7 Kindergarten Morning Work Choices for a Soft Start

Inside: Discover alternative kindergarten morning work choices that welcome kids to school with a soft start to their day.

Why Pencil and Paper Morning Work Wasn’t Working

It’s 8:30 and the kids are beginning to trickle into the classroom. Maribelle says she’s being picked up, but doesn’t have a note, Logan is missing his mom, and Tanisha is overflowing with excitement about her first lost tooth.  I call the office about the note, while giving Logan a “mommy hug,” and trying to show enthusiasm for Tanisha’s tooth. Across the room, Nora has quickly finished her morning work paper and is pencil fighting with Joey, who is avoiding the task altogether. I ask myself, “Is this really the way I want to start my day?”

Discovering the Soft Start Approach to Our Day

Traditional pencil and paper morning work never quite delivered on its “promise” of freeing me up to be there for the kids as they arrived. And I didn’t really want my kids arriving to a worksheet. 

So, when I read The Curious Classroom, by Harvey Daniels, I was excited about the chapter devoted to helping teachers create a “soft start” to their day. He defines “soft start” as, “not rigid, but gentle, individualized, and peaceful beginnings, driven by personal choice, not ordained by someone else’s agenda or requirements.”  It’s about how you start the day with kids, using intentional openers that slowly ease them into the day.

My Kindergarten Morning Work Makeover

I began to picture a new start to our day – one where kids were excited to walk in the door and choose an activity that was just what they needed, so they could better transition from home to school.  I brainstormed ideas that were open-ended, matched children’s interests, required little or no set-up, and allowed for easy clean-up. Then, I created a Morning Work Choice Board, that allowed children to be engaged from the start, while freeing me up to meet their arrival needs.

If you too, are looking for a morning work makeover, here’s a quick rundown of some choices you might try that have worked really well for us. 

Kindergarten Morning Work Choices for a Smooth Start

Sketching

Create a “sketch tub” with interesting objects that children will enjoy drawing.  Plants, animals, and other objects from nature make great offerings and can connect to a current unit or project.  Provide each child with their own sketchbook to use throughout the year, so you won’t have to worry about providing or managing loose paper. 

Yoga

Cosmic Kids Yoga offers free children’s yoga classes based on favorite themes including Frozen, Minecraft, Star Wars, and Trolls.  On the homepage, you can even find the videos sorted by length in minutes, to help you better match the time you’ve allotted for morning work.  Just project on your interactive whiteboard and enjoy watching children do poses with fun stories and themes.

Reading

There are several ways you can organize book bins or baskets to offer different reading experiences for kids to enjoy upon arrival. You might try seasonal books that can be changed out each month to reflect holidays and seasonal happenings,…

or books they can read all by themselves.

My News

Children come to school with many stories to share!  Offer News Writing and Whole Class Journals where they can draw and write about the big and little events in their life.

Research

Set up a research center in your classroom where you keep books, artifacts, and tech tools that kids can you use to learn more about a topic that you are currently studying.  Provide note paper for them to record what they discover and invite them to share their learning during morning meeting.

Note paper and ideas for setting up an animal research center are included in each of the Ready, Set, Research resources.

Building

Put out a tub of building toys such as Legos, Zoobs, Knex, or Magnetics for children to create and build structures. Select a new tub each day to keep the interest and creativity going!

Chit Chat

Many children have a great need to socialize upon arrival.  Place mats or pillows on the floor to designate spots for them to sit and talk with friends.  Add a “talking stick” to help them practice taking turns while speaking.

Managing Kindergarten Morning Work

These already-established, consistent options mean that I’m not busy prepping for morning work each day. But at the same time, the possibility is always there to offer new options. If we will be working with a new math manipulative, I might first put it out as a choice for morning work, to allow children to free explore it before I begin to use it for instruction.  Or, If I find some puzzles hidden in the back of my closet, I can easily pull out and offer as a new morning work choice. 

When Morning Work Ends

Announcements can signal the end of your morning work and the beginning of morning meeting, but it’s possible to extend the time and use it to pull a small group or work with individual children.

Or, you might choose a special good morning song to let children know that it is time to clean up. I love See Me Beautiful, by Red Grammar.   If you have children that have difficulty transitioning, give them a few minute warning to help them more smoothly disengage from the activity.

From Morning Work to Morning Choice

Making these changes has allowed me to better meet the needs of my kids upon arrival.  The time is also useful for quick RTI interventions, bringing kids together to solve conflicts, or providing extra time for “slow finishers” or absent students to finish work from the day before. 

I no longer call it “morning work,” as the “work” part of it sounds more like a drudgery than the engaging start to our day that it has become.  We now call it “Morning Choice,” because it better reflects our ability to choose the way we want to begin our day. 

For more help with planning your kindergarten day, download the FREE daily plan toolkit to help you create a rhythmic flow that matches the energy and needs of children.

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