Increasing Positive Student Participation Are You a Hog, a Log, or a Frog? Morning Meeting Lesson

Do you have students who sit around like logs, rarely ever participating in class discussions or activities?

What about those students who act like hogs, blurting out answers, not letting their peers have a chance to speak up let alone think about the question you just asked?

If you answered, "YES!" to either of these questions, you will love this morning meeting idea!

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I got this lesson idea from my friend, Jessica from The Whimsical Teacher.  If you are not following her on Periscope, well, you should be!

The first thing you need to do is print out the different masks.  I laminated mine for extra durability because I attached them to our wall as a reminder after the activity.

 I have a pdf file with all three of the masks here.

Hog, Log, and Frog Masks

Next, you gather your students around for your normal morning meeting.  If you don't use a morning meeting in your classroom, you can just use this as a lesson during the day.  Show the students the log and ask them what they think of when they think of a log.  What might a person who acts like a log in the classroom be like?  The students will volunteer ideas such as:

"They just sit there."

"They don't do their work."

"They don't help out."

"They don't participate."

Then, show them the hog mask. Ask them to tell you what they think of when they think of a hog.  Again, ask them how this might relate to the classroom.  Students might say:

"They blurt."

"They answer all of the questions."

"They raise their hands like crazy all the time."

"They interrupt."

Last, show them the frog and ask them what frogs always turn into in fairy tales.  They should answer, "Princes."  You then say, "That's right, they always turn into princes and princesses, because they do the right thing. What might the right thing be in the classroom?"  Answers could include:

"Taking turns."

"Participating in lessons."

"Always doing their best."

End the lesson by asking students what they would like to be, a log, a hog or a frog?  The answer should be simple - they want to be frogs.

Throughout the year, when your students aren't making the best choices, you can remind them, "Didn't you say you wanted to be a frog?

My students LOVED this lesson, and it has been a great reminder for increasing positive student participation.


If you decide to do this project, I would love to see pictures!  Please email me at kellys3ps@sbcglobal.net or tag me on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter!

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Our Morning Meeting

One of my favorite parts of our day is our Morning Meeting.  I have thought about letting it go from time to time (especially with the demands of testing season looming), but when I notice my students using elements of the meeting throughout the day (such as sharing compliments or concerns) I know just how crucial a piece it really is to our routine.

The goals of our Morning Meeting is to:

Set the tone for respectful learning

Establish a climate of trust

Motivate students to feel significant

Create empathy and encourage collaboration

Support social, emotional, and academic learning

At the beginning of the year, I lead the meeting an model the expectations, but I quickly hand over the task to a student.  I pick a new student each day to run the meeting (I just follow my class list alphabetically and then start over when we run through the list).  The components of our meeting are:

1. The Rules.  I use Whole Brain Teaching in my classroom, so we go over each of the 5 rules using the hand signals.

2. Our Mission Statement.  After the rules, we read our mission statement.  It is a modified version of our school mission statement, and it really focuses us on our goals for the day ahead.

During the next portion of the meeting students raise their hands to participate in each section.  The person of the day chooses a student who is raising their hand and throws a soft ball to them.  The students are expected to only talk when they have the ball, and to actively listen to the speaker. I have the student of the day choose three students to speak during each portion.

3. Compliments.  During this portion of the meeting, students compliment one another.  They might say things such as, " I would like to compliment so and so for being a good friend." or "I would like to compliment ____ for persevering during math yesterday." This year some of my students have taken to complimenting people outside of our classroom (i.e. family members, other staff members) and I have allowed it because they have been well thought out compliments.

4. Concerns. Students share concerns they may have about our classroom, school, students, etc.  They have included things such as the water fountain not working to me not teaching Spanish (LOL!).

5. I Am Proud of / I Am Working On. This is a time for students to share the things they are proud of and the things they are working on.  They might say that they are proud of reaching their AR goals, and they would like to work on mastering their math facts. It really keeps them accountable.  I have overheard students asking one another, "Do you want me to quiz you on your math facts since you are working on that?"

6. I Am Feeling ___ because. This is an idea that I took from a Ms. Noonan video ( you can see one below).  We use it not only to share our feelings, but also to work on synonyms and vocabulary words.  I don't have many English Language Learners in my classroom this year, but even my  native English speakers could use some new vocabulary words.  We call them "Fancy Dancy words".

7. Academic Content. I try to add Academic Content to each morning meeting.  Sometimes it is a round of skip counting, or some mental math.  Other times I might ask a comprehension question about our read aloud. 

Resources

My morning meeting is really a hodge podge of ideas gleaned from a variety of places, but here are a few of my go to places when I do my planning for this portion of our day:

I love this book from Responsive Classroom!

 80 Morning Meeting Ideas is another book from Responsive Classroom geared towards 3rd to 6th Grade.



I have also incorporated ideas from this video from Ms. Noonan.  I *may* have watched every last one of her videos and stolen tidbits from each one, because let me just say she is AMAZING!



I also have a Pinterest Board dedicated entirely to Morning Meeting Resources that I add to when I find additional resources and ideas.    Follow Kelly's board Morning Meetings on Pinterest.

Do you have a Morning Meeting with your class?

Morning Meeting

We start each morning out with a meeting. Our format goes like this:

* Review 5 Rules

*Mission Statement

*Sharing

* Pledge Announcements

*Morning Message

Review 5 Rules.

We use Whole Brain Teaching in our classroom so our 5 rules are:

Rule #1 Follow Directions Quickly
Rule #2 Raise Your Hand For Permission To Speak
Rule # 3 Raise Your Hand For Permission To Leave Your Seat
Rule #4 Make Smart Choices
Rule #5 Keep Your Dear Teacher Happy

The student of the day leads the class through the rules which are posted on the board.  As the students choral chant the rules, they also do hand gestures for each one. You can find free printable posters for the 5 Rules here.

Mission Statement:

After we review our five rules, we recite our class mission statement.  Our mission statement is just a slight revision of our school mission statement.

Our School Mission Statement: 
To create a community that can collaborate, communicate, create, and critically think through reading, writing, math, and technology.

Our Class Mission Statement: 
We are a community of learners that can collaborate, communicate, create, and think critically through reading, writing, math, and technology.

I found a pledge on Mrs. Gold's website that would also work for a class mission.  You could also have the students create their own mission statement.

                                                           I pledge today to do my best,
                                                           in reading, math, and all the rest.
                                                           I promise to obey the rules,
                                                           in my class and in my school.
                                                           I'll respect myself and others too,
                                                           I'll expect the best in all I do.
                                                           I am here to learn all I can,
                                                           to try my best and be all I am.
Sharing:
While we wait for the morning announcements on the loud speaker, we have sharing. Sometimes it is structured with specific Q&As while other times I let them share whatever they would like to share from show and tell items to stories.  They LOVE this time!

Pledge and Announcements:

Our pledge and announcements come on over our loudspeaker led by the secretary at our school.  If I have any additional announcements I let them know after the school announcements.

Morning Message:

I usually prepare a letter to the students to let them know what we will be learning that day.  Sometimes I will intentionally make mistakes for them to edit and other times I will throw in review questions.  I stopped doing the morning message for a little while and they begged me to bring it back.

Additional Resources:

For more Morning Meeting Ideas, Follow my Morning Meeting Pinterest Board here.
You can also follow me on Pinterest for all of my teaching related pins!

I have gotten tons of ideas for Morning Meeting with this book:


I love this morning meeting from The Teaching Channel. I've been thinking about ways to add some of these structures into our meeting as well.