Whether you or not you love morning work, it’s necessary for so many of us. It’s typically the very first activity students will do each day. So how can teachers make the first impression of each day one that students look forward to, and sets a positive tone for the rest of the day? The best morning work ever is beneficial for my students, and for me!
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You May Need Morning Work If:
- Students trickle into the classroom
- For example: Students start arriving at 7:30, but school doesn’t officially start until 8:00
- Students eat breakfast in the classroom
- but some students are eating, while others ate at home
- You want more PLAY based opportunities for your students
- Your students need to work on:
- Problem-solving
- Creativity
- Teamwork
What’s the problem with paper/pencil morning work?
For TWO years I HATED morning work. More importantly, my students (mostly) hated it. Why? It was boring, and was honestly just serving as busy work.
I thought about how much my students loved Fun Friday when they earn free time where they get to play, and I really wanted more of that incorporated into our day, but where?
After a lot of thinking about how to make morning work more engaging, I decided on a more social, play-based approach.
Our Morning Routine
Morning work is actually just one part of our morning routine.
An organized and well-managed morning routine takes time, and lots of practice and modeling.
And please note that our full morning routine complete with morning work, is NOT something we start the very first day of school.
In fact, for the first week or two of school, students have an activity (word search, mystery picture, color by number, etc) to complete at their desks.
Another piece of our morning routine that’s really beneficial is having something on the screen that reminds students what they need to do. I use these assignment templates.
Morning Work STEM/Building Supplies
These are definitely student favorites. Having a variety of “building” supplies gives students the opportunity to use their imaginations and create whatever they want.
- Linking Cubes
- Marble Run
- Legos – I use this off-brand.
- Magnetic Tiles
- Bristle Building Blocks
- Dominoes
- Gears
- Tubes
- Building Bars
- Interlocking Gears
- Building Disks
- Magnetic Blocks
- Brain Flakes
- Magnetic Building Sticks
- Pattern Blocks
Games
Some students enjoy playing a more structured game, which is fine by me. I learned the hard way to steer clear of board games – they take up a lot of space, and the pieces are a nightmare.
Puzzles
You Might Also Like
- The First Day of School
- Positive Classroom Management
- How to Display Student Work (the easy way)
- Launching Reading Workshop
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