IYKMM: Morning Huddles

[00:00:00] Speaker A: If you really knew me. If you really knew me. [00:00:03] Speaker B: If you really knew me. If you really knew me, you would know. [00:00:07] Speaker C: Hey, who are you? [00:00:09] Speaker A: Who, me? Yeah, you. [00:00:11] Speaker C: It's Monday. [00:00:17] Speaker D: Hey, everyone. Welcome back to ifyenomi Mondays, a student powered Park Day inspired podcast that builds belonging by sharing stories and perspectives from the margins of our school and community. [00:00:26] Speaker A: Say what? [00:00:28] Speaker D: I'm Logan, an eighth grader at Park Day, and if you really knew me, you know that I always eat breakfast every day at 7:00am I'm Luca, and. [00:00:36] Speaker A: I'm in sixth grade. If you really knew me, you would know that my family has had three generations of crows that visit our house in the mornings and we feed them Doritos. I know it might sound strange, but if we feed them anything else, they don't like it and won't come to our house for three days. [00:00:54] Speaker E: And I'm Lucas. I'm in seventh grade. And if you really knew me, you know that my favorite place to go for breakfast is Blue Bottle. Their sweet, sugary waffles are the best treat in the mornings. Speaking of morning routines, on today's episode, we're focusing on a new feature of our lower school morning routine at Park Morning huddles. If you've been in lower school lately, you might have seen students gathered in circles, sharing, listening, and getting ready for the day together. But what's it all about? That's what we're here to find out. So here's what we wanted to know. [00:01:24] Speaker A: What is the morning huddle? [00:01:26] Speaker D: Why did our school start doing it? [00:01:28] Speaker E: And how does it impact students and teachers? To help us answer these questions, we sat down with the brainchild of morning huddles, our lower school head, Ajarae Harrison. [00:01:40] Speaker D: Hi, Ajare. [00:01:41] Speaker C: Hey, thanks for having me here. If you really knew me, you would know that my morning routine requires meditation and working out. [00:01:52] Speaker D: So first off, what exactly is a morning huddle? [00:01:55] Speaker C: Well, the morning huddle is really designed to one. It's just a routine that, like, helps our community come together in a way that's predictable. It's something that is also fun. Every day has its own theme, and so the goal is to give our students something to look forward to every day. A part of their day where they know that our community is going to come together. It's positive. So no matter how their morning started off, like, I don't know about you and your family, but sometimes in my household, with my kids or in my family, like, morning be rough. So to be able to have a moment in the morning, that's positive. The Community comes together. There's something exciting for teachers and students. It's just a way to kind of bring our community together. [00:02:34] Speaker E: That's so cool. We didn't have that when we were in lower school. [00:02:37] Speaker D: Yeah. And thanks for being so honest about how challenging mornings can be for me. I live very far away from school, and it can take up to an hour to get here with heavy traffic. So I know the challenges of getting up early. Can you elaborate more on Turn Up Tuesdays? [00:02:51] Speaker C: Did you say Turn Up Tuesday? So Turn Up Tuesdays are a time where our community celebrates either an individual or a group of kids that are doing something that shows positive values. So the first Turn Up Tuesday that we had, we celebrated a kindergarten student who was working on some goals in class and ways that they were trying to be a better community member. They were working on following directions, just kindergarten things. But this was something that the kid really needed to work on. And once they started to make some good progress with their goals, we celebrated them for Turn Up Tuesday. They got to spin this prize wheel that I have in my office, and the kid ended up winning a pajama day for the entire lower school. We want everyone to feel like the work that they're doing matters, and we want the community to feel like there's a reason to, like, invest in yourself and to dedicate yourself to your goals, because that can feel good for you as a person, but also as a community. We're going to lift you up, too. [00:04:06] Speaker E: Wow, that is so cool. It must be so great being a kindergartner and having your friends and teachers celebrating you. That lucky kindergarten must have been so excited to earn a PGA day for lower school. What's your favorite part about the morning