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Kindergarten Morning Work Ideas

kindergarten survival, Teacher's Pay Teachers

Morning work is a necessary part of most classrooms, especially in the early grades. As students enter the room, teachers often need to deal with lunch choices, parent notes, stuck zippers, and plenty of other things that require their attention. Morning work is the perfect way to get kids learning independently as soon as they arrive! 

Kindergarten students who have morning work daily learn how to follow a routine.

This is an invaluable skill to help the classroom run smoothly and effectively. Once the routine is introduced and practiced, your students can jump right in each morning without any help! 

Not only can this improve your mornings as a teacher, but in the event of having a substitute teacher the students will know what to do as soon as they arrive. Those first few minutes of time to review lesson plans and acclimate to the class will be so appreciated by any substitute. 

Morning work is also the perfect opportunity for kindergarten students to practice foundational skills daily.

They can practice letter formation, finger spacing, colors, reading, and math skills each and every day. Teachers can provide direct instruction at the beginning of the year on how to complete the tasks, and soon students will be able to work on their own.

 Worksheets that are predictable in its presentation helps students know what to do, and they can immediately start practicing when they sit down. As they use these skills daily, they will become more confident and comfortable. They will also feel independent as they walk in and successfully begin their own work like bigger kids! 

I know it can sometimes seem overwhelming to have a fresh morning work assignment for each and every day. So I created my no- prep Kindergarten Morning Work Packets to give you one less thing on your to-do list.

kindergarten morning work

 These packets have been carefully created for the kindergarten classroom as an easy, organized, YEAR-LONG resource. Simply print the packets for each day, week, or month, and you are ready to welcome your students! 

Students will get practice with: 

  •  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

In addition, each page has an extension activity that early finishers can complete on the back!

Compiling morning work is also a great way to see your students’ growth in their skills as the year progresses. 

Here’s what teachers are saying about these Kindergarten Morning Work Packets:

“I love this!!! My kids did the sampler and they really enjoyed it! I love that it has literacy and math skills together. Thanks!” 
Was looking for something for my students to have has practice work for all their skills. This looks fabulous covers all areas and is something they might be able to do independently. Can’t wait to use it!”
“The best morning work! Perfect for so many levels!”

Here’s to scramble-free mornings for the entire school year!

For more kindergarten tips, check out my post here!

 

Fun Ways To Practice Sight Words In Kindergarten

education, kindergarten survival, Reading, Teacher's Pay Teachers

Students learn so many valuable things in elementary school. We set the foundation for their education for the rest of their lives. Among all of the important things they learn in school, it all starts in their kindergarten classroom when we teach them the building blocks of reading, writing, and math. 

Aside from letters, and numbers, a huge focus is on learning sight words. Sight words are generally words that students will see the most often while reading. Little learners should have them memorized to help them continue to learn to read and write. They help them produce meaning and skip difficult decoding skills as beginning readers. 

When deciding on what activities to do to practice sight words in kindergarten, the sky’s the limit! They are young and excited to learn new things. There are a number of fun and engaging activities you can do to practice sight words with them. 

Here are some of my favorite sight words activities for my students

  • Have a sight word hunt while reading. Choose your sight word for the day and have your students hunt for the word in their book. 
  • Get some yummy treats involved. Make a big bowl of pudding. Students can dip their fingers in the pudding and write their sight word on a pan with the pudding. If they get the word right, they get to lick their fingers! This one is guaranteed to be a hit. 
  • Do some task cards. Task cards are a fun alternative to worksheets. Task cards feel more like a game than work! 
  • Use magnetic letters. Get some cheap cookie sheets and some magnetic letters and have your students spell out the words. 
  • Make sight word necklaces. This resource includes 88 sight words that your students can use to make fun sight word necklaces. Everytime your student looks at their necklace, they will be reminded of their sight word. It is also great for getting parents involved in your students learning! 

sight words

  •  Use shaving cream. Spray shaving cream on the students desks and let them use their fingers to write out their sight words in the shaving cream. Fun and messy! 
  • If you are distance learning, try out these Sight Words Google Slides activities. These reading comprehension passages and questions are a fun and engaging way to improve comprehension and fluency while practicing sight words. 

sight words

sight words

 

Learning can be so fun when you are working with kindergarten aged students. Everything is new and exciting so just have fun with it! 

