WHY I SWITCHED TO MORNING WORK JOURNALS!
This year in first grade, we needed something different. Morning work tubs didn’t work with this group or schedule, and it was always so hard and time consuming to ‘find’ morning work for each morning that fit all my students’ needs. On top of all that, I was going to be out for Maternity Leave and needed something that would be easy for my sub to implement, while still holding value in my students’ learning.
This is when I decided to do morning work journals with a prompt each day. Starting with students just copying a prompt from a slide and then answering it in their journals. This worked alright, but our needs changed. Students were ready for more complex math and writing prompts that were longer. It didn’t make sense to continue having my students copy the prompt, but I wanted both myself and my students to remember what their prompts were each day when looking back in their journals.
We needed prompt cutouts!
This resource quickly became a game-changer in the morning work department and I couldn’t wait to share it with other teachers. These are the prompts that I will be using with my first grade students in February, and I plan to have a set for each month in the school year. The predictable routine is perfect for my students, and the flexibility and changing daily prompts keep review interesting, fun, and effective!
Here are some of the many reasons why I love morning work journal prompts:
- Easy to implement
- Students gain a sense of ownership over their journals and learning
- Takes the guess-work out of morning work
- Differentiation
- Flexibility
- Effective
- Meaningful practice
- Incorporate more writing, SEL, and math throughout the day
- Combine math and writing
- Students look forward to it
- Increased engagement
- Increased independence with writing
- Increase in creative thinking
Click here to learn more and grab this resource!
