Morning Meeting! In an Autism classroom Morning meeting is my FAVORITE part of the day. It is one of the few times that we get to sit together…..WHOLE GROUP! Whole group is such a hard thing for my little superheroes to complete. So many distractions, having to wait their turn, attention on other peers, paying attention…the list of challenges goes on an on.
I attempted to design our morning meeting with a BUNCH of visuals, lots of music, and a routine that does not change so the students know what to expect and how long it will take place.
Let’s start with visuals. I just did a post on visuals in the classroom so Click here to learn about how I use visuals in the classroom! In morning meeting we have visuals to sign in and the kids tell us how they are feeling, visuals to pick their job for the whole group (weather, days of the week, months of the year, etc), and a visual schedule of the songs and activities.
All of the songs that we use at circle are from YouTube here are some links to a few of my favorites:
My students LOVE the Shape Song and the student with the best behavior for the day gets to point to all the shapes on the wall! It is a great reinforcer!
I got the shape posters from Special Teacher for Special Kids check it out in her TPT store!
Another student favorite is the Word Family Song by Dr. Jean. I made a cute book to go along with the song and the kids each get a turn to come up and point to the words and pictures and sing to their friends. It is a FREEBIE! in my Teachers Pay Teachers Store!
I also SPLURGED and bought this awesome calendar from Lakeshore. I know a lot of people like to use smart boards, but i think there is something special about doing it the old traditional way and allowing the kids to move and manipulate pieces on a BIG COLORFUL pocket chart!
Here are some other pictures from our circle time area!
What do you LOVE about Morning Meeting? Share in the comments below!
