5 Reasons to Use Classroom Morning Messages

Do you welcome your students with a morning message?  It might feel like just one more thing to do in the morning, but it’s more than a slide or classroom decoration!  A morning message can help you build a strong classroom community and give your students a positive start to the day! In this post, I’m going to show you exactly what I mean.  Keep reading for five great reasons to use classroom morning messages. 

What Are Morning Messages?

Morning messages are a great way to welcome your students to school in the morning.  It is usually a short message from the teacher that is displayed at the front of the classroom. 

A morning message typically includes a positive, welcoming note to the students.  Many teachers also use their morning message slides to communicate important reminders about the day.

Some teachers choose to hand-write their morning messages on the whiteboard or anchor chart paper. Other teachers prefer digital morning message slides. Either way, there are plenty of benefits to using classroom morning messages!

5 Benefits of Classroom Morning Messages

There are many reasons why teachers decide to welcome their students with a morning message, but I’ve chosen five of my favorites.  These are things that I have noticed when using morning messages in my classroom.

Click Here to Check Out Morning Message Slides for the Whole Year

1. Create a Positive Classroom Community

The first benefit of morning messages is that they set the tone for your classroom.  Mornings can be hectic with a variety of things that need your attention.  A morning message can help you make sure that all of your students are welcomed to school with a positive note from you. 

On top of that, morning messages can help build relationships and classroom community by adding other fun things to your morning message.  On top of wishing students a happy birthday, you could share other exciting news that involve children in your class.  Your students might be on a sports team that won a championship or someone in your class might have a new sibling!  Adding these things to your morning message can help build classroom community.

2. Encourage Students to Be Focused

Another important reason to use morning messages is that it gives students somewhere to focus their attention until you are ready to address the class. I like to frequently switch up my morning message slides so that new graphics and colors immediately grab their attention when they walk in the door. You could also add jokes or funny memes to encourage students to check out the morning message.

When children arrive at school, they often have many things on their minds. They might be worried about something going on at home or they could be anxious about what the school day will bring.  A morning message is a great way to refocus your students for a productive day of learning!  It can provide a brief overview of what to expect, which is very helpful for students who feel nervous or anxious about the school day.

3. Provide a Student Check-In

You might also consider asking questions as part of your morning message.  Students can either write down their answers or think about their answers until it’s time to share during the morning meeting. 

This can be a very helpful way to gauge how your students are doing socially and emotionally. The question can be as simple as “How are you feeling today?” A daily check-in is so helpful for social-emotional learning and for building classroom community.

4. Supplement Your Morning Routine

Whether you start your day with a morning meeting or dive into bellwork, a morning message can supplement your morning routine.  Your welcome message could include instructions for bellwork or for materials that students need to gather for the first activity of the day. 

Reviewing the morning message can also be part of your morning meeting routine.  If you asked a question as part of your message, your students can discuss their answers together as a class. If you include a growth mindset quote as part of your morning message, you could read it together as a class and discuss what it means. The welcome slide can be an agenda of sorts for your morning meeting!

5. Give Important Reminders and Feedback

Finally, morning messages can save you from repeating yourself over and over! Depending on your arrival procedures, your students might trickle into the classroom for the first few minutes. The morning message can remind your students to grab their permission slips from their backpacks or turn in their homework. 

The morning message is also helpful for providing feedback to your students. You could compliment them for their awesome behavior in the hallway yesterday! Did you get a positive email about your class from another teacher? You could add that to your morning message to give your students a fun surprise!

Classroom Morning Message Templates

I have created a bundle of seasonal morning message templates that you can use to save yourself some time each morning! These digital slides have a variety of eye-catching themes to grab your students’ attention as they enter the room. 

Each theme comes with different formats to meet the needs of your morning message, including three rectangles, four rectangles, or no rectangles.

If you teach multiple classes, there are also “Good Morning” and “Good Afternoon” options to use for your welcome slides. You’ll also find detailed instructions, growth mindset quote ideas, and a font guide so that you can set up your morning message slides quickly and easily.

If you’d like to take a closer look at this resource, you can find it on Teachers Pay Teachers.

Click Here to Check Out Morning Message Slides for the Whole Year

Save These Morning Message Ideas for the Classroom

I hope that this post has encouraged you to use a morning message as part of your morning routine.  It’s a small thing that can truly make a huge difference in your classroom environment! 

If you’d like to come back to this post later, be sure to add this pin to your favorite board on Pinterest.  You’ll be able to quickly find this resource whenever you’re ready to download it.