What are your favorite ways to work on reading with your students? Let me know in the comments!

For more kindergarten ideas, check out these free winter activity ideas!

sight words

 

 

Free Winter Activities for Kindergarten and Up

Free Teaching Resources, Teacher's Pay Teachers

Now is the busiest time of the year for teachers! Trying to keep up with holidays, family responsibilities and planning for the new year can be a lot! This is why I teamed up with some great Teachers Pay Teachers authors to give you FREE TEACHING WINTER resources at you fingertips! Click the photo of what you want to download from TpT! Don’t forget to let the author know how much you appreciate their hard work in your feedback or blog comments so we are encouraged to keep the freebies flowing! Have a healthy and hassle-free winter season!

FREE Winter Printables

These resources are for different grade levels, mostly Pre-K -5th, except the Spanish Verbs. Please click the image of the resource you want to download for free.

 

 

 

 

winter mitten color by number

Check out Christmas Freebies HERE or some NEW YEARS EVE GLASSES HERE.

5 Creative Ways To Make Worksheets More Fun

Teacher's Pay Teachers, Teaching Tips

Worksheets are an essential part of the classroom. There are so many activities and crafts we can do with our students but sometimes there is just no way to get around good old fashioned worksheets. They are the best way for students to get practice and build fluency in whatever you are working on in the classroom. Worksheets are also just the best way to assess where your students stand in with the skills you are working on aside from taking a test.

Unfortunately, they aren’t always the most fun or engaging for the students. Despite any cute or fun designs they might have, they are still a sheet full of work for the student to complete, and that just isn’t the most thrilling thing to do. 

I am all about keeping my students engaged in the classroom, and the best way to do that is to make learning fun. Sometimes shaking things up a little can make a big impact on the kids’ willingness to really dive into what we are working on. 

make worksheets more fun

 

With worksheets, it can be beneficial for your students if you think outside the box. Believe it or not, there are ways to get creative with worksheets so that your students actually enjoy it, I promise! 

Here are some ways to make worksheets more fun

  1. Have students complete half. Let your students pick what half of the worksheet they want to complete. Letting them make the decision to do only the half that they want to do can take the pressure off to do the whole thing and shake things up just enough to take away the monotony of another worksheet. 
  2. Use rainbow writing. Get out fun colored pencils or colorful markers and have them use different colors to complete the work. This will create a fun rainbow effect on the worksheet. It’s like educational artwork! 
  3. Make them dry erase. Laminate the worksheets and get out some dry erase markers for the students to use while they complete it. There is just something about using a dry erase marker for kids. They love the feel of markers and their ability to easily erase and start over if they mess up. They will legitimately enjoy the activity, trust me. 
  4. Work with partners. Everything’s better when you’re working with a classmate. You can also pair the students up and let them play against each other in a game of “Beat My Partner”. They can race to see who can complete the work first with a little friendly competition. 
  5. Have a snowball fight! Have your students complete their work as fast as they can. Once they are done, check their work (to make sure they did their best), and then have some fun. Have everyone ball their paper up and have a “snowball” fight with them. This is guaranteed to be a hit! 

 

make worksheets more fun

Shaking things up in the classroom not only helps the students, it helps you keep things fun and exciting for yourself! Not to mention it will make you one of the most memorable teachers your students will have! 

For more ways to make learning fun, check out my tips for using games in the classroom here! 

For more learning resources, check out my shop here.

Do you have any ways you like to shake things up in the classroom to have more fun? Let me know in the comments!

make worksheets more fun