upon the idea of a morning message on Deanna Jump's blog. I had always hear teachers talking about morning messages, but never really paid that much attention to it. But for some reason, I started reading about Mrs. Jump's and saw that she had posted an adorable pic of the message. She calls her's "Chit Chat". This seemed like a good idea to me, so I decided to use it as a jumpstart for the question of the day that always starts reading. We call ours "Morning Chatter" I have had my kids do this all week. They get their journals out as soon as they unpack and begin writing the answer to the daily question. At the beginning of reading, we take turns sharing our answers. I love this since it combines the oral language/ question of the day part of the reading lesson with writing skills. The kids are lovin' it too! Here's what mine looks like: (sorry for the blurry pic...forgot my camera, so I used my iphone:) )
Do any of you do a morning message?  I'm thinking about starting one for only math to do at the beginning of our math lessons. I'd love to have your ideas!

6 comments:

  1. I use morning message at the beginning of the day to tell students what we will be doing that day. Later, I use morning the morning message as a springboard for editing. We answer quick questions, make graphs, find sounds, circle vowels, etc.
    I have also used as Daily News. In this version, the students (each table a day--those absent on Friday or just me on FridaY) write something they would like to share. We use this as an edit too. Great teaching tool!
    Last but not least--something similar--I "stole" from my sister is called Kings and Queens. One student is the King or Queen for the Day. In he beginning, teacher writes questions, answers, and fill in the blank letter to king or queen. This is how it goes:
    King or Queen chooses 3 different students. Student as question:
    Example and this is how I write on board
    What is your favorite color?
    Green
    Where do you like to go out to eat?
    Chick-Fil-A
    Do you have any brothers or sisters?
    Yes--one sister.
    Then (scaffolding over time) students write a letter to king or queen answering the questions about themselves.
    Ex

    Dear Queen Mrs. Allen,
    My favorite color is red. I like to go out to eat at Chili's. I have 2 brothers and 1 sister.
    Your friend,
    Abby

    (of course, this takes lots of scaffolding. However over time, students understand and learn how to answer questions in complete sentences. We discuss the parts of a letter (oh yeah--they add the date) and their purpose with a Letter Rap.


    Those teachable moments are there for all 3 methods. I have done them all!

    Delena @ www.dallenfirstgrade.blogspot.com (please check me out)

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  2. I also use a morning message to show that words convey any message w/ students. Ours looks more like this
    Message of the Day
    Today is March 23, 2011.
    Today is Tuesday. Tues. is short for Tuesday.
    3-23-11 is another way to write the date.
    It is sunny outside. It is ________F outside.
    Today we have guidance and art.
    Today we will be reading / talking about / extending the reading topic of the day.
    Here is where I ask the students to preidcit or share something personal about themselves / situation.
    The students then ea get a chance every 19 days to illustrate the words they wrote.

    We start with 4 sentences and build UP. I am always looking for ways to add in MORE sight words / concepts.

    I LOVE the idea of a MATH one....hum.

    Sarah Hetrick
    shetrick@gmail.com

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  3. That's so cute! I worked in a kindergarten class last year, and they had morning messages, but they were never that cute!

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  4. We use the responsive classroom approach at our school. We start each day with a morning meeting (20-30 minutes) and part of that is a morning message. At the beginning of the year I strictly use it for daily news. Now I put in mistakes and have students come up and correct it. I do it on my brightlink (similar to a smartboard) so it's integrating technology too.

    Ex
    Good Morning Friends,

    today is thursday, marcH 25th 2011. you will go to meDia today we will start a new science unit todya.
    Love,
    Mrs. Perry

    Jenna
    fancyinfirst.blogspot.com

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  5. I do a morning message every morning before we start reading. It usually tells the students a breify description of what we will be doing/learning that day. I also have a silly sentence that the students need to correct. Through out the year I start to leave words out of the message and students need to fill in the blanks.
    For example
    Good _______ boys ____ girls. Today _
    Monday. Today we will be ________ a story about two best friends. etc...

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  6. Hi Leslie!
    I'm enjoying reading first grade blogs these days and yours is no exception! Although I've taught for 21 years I have been so inspired by the activities in your classroom.

    Regarding the morning message... I use this as a shared writing activity during my whole group reading instruction. I quickly "interview" my kids and from their conversation we compose 2 to 3 sentences. Then we look for punctuation, capital letters, special sounds we're studying, nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc... Basically, I look for words or conventions that will help me review what I've taught and reinforce other things. Finally, at the end of the week, I type all 5 messages, ask a child to illustrate and place them in a notebook for reading practice. Clear as dirt?

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