2/5/2027

Morning Announcements

Morning Meeting Agenda

Mon · Social Studies Tue · Literacy Wed · Science Thu · Math Fri · ROAR + Houses
ROAR Friday

On Task, mile by mile

Today’s ROAR value is ON TASK, and our house is Altruismo, the House of Givers. Today’s Black History Month feature spent years focused on one goal that everyone said was impossible.

Today’s ROAR letter is O — On Task! Our house is Altruismo, the House of Givers.

The Altruismo house crest

Altruismo — the House of Givers!

Portrait of Bessie Coleman Photo via Wikimedia Commons

Meet Bessie Coleman! She wanted to be a pilot more than anything. No school in America would teach her — so she stayed on task, learned a whole new language, and moved to another country to make it happen!

Let’s talk
  • Bessie learned French just so she could go to flight school. Would you learn a whole language for a dream?
  • What is a goal you’d stay “on task” for, even if it took a long time?
  • Name one thing you did today that you stayed focused on all the way through.
Reveal a factHide the fact
Bessie earned her pilot’s license in only seven months! Once she got home, she flew loops and figure-eights in air shows and became known as “Brave Bessie.”
Try it

Fly like Bessie! Stretch your arms out wide like airplane wings. Now bank left, bank right, and loop around — staying on task the whole time, just like a pilot focused on her flight!

[STAFF TRIVIA: add a question about a staff member — e.g., “Which teacher is in the Altruismo house?”]

Today’s ROAR value is On Task, and our house is Altruismo, the black House of Givers.

The Altruismo house crest

Altruismo, the House of Givers.

Mystery aviator: Born in Texas in 1892, the tenth of thirteen children. Every flight school in the United States rejected her — because of both her race and her gender. She responded by learning French and sailing to Paris.

Who is she?Hide
Portrait of Bessie Coleman Photo via Wikimedia Commons
Bessie Coleman — on June 15, 1921, she became the first African American woman, and the first Native American woman, to earn a pilot’s license, awarded by the international governing body in France. She trained just seven months. She refused to perform at any show that wouldn’t admit Black audience members through the same gate as everyone else.
Let’s talk
  • Coleman refused to fly for a segregated audience — even when it cost her money. What does that tell you about her priorities?
  • She trained on the “notoriously unreliable” Nieuport biplane and mastered aerobatic stunts. Why would staying disciplined and focused matter more in a dangerous field than a safe one?
  • Her ultimate goal wasn’t fame — it was opening a flight school for other Black Americans. How does that change what “on task” meant for her?
Reveal the answersHide the answers
Coleman’s refusal to accept segregated crowds, even when it meant losing income, shows her goal was bigger than her own success — she was thinking about everyone who’d come after her. In a dangerous field, staying on task isn’t about tidiness; a single lapse in focus can be fatal, which is why discipline and skill are inseparable in aviation. And her real goal — a flying school for Black Americans — meant every stunt show and every dollar earned was in service of something beyond herself. She died before opening it, but others carried the goal forward in her name.
Try it

Map her focus! With a partner, list every obstacle Coleman faced (rejection, language, cost, danger) and one specific thing she did to stay on task through each one. Notice how many separate skills “staying focused” actually required.

[STAFF TRIVIA: add a question about a staff member — e.g., “Which staff member has traveled the farthest for something they wanted?”]

Additional Notes/Activities

If additional activities are needed for the Morning Meeting, they will be added here.