From Frantic To Focused: Rescue Morning Routines To Calm Chaos
How do you start your morning? How you start your morning can set the tone for how the rest of your day will go. Morning activities can be a soft start or a robust start. Either way, having students engage in morning activities to start the day can be a great way to ease into the day and help students to develop their independence.
“The benefits of independent learning includes: improved academic performance, increased motivation and confidence, greater student awareness of their limitations and their ability to manage them, and enabling teachers to provide differentiated tasks for students” (Meyer, Haywood, Sachdev and Faraday, 2008).
Establishing routines and procedures are the key for morning activities to run efficiently and effectively. Being organized and having a plan are essential to getting students ready for morning activities. There are a few things you need to consider when you rescue your morning routines to calm chaos.
1. Use A Soft Start
It is important to plan for what kind of environment you want your students to work in. Some teachers want their students to work in a calm and quiet environment while other do not mind students being busy with lots of activity going on.
A soft start does not require a lot of directions or instructions. Morning activities can include games instead of just paper and pencil activities.
Having quiet classroom activities that require little direction or instruction allowed students to work independently without having to give them a lot of guidances.
Remember, it is about what will work for you in the morning when establishing your routines and procedures..
2. Establish Procedures and Routines
Once you established your procedures and routines, have your students model or practice what the morning activity time would look like. This is something that should be done often throughout the year. If you make changes to your procedures, if a new morning activity is introduced, or students are not understanding or following the routine, then it is important for you to have them model or practice the new changes. Some questions you should consider are:
- What do you want your students to do upon entering the room before you begin your morning activities (e.g., put backpacks away, take out supplies, or turn in homework)?
- How long do you want students to work on morning activities?
- What do you want students to do before they start their morning activities?
- Do you want students to gather the materials, move to a designated area, or do you want them to wait for further instructions?
- What kinds of morning activities do you want students to do (soft start or other)?
- What do you want students to do at the close of the morning activities?
- How are your students going to know when morning activities have ended?
- What will students clean up time look like?
- How will students transition back to their seats or into the next activity
3. Morning Activities Example
Option 1:
1. Students putting away their backpacks and turning in their homework, 2. Students selecting a morning activity, return to their seats, and 3. when the classroom timer went off that is the signal for the students to begin their morning activities.
Option 2:
1. Students (two students at a time) would go to the morning activity chart to look and to see what morning activity they had been assigned to work on. The chart would show a picture of the morning activity next to their name and 2. each student would go to the area that housed the morning activity and take the activity back to their desks to work on or they would go to the center with the morning activity.
Morning activities should be tasks that students can do on their own so they can practice independence. This will give you time to complete other tasks or paperwork such as taking attendance, lunch count, or prep work.
When morning activities ended, provide your students with predictable or consistent signal. A signal that is popular is the ringing of a doorbell. A doorbell signal lets students know that they needed to clean up and return the morning activity to it place so they can start their day. The doorbell can also be used as a signal for students to transition from one activity to another throughout the day.
Morning Activities Planning Sheets
4. Provide Different Classroom Activities
Whether you are trying to decide on classroom activities for kindergarten, classroom activities for 1st graders, classroom activities for 3rd graders, or classroom activities for 5th graders determining if students will be finishing, practicing, or reviewing classroom activities is key.
Focusing on English-Language Arts (ELA) provided a variety of different activities for the students to work on. When working on ELA activities instead of math, students tended to have more success in working independently.Remember activities should be appropriate for students do on their own.
Morning Activities Planning Sheets
Final Thoughts
Morning Activities should be well-planned for your students. There should be routines and procedures in place for students to understand how morning activities will be done. Practicing and modeling morning activity time allows students to become familiar with routines and procedures.
This time sets the tone for how the day will go whether it be a calm using a soft start or chaos with busy activity. Morning activities give students opportunities to practice independence while reinforcing skills that are being taught during classroom instruction. Get the morning started off right with this free Morning Activities Planning Sheets.
Tips To Try:
You can create a morning routine that fosters a sense of calm, structure, and readiness for learning.
1. Establish a Clear and Consistent Routine
- Predictability: Create a routine that students can easily follow every morning. This could include steps like hanging up coats, placing lunchboxes away, and unpacking backpacks.
- Visual Cues: Use visual schedules or charts to help students remember the order of tasks. This reduces the need for repeated verbal instructions and helps students become more independent.
2. Incorporate a Mindful Start
- Quiet Time: Start the day with a few minutes of quiet time, such as silent reading, journaling, or a calming activity. This helps students transition from the busyness of arriving at school to a more focused mindset.
- Mindfulness Exercises: Simple breathing exercises or a brief guided meditation can help students relax and set a positive tone for the day.
3. Create a Welcoming Environment
- Warm Greetings: Greet each student personally as they enter the classroom. This can help them feel seen and valued, promoting a positive start to their day.
- Soft Background Music: Playing gentle music in the background can create a calming atmosphere and help ease the transition into the school da
