What does your classroom morning routine look like? Are you trying to juggle students, parents, taking attendance, looking at emails, notes, all while you want to get started teaching so your students are working on something meaningful without having to give the same directions over and over again? I’ve got a few things that I’ve implemented over the years that help make our classroom morning routine easy.
Your morning routine sets the tone for the rest of the day. A strong classroom routine includes clear expectations, consistency, and procedures that your students know how to use. It is an important time for students to be independent.
We practice and practice and practice the first month of school {and review all year}. We review expectations so many times that I say them in my sleep. We review even when I don’t want to or I think that most got it because the practice pays off! It’s so important that your morning routine is consistent. That way, everyone knows what to do as soon as they walk through the classroom door. In our class, students always:
- hang up their backpack
- take out their BEE Book, water bottle, and lunch
- line up quietly to do morning greetings.
Read more about morning greetings in my earlier blog post here.
After I greet a child, they come in the classroom and greet their one another. Once I have greeted everyone, they know to join me on the carpet to begin our day. My first graders know that this is our routine and they will even inform guest teachers of it.
At the carpet, I quickly tell students what morning work they will be doing and how much time they will have. I display an online timer so students can keep track of their time.
While students are doing morning work, I am taking attendance, reading parent notes and emails, checking in further with students who need attention.
Next, it is time for Morning Meeting. Morning Meeting is one of my favorite times of the day. I love how we come together as a school family to begin our day.
Morning Meeting consists of reading my morning message
· a sharing activity or talk about a pressing classroom issue
Read more about Team Builders in my blog post here.
I also do calendar in this time. I use my monthly SMARTBoard Morning Meeting/Calendar packs. My students absolutely love this time of day and are so engaged. It’s a great way to review skills and cheer one another on. It gets our brains ready for the day.
Do you use cheers in your classroom? They are a great way to encourage active participation and increase motivation. I have some of my favorite cheers and chants in my VIP Club. Grab them here.
After about a month, my students know exactly what to do every morning. It makes for a calm, productive, and fun start of the day. Whatever you do in the morning, make sure you are consistent and practice, practice, practice so students can move through without thinking. Having a consistent morning routine will make all of your students feel safe and in control regardless of how they came to school that day.
I’d love to hear what you do in the morning! Please share in the comments.
Pin for later
