Getting the morning started right is top priority. It’s so important to establish a routine in the morning because it really does set the tone for the rest of the day. Incorporating morning work that is effective and fun is a win-win for both teacher and students.
Incorporating my First Grade Spiral Review Morning Work has enabled our classroom to run smoother. It functions as both a management system and as an effective learning resource. Now Kinders can join the fun because I’ve added a Spiral Review Morning Work just for kindergarten students. It incorporates standards that kindergarten students need to know.
What are your kids doing when they come in the mornings? Is there a process in place? What type of morning work are they doing? Is it meaningful? Morning Tubs are popular currently and they are great ! I love morning tubs as an interchangeable element that I can add to break up our routines. However, I love our morning work books. They give the structure needed especially at the beginning of the year.
In fact, my kids ask for their morning work when I forget to put them out on their tables before they come in. Since I have started this targeted routine and practice, I have had fewer disruptions in the mornings, kids come in ready to start the day knowing exactly what to do and what is expected of them.
Before students come in, I place morning work folders on their desk and make sure they have a pencil there already. I use the plastic folders and not the paper ones because the plastic folders last longer and I can easily switch out their monthly packets. I have not had to replace morning work folders all year except maybe for one or two students.
As they come in, we do our greetings at the door, they put their bags up and start on the page of the day. They get creative and do whatever they want to their morning work folders.
Each morning work book is monthly themed and the pages are numbered so they can keep up with where they left off. I print each monthly class set at the beginning of the month and get the morning work for the next month ready as well.
This has been amazing !!! I use to look for worksheets or plan out activities for them to do each morning but now, I just put out their monthly morning work books and my whole month in terms of what they are doing right at the bell in the morning is set.
This morning work is standard based so I am confident that they are doing meaningful tasks instead of a worksheet here or there. They see the concepts over and over each month so I am also confident that they are getting adequate opportunities to practice which will help them retain the information. It’s the most frustrating thing to teach something and then realize that they forgot it over the break. I sincerely want them to learn so I am happy to have a summary of what they are learning or not learning, at the end of each month.
I can just look through each book to see who needs more help on a specific topic and who is doing great on all areas. It’s great also because at the end of each month, I send home their morning work books and parents can see exactly what tasks and skills they have been working on.
Kindergarten Morning Work Bundle
Kindergarten Morning Work August
Kindergarten Morning Work September
Kindergarten Morning Work October
Kindergarten Morning Work November
Kindergarten Morning Work December
Kindergarten Morning Work January
Kindergarten Morning Work February
Kindergarten Morning Work March
Kindergarten Morning Work April
Now, how you approach the tasks in each monthly morning work book is flexible.
At the beginning of the year, I do the monthly books with them because we are learning the pattern and the flow of the books and we are learning classroom routines. For example, August Morning Work we would do together.
August and September Morning Work books start out easier and I do it with them the whole month. This morning work spirals through skills and also increases in difficulty as the months progress to give the added challenge needed and to keep up with the standards we are learning .
As they get the hang of it, I am able to let go and they can do them all by themselves. If their books begin with a math page, then the next day will be a literacy review page. So they interchange between math and reading. After we do a page, I go over it as a whole group and we review each section. I call on students to give answers which they always love. I go around and add a check to each book for completing and we move on with the rest of our day.
The concepts included are concepts you will teach over and over so while you are teaching, they are reviewing through their spiral review books each morning. If you have not taught a concept as yet and you want to wait and begin with your pacing guide, I usually just let them cross that box out or I do a “quick teach” where I quickly go over the concept before we begin it in our curriculum. By the time we get to it in our pacing guide, they have already been practicing it to mastery which makes it easier for them to retain the information long term.
First Grade Morning Work Bundle
First Grade Morning Work August
First Grade Morning Work September
First Grade Morning Work October
First Grade Morning Work November
First Grade Morning Work December
First Grade Morning Work January
First Grade Morning Work February
First Grade Morning Work March
First Grade Morning Work April
Teachers have told me that using the morning work books have enabled them to cover things they forgot to cover. It’s a great tool for outlining what standards you need to teach and how to teach it. I took a vote and my students agreed that the thing they like the most about morning work books, is that they get to color a new cover page each month and they love to do the math sections ! I found that most of my kids love math more than reading 🙂 Nevertheless both skills are practiced in their spiral review. Each book has one daily math page and one daily reading on rotation.
After checking through morning work folders, I can definitely see who needs more help with a concept .
Our morning folders are easy to store. We store them in these book bins so they are easy to grab in the mornings. I use a lot of different folders in my class so I color code to make it easy for students. One year I used our work books for the enrichment students so they are certainly not limited to being used for morning work.
I have always used a spiral review morning work for my students just because their little brains are active and ready in the morning and it’s a great way to help them retain information they have learned throughout the week.
Plus it gets them into a routine for learning so that when morning work time is done they are ready for our quick whole group and then small group.
I usually start around the second week of school with introducing the morning work routine.
Model everything! The content progressively gets harder and changes minimally throughout the year and spirals through things students have learned already. I also love how they get letter and number formation practice each day. Keep a countdown timer on your board so everyone knows how much time they have to work on their morning work page of the day. Some mornings, switch it up where it’s a whispering work time, partner up or quiet time for morning work. Choose what works best for you class.
The first two months of the first grade morning work spiral through letters A-Z and numbers 1-20. It’s kind of a review of kinder concepts. Then we get into other standard based concepts.
The first grade morning work is for the whole year and also includes a July set for schools that are in session all year .
