Each morning, students enter the classroom and sit in our morning meeting circle.  We greet each other by saying "good morning" with a hand shake, high five, or by passing a ball or small stuffed animal.  This is a way to start off the day in a positive and friendly tone. Boys and girls then share something about themselves.  This helps us to learn new things about one another and to identify similarities and differences.  Finally, the leader of the day points to a message that Miss Boccardi has written to inform the students of daily activities.  Parts of words or entire words are left out so that students can be active learners and demonstrate their reading and writing skills by filling in blanks.  After the message is read, "word detectives" come up to the message to find parts of words that they know (for example, friend).