huddle? [00:04:19] Speaker C: My favorite part, honestly, is just watching, like, the glow, like, the aura that comes off of, like, these kids when they see that, like, not just the teachers, but that they're like, fellow classmates and their peers care about them and see them being positive. Like, it's like they just shine different. They carry their self different. And that energy is, like, infectious. And so it definitely, like, makes my days even brighter and better. And I think it probably makes other people in the community feel, like, really good about being at park day, too. [00:04:48] Speaker E: Yeah, I could definitely imagine what a difference it could make if I were having a bad morning and I were surrounded by a bunch of positivity. [00:04:55] Speaker D: Now let's hear from some students and teachers about their experiences with morning huddles. [00:05:00] Speaker A: Here's kindergarten teacher Paola. [00:05:03] Speaker B: I feel like the morning huddle is such a great way for all teachers and all students to come together as a community. I feel like we talk a lot about what community looks like and how we should always come together to check in on each other. Start strong by really spending that quality time in such a safe and grounding space. So I feel like everyone here really enjoys coming together every single morning. As the first thing that we do in the morning, it feels very grounding for all of us. [00:05:30] Speaker D: It really does seem like having a grounding space is really important to getting a good start to your day. What's your favorite part about the morning huddle? [00:05:40] Speaker B: Honestly, I do it on Fridays, so I just love the fact that I get to do a flashback Friday session with them. But I also get to add my own little twist. The other day I actually asked the kids to dance. I had them dance salsa with me for the first like two minutes over the morning huddle. And so I just feel like it's really nice because it feels like we're connecting as human beings. And ever since I was a little kid, I remember, like connection meant a lot to me. So the fact that I get to do it now with some of our students and the fact that we get to do it as teachers feels really grounding and really sacred to me. So it's such a special experience. [00:06:18] Speaker E: I want to dance salsa at 8:45 in the morning. [00:06:21] Speaker C: Hi, I'm Michelle and I teach second grade. And I really love that I'm right above the morning huddle, so I can hear it right through my window. And what I love is like on Mantra Mondays, I'm able to write the mantra up on the board and reinforce it, reiterate it throughout the day because it's always a good mantra, of course. [00:06:40] Speaker A: How about second grade teacher Susan? [00:06:43] Speaker B: I love hearing all of the voices across the school. K through 4. There's tongue twisters, there's thankful Thursdays, and there's even turn up Tuesdays where different kids get acknowledged for the work that they're doing on behalf of the community. It's great to see it carry on in the students, especially when their minds are open to other kids and what they have been saying. So like for example, if they notice that kids are doing Tongue Twister Tuesday, then they'll go around trying to test it out with other kids. If they notice that there is something that needs to be done because of someone who got highlighted for their work, then they will just have more of an awareness that all those things are important to our community. [00:07:28] Speaker D: Wow, that's so great. And must be so helpful for the students, knowing that they can have someone to count on and that the teachers have their backs. It actually sounds like a great way to build community. Speaking of Turn Up Tuesdays, let's talk about some of the awesome celebrations we've had so far. Lots of students and teachers mention turn Up Tuesdays, which sounds super fun. [00:07:47] Speaker E: Our first Turn Up Tuesday all star was Apollo Bowery in the Rainbow Unicorn class. His teachers, Victoria and Paola nominated him for working hard on his goals even when it was tough to stay motivated. And guess what? Apollo spun the prize wheel and won a PJ day for the entire lower school. [00:08:04] Speaker D: That's right. Instead of one set PJ Day, each class gets to decide when they want to cash in their prize. How awesome is that? [00:08:11] Speaker E: We also recently celebrated second graders Alekos, Coco, and Art, the Fix it crew. These students noticed that the buddy bench needed some love, so they worked with the facility's director, Jennifer Cooper, to repaint it and add some cool improvements. To