Having a soft start is one of the best things I’ve ever done in my classroom. When students are engaged with learning from the moment they enter your classroom, you have time to Do. All. The. Things. If you’ve considered a soft start but aren’t happy with how it is going, consider the many things you can accomplish while students complete hands-on morning work!
Choosing The Right Morning Work Activities
While a soft start can take many forms, I prefer to use hands-on activities with the materials I already have in my classroom, such as task cards that can be used repeatedly. I will not spend my time photocopying morning work pages that some students will finish quickly, and others will never get to. That’s a waste of resources and my time.
Attendance
Sometimes, students trickle into the classroom over some time. Nothing is more disruptive than having your students make their way to the carpet area for your first lesson and sit there with nothing to do as their classmates arrive and unpack. Then, you walk away to enter the attendance into the school system. When students are engaged with a hands-on task during this time, no one is idle, and disruptions are limited.
Visitors
Occasionally, a parent or sibling will pop into the classroom with a special message or request at the beginning of the day. When your students have a morning work routine, there will be no problem with you spending a moment or two to chat. You can rest assured that they will unpack and get started without your immediate guidance.
Yard Issues
I’m sure you’ve started your school day with someone entering the classroom in tears at least once in your career. Am I right? Occasionally, problems on the schoolyard upset a student, or a yard supervisor arrives to warn you about a problem just as the day is beginning. Chaos can ensue if you deal with these issues and your students have no direction. A morning routine takes care of this.
Money Collection
Throughout the school year, there are times when we are overrun with things to collect from students. There’s nothing worse than ending up with a pile of permission slips or money and finding that someone didn’t put their name on it first. I prefer to check off these items as the students hand them in rather than dealing with them during prep time. When my students are busy engaging with hands-on activities, I can take the extra moment to collect the following in an organized manner:
- lunch money
- field trip forms and money
- permission slips
- book orders
Lesson Preparation
Whether you’re a new or experienced teacher, you often need a couple of extra minutes to prepare something for a lesson. You can take the spare moments you need to prepare for your teaching by not filling your time with redirecting student behavior.
Conferences
Having students engaged independently on a task of their choice means you can squeeze in a quick reading or math assessment! When your students are trained to get started quickly and work quietly, you can easily complete a running record or teach a new strategy one-on-one.
Manage Agendas
Whether you use agendas or not, there are parent notes to deal with first thing in the morning. Perhaps a child is being picked up early or taking a different bus. Maybe they will be away tomorrow, and here is the reason. This is a great time to check these messages to prepare you for what the day will bring.
Observe Interactions
Sometimes, I like to simply sit back and observe my students in action. I don’t always have outdoor supervision on the same yard as my students, and I enjoy having the opportunity to watch how they interact with one another.
- Where are the hotspots?
- Who isn’t getting along?
- Is anyone left out?
- Who works quietly, and who likes to chat?
- Is anyone off task?
- Are students demonstrating responsibility for the materials and using them appropriately?
You can try a free sample of my Math Morning Work resource by clicking this image:
If you’d like to grab more than 280 ready-to-go morning work task cards, the full editable set is here:
If you already have a morning work routine set up, but it isn’t quite working as you’d hoped, you’ll want to check out this blog post:
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