How do you feel about mornings in your classroom? Is your classroom morning routine chaotic, hectic, and stressful? Want to learn some easy tips to calm that morning chaos? This post is filled with many easy ideas for turning your classroom morning routine into a tranquil space that you and your students LOVE!
Connect First Thing
Start your classroom mornings off on the right foot with each student by using morning greetings. This morning routine is an easy way to establish a positive tone each day. You may be the first smile a student has seen for the day, so be sure to check-in. We love using THESE greetings to give students autonomy on how they are greeted in the morning. Some students may want a high five, while others may need a big hug.
Each morning I greet every student at the door with their choice and start their day off right. This is also a quick way to check in if students need a little extra pep talk!
Set the Mood for Your Classroom Mornings
You must set the mood to help facilitate that calm, tranquil space! Easy ways to do that are dimming the lights, playing soft music, and making sure everything they need for the morning is out and ready for them. We want each morning to be predictable for students and easy to follow. Having everything set up and ready before they walk through the door is the key to a successful morning and day!
Be Crystal Clear
When setting up your morning routine for the year, it’s important to think through ALL the steps students need to do to be ready for each day. I like to ask myself:
- What do they need to do in the morning?
- Make a lunch choice?
- Check-in?
- Complete attendance?
- Turn in forms?
- Get unpacked?
- What else needs to be done to prepare them for the whole day of learning?
After you have spent the time thinking through what needs to be done each morning, it’s time to teach the morning routine to students. What does that look like? There is a simple process I follow each time I teach students a new routine. We talk about what it looks and sounds like; I model the ENTIRE routine for students, and then we ALL practice. This will take time, but if you spend the first weeks practicing EXACTLY what you want students to do, they will be morning routine masters just a few short weeks into school! Be sure to read about ways to celebrate success at the end of this post.
Why is This Important?
You’re helping to create independent learners, have fewer interruptions while getting ready for the day, and start each day on a positive note. I’ll tell you a secret, consistency is your best friend. It helps students feel safe and when they can know exactly what to expect each day. Learn more about creating classroom routines HERE!
Create Helpful Visuals For Classroom Mornings
Our morning routine slides are a must-have for our classroom mornings. This helps students see EXACTLY what they need to do. The slides are easy to edit and change each day depending on what the students will do each morning. However, they mostly stay the same from day to day. See an example below of our morning routine.
What do I include for students each day? They must:
- Unpack
- Make Their Lunch Choice
- Unstack Chairs
- Complete Journal or Activity
- Read
These are just some examples of their morning routine. As you can see from above, they have a timer and know that everything must be completed before the timer ends. As soon as the timer rings, we start our day on the carpet with a Connection Circle. What are some more meaningful morning work ideas?
- Morning Tubs
- Practice Sheets of Targeted Skills
- Interactive Anchor Charts
Do students need more of a check-in? Try this mental health daily check-in! Students can complete it individually, and you can easily see who needs more attention at the start of their day. Grab it FREE by subscribing below!
Easy Things to Do During the Morning Routine
What do they do when they’ve finished their routine? I always try to make it so there is something to do when all the must-dos are finished. This could be morning bins—students LOVE those—or it could be as simple as picking a quiet spot to read. This is always a good option that students enjoy, too!
Reward Morning Routine Success
The last tip I want to share is about rewarding great morning behavior. Let’s say you have students who follow their morning routine all week. They are quiet, get all their tasks completed, and work quietly until it’s time to start the day. How do we reward this amazing behavior? Fun Fridays! If students complete ALL their tasks each morning of the week, they will get a smiley face on their desk Friday morning.
It’s an easy way to celebrate all their hard work for the week. If they have a smiley face, they can choose from drawing, board games, puzzles, or even tech time. It is a great and easy incentive that students love. It is also super motivating for students who don’t have a smiley face on their desk. They want to figure out how to earn for the following week, and boy, do they try hard. So what are they doing if they don’t have a smiley face? They are completing anything that didn’t get completed for the week. This could be journal entries, picking lunch (if they forgot), or reading. This is where those high expectations come in. Set the bar high for ALL students and only reward those who did everything ALL week long.
Easy Management All Year Long
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I really hope you enjoyed learning all about how to calm your classroom mornings! Don’t forget to subscribe to my email list! Not only will you get the most up-to-date tips, tricks, and classroom projects… and of course, more fun FREEBIES, including the Back From Break Checklist FREEBIE! You will also have exclusive access to tons of digital how-to videos! If you want to learn about this and other things happening in my classroom follow me @sweetnsauerfirsties on Instagram.
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