celebrate. They spun the prize wheel and won some fun prizes for themselves. Their hard work reminds us that small actions can make big differences in our community. Way to go, Fix it crew. [00:08:36] Speaker A: Now let's hear from some students. I think morning huddle is important because we have a time to gather together and to spend time with each other. Hi, my name is Ezekiel Rashid Komen, and I think morning huddle is important because it's really like, you talk about everything. What's your favorite part of morning huddles? Favorite part about morning huddle is that we always get to, like, talk about our feelings a lot. My name is Alekos and I'm in second grade. And I think the morning huddle is important because we get to talk about what's going on and we get to have all these fun, different activities every. Hi, my name is Avi. I'm in third grade. And what I really like about morning huddle is that we get to earn, like, something really fun for the entire lower school. And then on thankful Thursdays, you can really, you can show everyone who you're thankful for. Like, we used to just come in and then like five seconds later, we would just go inside. And then, like, not really, really get to communicate with everyone. But now that we have the morning huddle, like, we really get to have time to express ourselves and learn more about each other. [00:10:12] Speaker B: I like that we do weird but true. [00:10:14] Speaker A: And we do fun facts. That's really cool about hearing how many students value morning huddles. How about we drop into actual morning huddle so we can hear what it sounds like. [00:10:29] Speaker C: All right, lower school. Hey, Sydney. All right, once you find your spot, go ahead and have a seat. We have a community announcement this morning. We have Tongue Twister Tuesday. Good morning, Julia. Lots on deck. All right, let's get ready and see folks in their spots in five, in four, have a seat. In three, in two, show us you can do it. In one. Z, E, R, and. Oh. All right, it's Tuesday, people. Let's start this thing off right. Good morning, nightheads. All right, good morning back at you. It is Tongue Twister Tuesday. We have some kindergarteners up here who have an announcement, something they want to share about something that a group of folks have been doing. [00:11:33] Speaker A: There's been a lot of trash around campus, and it is not okay that there's a lot of trash. And if someone is willing to help clean up, that would really be good because there's too much trash around campus. One special thing about morning Huddles is it's equal part business, equal part fun. [00:11:53] Speaker C: All right, so the challenge is red brick, blue brick, and we're going to listen. You want to go first, Mac, or Yesi? Who's going? All right, here we go. Yesi, Brad. [00:12:03] Speaker B: Brick, blue brick. Red brick. Blue brick. [00:12:04] Speaker C: Red brick, blue brick. That's pretty good. Coming up for yes. Yeah, that's pretty good. Okay, Mac. [00:12:10] Speaker A: Tongue Twister Tuesday. I. I made up one. Wiggy wagger was in the Wiki wacky Wicked. Wiggy wagger was in a wiggy wagga wig. How many wiggly wagons are Wiggy Wacky fun? [00:12:19] Speaker C: All right, it's Tuesday, people. That means first grade and third grade are going in the building first. First grade and third grade, please stand and show us you are ready. All right, remember, write those. Write those tongue twisters down. Leave them on my desk. Give them to your teachers. All right, we're going to go ahead and send the crazy marshmallows right away. You look ready. [00:12:42] Speaker D: So what did we learn today? [00:12:44] Speaker E: Well, I learned that morning huddles can help us start the day with connection, a positive tone, and celebrate the awesome things happening in our community. [00:12:52] Speaker A: Absolutely. Teachers say students are more focused and connected, and kids love having something fun and structured to start today. It's a simple but powerful way to build community. [00:13:05] Speaker D: And with fun themes and celebrations like Turn Up Tuesdays, it's making even more exciting for students and teachers alike. Could you imagine a morning where you couldn't find your homework and you were late to school because of traffic, and you just had to go to class cold no time to get your head right. That's a day without morning huddles. [00:13:22] Speaker E: Good thing Park Day students don't have that experience. A huge thank you to Azure, A Harrison, our students and teachers, and of course to you for listening. [00:13:32] Speaker D: This has been if you knew me Mondays. See you next time, Sam.