Time and Connections {Slice of Life}

Third grade has the first special area time slot this year which means my morning meeting time was squashed and squeezed.  We have ten minutes from the start of the school day bell before we are to be IN our special area. 

We start our day with everyone settling in and do a morning greeting along with a few business items. I've missed the pieces where we are able to connect as a whole community and find joy. We are in a winter slump here in the midwest. The skies are more gray than blue and the ground is more brown than white. I felt our community needed an opportunity to connect as a whole class. I was especially missing the responses to the question, Who has something to share? We often experience joy, excitement, and sadness together by answering this question.

I decided to give this piece of our morning meeting routine a try when we returned after our special area. A student shared her parents had a meeting the night before to finish their basement. Another student sat up straighter and started beaming. He said, yes that was with my dad. I inquired about how his dad was meeting with her parents and he shared his dad has a business that does small home construction projects. He shared the name of his business, Stewart and Sons.

I probed more about the name of their business and he kept beaming. His grandfather started the business and his dad worked with him. Now grandpa doesn't work that much and he, my student is the son. I wish I snapped a photo of his big, broad smile and beams of pride we all felt that day.