Morning Meeting Classroom Activity: Name Six

Name Six is one of those activities that seems so simple yet can be a challenging and worthwhile activity for your students.

The Object:

Name six things that fit inside of a category before time runs out.

How I Run It:

With the students seated in a circle in the center of the room I have one student sit on the floor in the middle of the circle. The person seated in the middle is the one who must name the six things. The rest of the circle acts as a timer by passing around an object: marker, ball, toy or any other object you have handy. 

I name the category and then pass the object. The student in the center of the circle must name their six things before the object comes back around to me.

Ideas for Categories:

Stores in the mall

Presidents

Animals on a farm

Car brands

Hotels

Books

Authors

Colors

Why I Like It:

This activity can be adapted to each individual and to any age or grade. I also like the fact that it is a great way to encourage quick thinking and speaking in front of a group. The activity also leads to great discussions about pressure and the feeling of a looming deadline.

Morning Meeting Monday: Ping Pong Nose Race

Relay races have always been a favorite of mine. It can be difficult or scary to incorporate such things into your Morning Meeting routine but I have had great success with several of them and this one is great too.

Materials:

2 Ping Pong Balls

1 Paper/Styrofoam Cup

Prepare the Cup:

Cut the cup in have vertically so that you have two identical haves. These will lay on the ground like a cup buried halfway underground and will be the goals for the game.

Magic Box: A Morning Meeting Activity

This is basically charades with a non-existent box of objects.


1. Have the students imagine that you have placed a box in the center of your Morning Meeting circle. (Of course this is just imaginary so you will not need an actual box.)


2. Make a gesture to pretend you are opening the box.

Morning Meeting Components

Morning Meetings play an important role in my classroom. I do them almost every morning. 

Five Major Components of a Morning Meeting

1. Greeting: This is a chance for all students to greet someone and to be greeted. All students are involved and there are many ways of doing a greeting. I start the year with greetings that are less involved and eventually work into more complex greetings demanding greater comfort level between students. 

Examples:

Handshake 

High Five

Squeezing a Hand

Thumb Wrestling

2. News and Announcements: I tell the students what to expect for the day and the upcoming week. I have the students contribute any relevant pieces of information.

Examples: