This exploratory study examined the Morning Message, an activity that is widely practiced in many early childhood curricula but has almost no empirical data to support its effectiveness. In total, 7 Head Start teachers and the 59 four-year-old children in their classrooms participated in this study. Using a qualitative observation system, we examined Morning Message time in these classrooms, including teachers' and children's talk about these texts. Results revealed variation in both the messages that teachers wrote and their presentation and discussion of these texts with children. In addition, multilevel regressions revealed selective relations between Morning Message practices and children's skills, with talk about letters linked to children's letter learning over the Head Start year. This study fills a significant gap between practice (where Morning Message is increasingly accepted) and research (where virtually no data on this technique are available) and provides a coding system that can be used to collect more extensive information in the future.