Morning Work

Hi! I will try to explain this the best way I can! Let me know if you need any clarification!

I do "Morning Stations" with my fourth graders Tuesday-Friday (Monday mornings are reserved for morning meeting and teaching of the new spelling skill) . There are four stations in my classroom that remain the same each week, and students are placed into preassigned groups.
The groups rotate Tues-Fri, so for example on Tuesday a Group A will go to Station #1, Wednesday this same group will go to Station
#2, and so on. The activities remain the same for one week, then change. Here are samples for each station:

Station #1 : Reading Comprehension (they read various high interest articles or stories and answer questions, usually open-ended questions).

Station #2 : Math (Usually a brain teaser from eduplace.com, or similar word problems)

Station #3 : Language Arts (review of previously taughts skills, such as sentence building, parts of speech, punctuation, spelling, or cursive practice).

Staion #4 : Writing Prompt

This has been very effective in my classroom. These stations take about 15-20 minutes to complete, and students self-correct their
work. When they are done, they know what they can work on, which is usually "work in progress" or silent reading. If students do not finish their work at a station, I usually will not have them
finish it and just check what they have completed. If they haven't finished because they were fooling/talking/daydreaming, etc. then
they must finish at recess.

Other miscellaneous info about morning stations that you may find helpful:

I have a bin in the front of the classroom labeled "Morning Stations". In this bin I have 3 folders labeled according to where the stations are, like "Carpet Station", "Octagon Table", and "Rectangle Table". I place all papers that the students will need for each station in these folders. There is not a folder for journal prompts b/c I type the prompts on the computer so the students can glue them into their journal notebook (this saves time so they're not copying the entire journal prompt themselves and can spend the time writing). I also have another folder labeled "Answer Keys" where the students can easily find the answers to whatever they're working on. They know that they can only view the answer keys after they have finished. In the morning, the first student to the station gets the correct folder. The group is responsible for putting the folders/papers back into the bin when morning stations are over.

I have a "Morning Station" sheet that I post on the chalkboard explaining each station. Also posted on the board are the groups. Here is a sample of the "Morning Station" sheet that's posted on the board:

MORNING STATIONS
Remember to date and title in your notebook.

1) Tease Your Brain!! Work at the octagon table to figure out who purchased lunch first. Be sure to explain in writing how you found each answer. Do the second brain teaser if you have time.

2) Dogs Giving a Hand!! Work at the carpet to read how dogs can help people and answer the questions in your notebook. If you finish early, read and answer questions about Mummies!

3) Amazing Adjectives!! Working at the rectangular table, find adjectives and adverbs in a story about the Davis family. Write the answers in your notebook. Complete the reverse side on adjectives when you’re done (in your notebook).

4) Vivacious Vacations!! W hat activities did you do during April vacation? Using at least 4 adjectives and 4 adverbs, clearly retell your
favorite activities during vacation. Underline the adjectives and circle the adverbs!! Work at your desk and write at least 16 lines.

Hope this helps, and let me know if you need further information. Maybe interested teachers can correspond via email to trade ideas for this...let me know if anyone's interested!
If you need more info, just let me know!

Leslie/RI/4th

I've never tried Drops, but I love the daily math and language reviews. I have different morning work for each day of the week (thanks to a poster on PT!):

Monday - daily math (1 sheet front and back)
Tuesday - daily language (1 sheet - front only because it takes more time)
Wednesday - word wall work (write a sentence with 5 words) or 2 handwriting pages (we have a book).
Thursday - journal
Friday - fun sheet (word search puzzle, coloring sheet, etc...)

When they finish their work, they put it in a morning folder and keep it in their desk. Then they read a book.

It's really not high maintenance because I just use the first few minutes of that subject that day to go over the work. For example, on Monday I spent the first 5 minutes of math going over the morning work. On Tuesday I spend the first 5 minutes of LA going over it. On Wed. and Thurs. I walk around and check the sentences, handwriting, or journal while they're reading. On Friday I don't check it - it's just for fun (I've worked them hard all week!) and goes in their "keep" side of their school-to-home connection.

I like it because it's a constant review of skills - and my 3rd graders really need that. It also keeps them busy and quiet (in a productive way!) in the mornings, so I can handle doctor/bus notes, attendance, etc...

I have my kiddos do "morning work" right after announcements until I am done with my D.I. Groups. Morning work is basically various skills up on butcher paper for them to complete. At the beginning of the year, it is alot of step by step explanations and copying(for the first two weeks, then the majority actually catch on). They have Morning work notebooks, and we go over it when time allows(they get to go up with markers and fill in blanks, etc,) They love it and it is reinforcing skills. An example may look like...

