Mornings, ugh. Have you ever had a morning where you are sipping your coffee, students are flooding in, chaotically unpacking, and students keep asking what to do for morning work?
I’ve been there too.
Mornings are an unstructured time of day. Oftentimes, students arrive over a span of time which makes it difficult to plan. Routines can be in place for one part of the morning, but still not seem to “stick” if there is too much downtime or something unfamiliar.
Mornings can be mellow.
Picture this: you are standing at your door drinking your coffee and greeting your students. As your students walk in and unpack, they head to their seats and know what to expect and get started on- every day.
Morning Work Two Ways:
Establishing a routine that is easy for you to manage and easy for students to follow and look forward to is the perfect way to help mornings flow better.
1. Start a morning work rotation. One method that has worked well for me is doing a different thing each day of the week. It is low prep and my students enjoy looking forward to these tasks. The best part is that there are only two easy things to copy and it provides a variation of tasks. My teammate thought of this idea and it was a big hit in all of our classrooms!
2. Provide a repetitive and spiraling morning work paper for students. My first graders completed a morning work “journal” each day. I was able to copy and staple it a month at a time (low prep) and students knew what they needed to do each morning. All of the pages followed a similar structure and each time a new task was introduced there were simple and visual directions. The skills spiraled with our standards so that they were introduced naturally.
Mornings can be easy.
With a routine and pattern, you can establish a stress free environment in the mornings for you and your students!
Click here to check out the pages I use for my morning routine. They are great for students of all ability levels because of the way they scaffold through the year and provide clear visuals.
