Morning Work Ramblings

I don't know about you, but I always struggle with morning work.  We have 20 minutes that the kids come into the room upon arrival/breakfast before the bell rings.  I struggle with what to do during this time as some kids might not walk into the room until a minute before the bell rings.

Last year, I was able to get in 4 rotations of Daily 5 so the fifth one was done during this time.  It was always the last center from the day before so it was like a bonus:)  It made the kids want to get to class so they didn't miss a Daily 5 Center! 

I have contemplated the idea of Morning Work.  I love the spiral review that this offers.  My concerns are 2 fold.  1- We have paper/copy issues occasionally and 2- When do my late arrivals have time to finish it?

There are so many fabulous Morning Work units available.  I keep coming back to it...

Jodi Southard has a fabulous morning work pack available and she just bundled all the months.  I love that the language and math are both on the same page.  She offers a fluency page that can be copied on the back side.  The fluency page would be a nice resource for reading groups, read to self, read to partner or another resource to read at home.  I also love that the morning work has been differentiated, and the pages look similar so the kids won't notice.  You can read more about it over at Fun in First.


I have also used Kelley Dolling's Morning Work in the past.  I used it on the overhead as a group review and even as an introduction to a new skill at times.  For this reason, I liked that the language arts and math were two different packs.  I only printed one and used it on the document camera. The kids loved to share the pen and come up to lead the activity:)  You can check out her post about it over at Teacher Idea Factory.