Today is Monday, August 15, 2003.
My name is ____________.
Finish the pattern. **^^**^^*
Write the alphabet.(copy if need to)
Fill in the missing #'s. 1,_,3,_,5,_,7,_,8,_,10
Are you a boy or a girl?
I am a _________.

It varies in length and difficulty. Eventually the students will fill in the blanks for the date. There are some students that have much trouble copying from the board to their paper; so I copy it directly onto a piece of paper for them until they get the hang of it.
Does this make any sense? I discuss it with them before they begin so that there will be no questions.(lol) That takes maybe two minutes. Hope this helps some.

I do morning journal when the students come in.

They keep the journal in a two pocket folder. One pocket is labeled "Completed" and the other is labeled "Incomplete".

Each morning they get a journal page which has a place for the date and a question. I require them to write at least a paragraph of 8 sentences. At the bottom of the page, they are to color a picture of their entry. When they are finished with it, they place it in the complete pocket. If it is time for our morning meeting and they have not finished, they place it in the Incomplete side, and finish it later on in the day.
On the last day of the month, the students put the entries in order and we staple them together to send home. They also make a cover sheet to go on top of the entries. (Like..Amber's August Journal)

I do not take a grade for this, but I do check them and make comments on the entries. Comments can be anything like "I like bowling too, but you sound better than me" to "Remember to write in complete sentences".Sometimes I just read it and place a smiley face on it too. They get all types of feedback so as not too expect just one kind.

The parents really like it because it gets them inside their child's head and also, they have a concrete sampling of their writing.
Hope this helps!

PS. I get a lot of the questions from a book called "730 Journal Prompts" (grades 1-3) by the Education Center. There are two for every day of the year. But I also relate some of the questions to what we are learning in the classroom too. A good mix of both.

I usually have my students follow this schedule:

Monday and Thursday: Journal writing (I write the topic on the board to cut back on photocopying)

Tuesday: Math problem of the day. Our Math series comes with a standing chart with the problems/graphics already displayed, but you could use a standing tablet chart and write the problem of the day on that. I often let them work in pairs at this because some of the problems are a challenge!!!

Wednesday and Friday: Daily Language Activity (some schools call in Daily Oral Language) in which the students edit sentences/paragraphs for grammar, spelling, punctuation errors. I have the sentences on a transparency and display them on the overhead in the a.m. The students make the corrections in their DLA notebooks. Our reading series supplies the DLA sentences, but you could easily make some up to match your spelling and grammar lessons for the week.

Other suggestions: one morning could be silent reading, write a letter to the teacher, draw a picture related to science/social studies concepts, write spelling sentences, abc order, etc. If you need to give math work, try assigning a page from the text to cut back on photocopying.

Morning work is important because they need this time to settle into the routine of the day, and we need the time to check homework, agendas, etc., but I like to keep a little variety in the routine so as to keep interest levels high. Good luck.

My daily letter is basically a note to the students that we read together. I often make printing mistakes (a capital letter in the middle of a word for example), spell a common word wrong, leave endings off words or beginnings, etc., and the students help to correct the letter as we read it.

A sample letter might be

Good morning class. ToDay we r go___ to learn
about the letter G. We are going To do addition in _ath and we will play _ath Bin__ too. ThiS afterNoon you will be go____ with Mr. P. for gym. Let's have a wonderful d__.

Depending on how much time you have will influence how much "work" you put into the letter.

For my calendar time we do the following
Put up the day and count how many days we currently have had in the month. For the first month or two we say all the days of the week and months. Later the student who does the calendar for the day will choose so many days or months to point to for the students to say what it is.
I also havve will influence how much "work" you put into the letter.

For my calendar time we do the following
Put up the day and count how many days we currently have had in the month. For the first month or two we say all the days of the week and months. Later the student who does the calendar for the day will choose so many days or months to point to for the students to say what it is.
I also have a 100 chart and each day we add one new number to the chart. We put a straw in for each day as well and then group them every 10 straws. We count them as well to see how many days we've been in school and of course look forward to the 100th day of school.

After recess during my math time we also do the weather for the day. I have to wait until that time because it's too dark in the morning to tell what the weather will be like. We also graph the morning temperatures for the month.

My students are allowed to sharpen pencils, get drinks, chat, and get organized until the pledge starts. After that they are to listen to announcements and get ready for morning work.

I list the am work on the board. It starts with Mrs. Renz's Self starts. I have given them printed copies of the self starts and also put it up on the projector. It includes geography, language skills and math. There is also a Friday test for the self starts. You can find it on Mrs. Renz's site in her file cabinet.

I also have the kids who finish the self starts, do a daily spelling activity, and have a math brain teaser up for those who are really quick first finishers. If they complete all of that they can read silently and do book responses in their literature logs.

This gives me time to take attendance and do all the morning things that come up. I also have time to do individual help and a reading group.

