Are your mornings chaos? As elementary teachers, there’s usually so much to do in the mornings! You have to take attendance, handle parent communication, make sure that lunch boxes and book bags get into the correct cubbies, and about a million other things.
My favorite way to make the mornings smoother when I was in the classroom was morning work! Setting the expectation that students are to come in in the morning, put their things away and get started on their independent work helped me focus on the various tasks that need my attention first thing in the morning.
Should you use morning work in kindergarten? Here are a few benefits!
Promotes a Smooth Transition
Kindergarten mornings can often be filled with a whirlwind of emotions and energy as young learners arrive at school. Morning work provides a structured transition that eases children into the learning environment. It allows them to settle into a routine, helping to reduce separation anxiety and set a positive tone for the day.
Kindergarten Morning Work Boosts Independence
One of the top benefits of morning work is that it encourages independence in kindergarten kiddos! As they tackle tasks on their own, like simple puzzles, worksheets, or coloring activities, they develop essential skills like fine motor coordination, focus, and problem-solving. This newfound confidence spills over into other classroom activities, fostering a sense of self-reliance.
Reinforces Learning Concepts
Morning work is an ideal opportunity to reinforce and review key concepts learned in previous lessons. With age-appropriate activities that align with the curriculum, morning work can be a valuable tool for consolidating knowledge. It helps your little learners retain what they’ve learned, ensuring that lessons from previous days and weeks continue to resonate in their developing minds.
Need morning work ideas? If you are looking for the perfect morning work resource or kindergarten morning work printables, I have you covered!
This kindergarten morning work bundle has you covered for the entire year!
This engaging Morning Work for kindergarten resource covers reading and math skills and is super easy to implement! These morning work activities will help keep your class calm while reviewing skills at their own pace for the entire school year.
This is 5 2-Month Journal Sets, 40 weeks worth of morning work!
It covers:
❀ Handwriting Uppercase and Lowercase Letters
❀ Sight Word Practice
❀ Beginning Letter Sounds
❀ Months of the Year
❀ Days of the Week
❀ Handwriting Sentences
❀ Word Families
❀ Silent /e/
❀ Digraphs
❀ Number Sense
❀ Ten Frames
❀ Counting
❀ Number Lines
❀ Writing Numbers
❀ Counting On
❀ Shapes
❀ More and Less Than
❀ 3D Shapes
❀ Graphs
❀ Place Value
What’s included?
Pg 1-42 – Aug. and Sept. (Handwriting, Letters, Numbers, Colors, Sight Words, Counting)
Pg. 43-84 – Oct. and Nov. (Handwriting, Letters, Numbers, Ten Frame, Counting, What Comes Next)
Pg. 85-126 Dec. Jan. (Word Families, Vowels, Counting, Greater than, Less Than, Handwriting)
Pg. 127-168 – Feb. and March (capital letters, lowercase letters, word families, shapes, counting on, less than)
Pg. 169-210 April and May (digraphs, tens and ones, 3D shapes, graphs, and silent /e/)
Each page has an extended activity for students to do on the back of the page for early finishers. It is designed to model once to the whole group, and then students should be working independently for each set.
There are only mild changes in this packet each month to make it easy for students to follow the pattern each morning. I provide different fonts, so students get used to seeing letters that look different.
The number and the number word is used so students get familiar with number word recognition. I tell students to look at their crayons to find the color word to help them figure out the color on their own to create independence.
I print my pages out to create a journal to easily store papers, leaving the back blank for the extended activity. My students could move on to the next page if they finished. You can just give one individual sheet, if you like to ensure students don’t move on to the next page.