In episode 2, I talked about the importance of those morning greetings. In this post, I am going to talk about when students enter your classroom (or virtual classroom!). It is important to have a routine for your students to follow. Morning work is perfect for this. Now I will say that I don't think that there should be busy work for the students to do. It should be authentic and meaningful. Think about your morning as a teacher, do you come in, put your things away and then do a review worksheet? No. You probably do things such as finishing up a task that you didn't finish the night before, answer emails, turning in paperwork to the office, you name it. It's stuff you need to get done. That's what kids need too! They need a chance to get work done, or get a head start on a task later that day.
I am going to split this post into two sections (virtual and classroom morning work), so you can skip to the part that applies to your current situation.
Classroom Morning Work
When your students come into the classroom, they know that they need to put away their things and get to work. They need to be able to do this while you are greeting students at the door. Morning messages with timers are a great way to manage this. Students can look at the board and see what they need to accomplish and the time frame they need to accomplish this. It's a great way to teach time management! :)
Ideas for students:
- Complete unfinished work
- Get a chapter read before book group
- Warm up activities for math/reading/social studies/science
- Research for a project
- Writing/editing a story
- Computer activity
Having a message on the board is also effective when you have reminders for students. For example, if the schedule is going to change or there is a test coming up, there should be a reminder somewhere on the board. That way, students know what is coming up and they can't say "I didn't know!" It is on the board for them to see.
Virtual Morning Work
When you start virtually, it's important to share with students what they need to have to be prepared for class, as well as reminders (again, so they can't say they didn't know). It is also a great time to do a check in, and see how they are feeling, and use it as your share time during morning meeting time!
Ideas for students:
- Think about and write a response to a daily check in (they can write the response on a google slide that can be used to discuss during morning meeting time).
- Taking a "mood" check, indicating how they are feeling for the day.
- Answering a Flipgrid question and responding to a few students
- Thinking about something they want to share with the class.
- Chat in the chat box to a question or just with each other.( a class favorite, but you do have to monitor it heavily!)
- Answering a poll.
The key to this is to get them focused for the day. It's a different environment being at home rather than in the classroom. So it is important to make sure that you help them get into "school mode" by drawing them into a conversation, a class response, etc. You can use these morning activities to get them ready and invested in the day. Use these check ins as part of your share time. Have a few students share what answers they gave and why. This can lead to great conversations between your students and you too!
To listen to the full podcast on Back to School Night, check out One Basic Teacher Podcast on iTunes, Google Podcast and Spotify.