I usually go through the self start with the kids by 8:30-8:45.

Hi,
Here is an example of what one butcher paper may look like...

Today is_______,__________30, 2002.
Is today Friday? Yes or No
1_3, 4, _, _, 7, 8, _, 10....

"at"(there might be a picture with these to help them out)

c_ _ h_ _ b_ _ s_ _

Write a sentence about this picture piucture here)

1+0= 2+1= ........

Fix these sentences.
1.do yuo like mi cat
2.is your name jake

And so on...I usually look at the benchmarks for that six weeks and make up the morning work from there. I use it to introduce word families and things of that nature. Alot of times all the kindergarten teachers swap papers around if they dont get checked that day. It is good for them if you check it together. We also let one of them take it home sometimes to show the parents what we do. They like that.

You can do pretty much any skill with it. It takes them awhile to get the hang of it; but it is well worth it , I think.

sorry it took so long to get back to you. I have been out of town.

Hope this helps.
Lisa

Each Monday morning my students find on their desks a brightly colored piece of paper with a Little Lesson on it for the first 4 days of the week. Each lessons contains 2 analogies, 2 math, 2 English, 2 social studies,2 science questions plus a What Every Kid Should Know. Most of the questions are things they can look up in their textbooks or reference books we have in class.They begin on the day's Little Lesson as soon as they enter the class and unpack their backpacks (7:45). The answers are checked and the correct answer written on the board at 8:10. They correct their papers or fill in those they didn't complete. On Fridays, they have a 20 question +2 bonus question test over the week's Little Lessons. If they make 90 or better, they get ice cream on Friday afteroon. The grade on this activity is used for any subject I choose. During the second semester, the analogies category is changed to research. The first year I did these, it took most of Sunday afternoon to compose that week's Little Lesson. Now I have them for each week. Sometimes I revise one to give additional practice in something they need and sometimes to introduce bit by bit something that is difficult for them. Parents say they just love it. I would be happy to share an example if you think it might work for you.

Hey! I teach fourth grade. This is one of my goals for the summer. I am trying to make a binder FULL of transparencies that I can just pull for morning work.

I have DOL, DGEO and DA (analogies). I am just compiling it all so I have 2-3 sentences to correct each day, 2 analogies, and 2 geography questions. I am able to fit three days worth of questions on one sheet of paper. I am number each sheet as week 1, 2 and so on.

For the other two days of the week there will either be math work (from my teammate because I team teach), reading comprehension passage, or grammar work. I have found several free ones I have cut and pasted on line. EdHelper and Busy Teacher Cafe have been great for these. I figure I will supplement whenever I need some pages.

So far I have 7 weeks worth (7 pages) and several other sheets to fill in the days.

I would post an example, but I don't think I can because of copy right.

I post daily morning work on the board, have since day 1, they are so well trained now that when a parent came in to talk we were able to do so for 15 minutes, in the room, and she commented on how nice and quiet it was! I was very proud of them. It took a few days to get them used to it, most mornings it is silent reading but sometimes it's a spelling practice activity, writing to me (a way to practice writing friendly letters and for me to do anecdotal observations of writing/spelling skils, this is not graded), sometimes they do a math activity. I still have to give a gentle reminder, usually I praise 1-3 kids who are doing what they should "If you are doing what Katie is doing then you are doing the right thing, thank you" I teach 3rd but this works at all grades.

For my morning work - the students have a morning math notebook in their desk. Each morning when they come in, they get out the notebook and do the math boxes that I have put on the board. It is a great way to review concepts that have just been taught as well as those that have not been visited recently. It only takes 2 or 3 minutes to go over each morning after the announcements. Hope this helps.

I make find-a-word puzzles from our spelling words. You can make them at Puzzlemaker at discoveryschool.com. The kids enjoy searching for the words and don't realize it is helping them spell the words. Sometimes I have them write in their journal. I might have a picture at each group's table for them to make up a story for or just have one posted in the room. After I finish up my morning routine, then we have share time.
We do "story pictures"also. They have a designated number of spelling words to use in a sentence(maybe one or two) and illustrate their sentence. Then we go to two sentences and work our way up to a paragraph(using many spelling words). We share these as well.
You might try "Mixed Mad Minutes". Instead of just math problems, I will have a transparency on the overhead of things from different subjects (a practice of all things we are studying at the present time.) Ladder books are fun for spelling words, vocabulary words and definitions, or whatever. These are a fun way of writing your words but does require quite a bit of construction paper. The kids can make these on their own after you spend a little time with them on how to put them together.
When you start multiplication and division, you can give them index cards and let them make their own set. They can keep these in ziplocs in their desk and take them out anytime they are finished with work and practice them. Hope these ideas help!