One of the most common questions I get from readers, on Facebook and from other teachers is how I do classroom management and what my secret is to keeping my ‘staches so well managed! Of course procedures, procedures, procedures and more procedures is a major factor, but I also want to share one of the biggest keys to successful classroom management in my classroom. I honestly think this plays a significant role in my success with management. What is my secret? The answer is…..morning journals which are used for morning work! Here’s how we do it and what makes it such a vital piece of my management system.
Morning Work=Morning Journals
My morning work is our morning journals. Every day. It’s the exact same activity and the exact same procedures and expectations. And that is the key. When the ‘staches arrive, they know what to do, they know what to expect and they do it. They aren’t struggling with some new worksheet or packet. And they don’t have to get up and ask questions or come to me for help. The students can arrive in a calm manner and be successful immediately. They start off their day calm and successful and that sets the positive tone for the the day. The consistency and successful start to each day.
When the ‘staches arrive, they place their folder in the box and put their backpack away. Then they greet me. If they choose to eat breakfast they grab breakfast and chow down. If they skip breakfast they grab their journals and find a spot on the floor to work!
Differentiated Morning Work
Our morning work is differentiated! Here’s how:
For students who are still working on mastering writing their names, they have name writing practice to work on. Some students are still just tracing their names and some are doing a combination of tracing and writing. This differentiation allows scaffolding as the students move toward mastery.
As you can see, the student on the left is still tracing her name. The student on the right is tracing her name twice and then writing her name 3 times. Their morning work is meeting their individual needs and allowing them to be successful! And it’s consistent. They are working on their name every morning. No surprises when they arrive! We start with regular pencils and as needed we also use golf pencils!
Morning Journals
Once the ‘staches master their name writing, they earn their morning journal. My mourning journals are just spiral notebooks (or composition notebooks). When they first earn their journal, they simply write their name and draw a picture. Every morning. Same expectation and procedure. Success!
His illustrations are always this caliber!
After a week of name and picture, we add in the date. For week two of journals, they write their name, trace the date and draw their picture.
After a week of name, date tracing and picture, I remove the tracing part and they write their name, date and draw a picture.
When they are ready to be challenged (usually withing a couple of weeks, but it varies for each student), I ask them to label one or two things in their pictures with a word. As they label more and more, they are required to start writing a sentence. As the year progresses their sentences improve and turn into 2 or 3 sentences describing their pictures.
So, that is my secret. The key to a successful day is a successful and peaceful start! They do the same thing every morning. They work quietly with our rockin’ music blasting. Everyone is successful and our day starts out great. The morning sets the tone for the day!
The bonus to this system is that it’s teacher friendly. No copies, no packets to assemble or papers to grade!
Here is a video of me explaining our morning work or morning journals!
For more information on our morning arrival procedures, check out these posts!
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35 comments
I L.O.V.E. this idea. What a simple but smart way to run your morning work…and makes it easier for the teacher to accomplish morning tasks too. I may just try this out this year! Thanks for the tip 🙂
LeAnne
Hangin' with Mrs. Cooper
I love this idea too! How many notebooks does each student go through during the year? Thank you so much for sharing this with us!!!
Christy
Great idea! I was just thinking today that I need to work in more time for my kindergarten kids to learn how to write their names! I will be searching for notebooks tomorrow! Thanks!!
-Carol
Mrs. Cobb's Kindersprouts
This is a brilliant idea! Thanks for the inspiration.
Lauren
Love, Laughter and Learning in Prep!
Perfect! Do you have book baskets on the tables for early finishers?
I wore white pants to Kindergarten, too! Made it out unscathed!
-Andrea
alwayskindergarten@gmail.com
You looks so handsome. Love the daily outfit slips.
Mels
I'm going to have to try this out this year! What do the early finishers do?!
How much time do you allow each morning for morning work?? and what do you do for the time difference for those who are tracing their name compared to those who are drawing a picture, name and date?
First of all, thank you for taking the time to detail your journal routine. That was the best description of progressive journal writing I've read yet! I just started school today and I am going to try implementing your ideas starting with name practice tomorrow. I have one little honey who, despite tutoring, has never progressed past the first letter of her name. So interesting! Also, I've always done journals at the end of the day but I like your way as they are much fresher in the morning. Thanks again!
Hi! I use the front and back of each page so they use 1 to 2 notebooks a year.
G
Hi! We have about 20 minutes for morning work. When they finish they read quietly. They can read from the class library or their book bags!
G
Yes! They have book bags to read from or they can choose to read from the class library!
G
I know this is an older post, but I hope you'll still answer questions on it! Just wondering if/when you go in their journals ahead of time to write what each students' morning work is. Do you do it on a Friday for the following week in everyone's journals based on that student's needs? Do you make the same morning work for 5 pages for the whole week (i.e. student's name, date on 5 consecutive pages)? I love this idea for morning work.
How long after school starts do you start the morning work?
Wow! This is a great idea. I have cut the spiral notebooks in half to get them to last longer. We are Bee's so I call them BUZZ Books.
In your post you mention your students earning their journal. What do they do to earn their journal and how soon in the school year do you introduce the journals? Thank you!
Kelly… He said once they can write their name independently they earn their journal. GREAT idea… love this post.
Love this idea. Do you still do writing later in the dday?
Hi Sandra, yes we do!
I love this. I can see how it will make my morning routine so much easier. Thanks so much!
What if they do not finish within the time frame? Thanks!
They just work until clean up. Then the next day they start a new page!
I was just wondering about the yellow words used to trace. When do you write this? On every student’s book every day?
Only as needed.Usually for 2 or 3 days when they first earn their journal.
When in the school year do you start this ? After the first week or later ?
Day 3
Why do you choose composition notebooks? You said you don’t mind if they write on the lines or not at the beginning. Do you ever use books with designated drawing space and designated writing space with large lines later in the year?
Hey, this just popped up on my facebook page and I noticed the actual date of the original. Do you still do this? I love the idea. I am a 3rd grade teacher and I have students who come to me STILL not able to write their name to where you can read it. I am thinking about using this for morning work at the start of school and then maybe before Christmas switch over to having students write their names in cursive and using this as a springboard for writing complete sentences and eventually paragraphs.
I sure do!
When or do you have them write their last name?
I LOVE this!!!
Love your ideas! Any recommendations for work morning with pre-k
I would do this same idea just differentiate it to meet the needs of your students. Maybe coloring, drawing, etc…
I am going to start this morning work this year. Do you keep the students journals in one space/bin or do they go in to a student cubby?
II am so doing this next year!!!! What a perfect way to journal (no pun intended!) their handwriting and writing journey!