Class meetings have become an on trend way to create, promote and encourage class community. This is a purposeful setting aside of time each day for students to discuss classroom issues as a group can yield far-reaching benefits. What better way to introduce class meetings than with the "Be You" product line? The set of six Be You posters can be the perfect way to introduce the class meeting model and allow time for the students to reflect, respond and share. After a week of that the students can complete their Be You poster.
Have you heard of morning meetings? Morning meetings are by far the best part of my day. During our morning meeting, I get to connect with my students, and they have a chance to connect with each other on a more personal level. It is the perfect way to spread positivity and build community. I found that an easy way to implement morning meetings is by using the Be You Motivational Poster Set.
This set includes six posters with both a motivational slogan and a quote from a famous person. They are inclusive, positive and celebrate the fact that we are unique and special.
I implemented these into my morning meetings by showing a poster each day and having the students respond to that quote and slogan in their Be You Journals using their Be You Pens.
This can be done verbally as well, but to ease my students into it, I wanted them to have a chance to reflect and respond. Giving the students a chance to reflect on these big life principles and relate the principles to themselves really built classroom community. After they had a chance to respond in their journals, they were able to share something they wrote down with a partner.
I gave them the option of letting their partner read their journal, or they can share it verbally. At first, they were a little shy but by the end of it I had multiple volunteers. The long term benefits of a morning meeting make the 20-30 minutes per day well worth your time!
After we were done with our journal prompts, I gave each student a Color Your Own Be You Posters to complete.
I had the students work on them for 10-15 minutes a day, after lunch. It was a great way to calm them down after all the lunchtime craziness. They loved using the 64-Color Crayola® Pip-Squeaks Skinnies Fine Tip Markers for their posters.
There are many different variations of morning meetings. Some include academics and others are more focused on building social/emotional skills and building community. These posters do a little of both. The posters promote social emotional learning, where the students are writing and reflecting. As a bonus, they get to share their posters throughout the month, which allows them to practice their oral speaking skills. 
It is a win-win. As a reward for all their hard work, and for being brave to present their posters, I awarded them the ever so unique Stuffed Animal Snugglers. 
They get to use these as a fuzzy desk pet. The pets remind them that being unique adds color to our classroom and that our classroom is the brightest because of them. I highly encourage you to incorporate morning meetings into your daily routine. They can be done at anytime of the day, but doing it in the morning sets the tone for the rest of the day. All of the Be You products work so well for this and it truly has built our classroom into a little family.
