My Morning Routines in the Classroom

As we get ready to head back to school, I want to share with you how I begin every morning in my own classroom and why this works for me. Of course it is different for everyone and every class will be different but for me I choose a soft start of play for the first 10 – 15 minutes every day. The time will differ as the year goes on and the children become quicker at tidying up. Each morning, after the children have put away their coats and taken out their homework, they grab one of the drawers that I have and they bring it to their table (these are a mixture of activities which are listed below from STEM to Art), either to play on their own or with the children at their group. I have 18 of these drawers in total so when I have larger classes these will have to be shared, more often than not, a group of children will gravitate towards the same things anyway so it has never been a case that every drawer was being used at once. The resources in the drawers are all things that the children can use with out the help of an adult.

Over the years I have tried and tested several ways of starting the mornings but for me this one is what works in my classroom. Some of the reasons I start the day with play over something like morning work or a morning meeting are as follows:

Engagement

From the moment the students come in they are engaged in a task that they want to do. The choice is a huge factor in this. When they are engaged, I can get stuff done like welcome the students and chat to them as they come in, correct and check homework, answer any notes that I have received from parents or answer any queries students have. Each of the activities was chosen because they don’t require me to assist the children in any way, they become completely independent and I can be free to be there for each child as they come in, and to chat to and check in with different students. I have a huge variety of materials that I have built up over the years, you do not have to begin with that many but having the choice means that after a month or two students aren’t bored of the same stuff. Many of these materials are already in schools or can be picked up on Adverts, Facebook Marketplace or in Dealz, Mr. Price or Penneys for a reasonable price.

No one is missing out

I find that students come in over the first 15-20 minutes of the day in my school. I rarely have a day where all of my pupils are lined up, ready to enter the class at 8.50. In previous years I would have started my day with the children writing down homework and doing vocabulary work, other times I tried Morning Work, and what I found was that when I did this, it was the same children who were missing out on writing down their homework or doing things like morning work or vocabulary work, every day. For various reasons, children will come in at staggered times, this could be due to dropping a sibling off at another school, or traffic but either way, a soft start ensures that these children aren’t missing out on valuable teaching and learning time each morning. It also means that the students who are in on time aren’t having to do extra work that their friends don’t have to do each day, just because they arrived on time.

Eases Anxiety

A soft start to the day means that children aren’t met with a daunting or boring task that they want to avoid straight away when they come in. Mornings can be rough for a lot of children, often mornings can be the cause of arguments and tensions at home because people are busy rushing out of the house. If you were a child who hated handwriting or struggled with reading and that was what you were being met with first thing every morning, you would do everything you could to delay you getting into that classroom. It would also be a horrible feeling of dread and defeat when you wake up and have to go to school, knowing what awaits you. Some children need settling in time when they come in, either to chat with friends or to chat to the teacher. The idea of coming in and getting to choose some STEM activities or drawing or games gives them something less to worry about and eases them into the school day. It gives them an incentive to come in early and they don’t feel under any pressure when they walk through the door.

Minimises Distractions Later

So where do I get the time? Well for me those 15-20 minutes in the morning make up for themselves throughout the day. I love to come in and have the chats with colleagues and friends when I get to work, settle in for a couple of minutes before the children arrive, so why should they not get the same opportunity. Giving children the time to play and have the chats with each other, for me has meant a lot less distractions after when we begin our lessons. The children have had opportunities to talk to their friends about what they did the evening before, what they watched, what match was on or what they’re doing at the weekend, and it means I have far less interruptions then throughout the day. Having just a couple of minutes at the start of the day means they are ready and focused when we begin our maths which we do straight after.

So…..How does it work?

I start this soft start from the very first day of the year. In September it works somewhat differently to the rest of the year, in that I don’t let the students choose what they get to use in the mornings. For the first 4 weeks, I put out one drawer on each table (I have four groups of four so one drawer is enough to share) and each day I rotate the drawers, so that over the course of the month each table will have had the opportunity to play with everything that is in the drawers. I wasn’t always lucky enough to have the drawers from Ikea, in other years the items would be in plastic boxes and were just on shelves where the children could access them easily, so it doesn’t matter what you use for storage, once the children can access them without assistance.

I choose what the students use in September because for me, this means students get to experience using everything in the drawers and so they will be comfortable picking what they like when the time comes for them to choose. It also means that bit by bit I can teach the expectations that come with each drawer, whether this is how to tidy up, making sure lids are secure, or Play Doh colours aren’t getting mixed up, or ensuring Kinetic Sand doesn’t end up all over the floor. It is also the time of the year when I amn’t giving homework, I usually don’t start homework until the 3rd or 4th week so I have that bit of extra time to explain expectations and help the students with the tidying up process.

From the moment the children come into the class, they will see the timer on the interactive board. I use the timer on Class Dojo. I set it for 20 minutes for the first few weeks and reduce it to 15 after that. I explain to the children that when the timer is finished, they need to be ready to start maths. This looks like tidy tables, drawers back in their unit and whiteboards and markers out. For the first few weeks I will award the students points for every table that is ready when the timer goes off.

There aren’t many rules when it comes to the soft start, children can change what they’re playing with at any point, but they must first tidy up what they were originally playing with before going to get a new drawer. I have each of the drawers labelled and numbered. The numbers are simply so that the children know what order to put them back in.

What is in the drawers?

In the drawers is the following:

1. Lego Tesco used to do a set of blocks that fit perfectly with Lego for around €5.
2. Magnetic Tiles
3. GearsI have picked these when they do them in Lidl but these are similar from Amazon.
4. Construction Straws
5. Play Doh
6. Peg Boards
7. Tangrams
8. Geo Boards
9. Blocks
10. Interlocking Cubes
11. Where’s Wally Books
12. Marble Run
13. Kinetic SandPenney’s usually have buckets of Kinetic Sand in their home/children’s section. Think they’re usually €4
14. Jenga
15. Large snowflakes
16. Mindful Colouring & Directed Drawing. I usually put a folder together with different options of mindful colouring and directed drawing. It’s a great early finisher to have in the classroom too.
17. Stickle Bricks
18. Chess and Draughts

If you have any questions or comments leave them below and I’ll be sure to get back to you!

This post contains affiliate links. If you click a link and make a purchase, I may make a commission. This is at no additional cost to you. You can also click images to shop directly!