Shownotes
The bell finally rings and your students are walking down the hallway excited to enter your classroom for the day. Once your students arrive, is it complete chaos or a structured routine? In order to have a successful day, it all starts with the tone you set for your students with the implementation of a classroom morning routine. With this routine being the last of your three morning routines, we’re sharing the four characteristics you need for a productive classroom morning routine.
For all the resources mentioned in this episode, head to the show notes:
https://www.secondstorywindow.net/podcast/classroom-morning-routine
Resources:
Transcripts
Emily
Hey there, thanks for joining us today. In today's episode, we're diving into student morning routines. And we have a teacher approved tip for helping students build their independence in the morning.
Heidi
We start our episodes with the morning message just like we used to do at morning meeting in our classrooms. This week's morning message is what is a favorite snack you eat to keep yourself fueled during back to school season? Emily kick us off.
Emily
Well stringy cheese has always been a go to for me when I was in the classroom, especially as a classic or reason. Yes. And protein bars. My current favorite is G2G bars and the peanut butter coconut chocolate one is my favorite. How about you Heidi?
Heidi
Well at Target I recently discovered Hillshire Snacking Trays. And I'm I think I'm hooked. They have lots of different variations with meats and cheese and almonds and crackers. And I like them because they have a good amount of protein. So I'm not looking for another snack and 20 minutes you know.
Emily
Really tide you over getting enough protein is always the hard part. We have some awesome responses from our community. Dale said Jimmy bars which I had never heard of. He said those are his favorite for no lunch break days. And he recommends the Eye of the Tiger flavor which is caramel chocolate.
Heidi
And I totally didn't get what he's talking about. Like why is he talking about Eye of the Tiger?
Emily
I know me too. Natalie goes for chips and guac and Belvita breakfast cookies. PJ said I just needed an iced coffee in the morning and a Mountain Dew in the afternoon. Friends on caffeine. Lynn said KitKat for those junk snacks but normally I eat healthy fruit and beef jerky. You need a little both. Leslie said honey roasted peanuts. Jennifer said RX bars or trail mix. Christie said bananas or premier protein shake, and she likes the chocolate kind.
Emily
And Deanna said anything chocolate. Same Deanna. We'd love to have you join the conversation over in our teacher approved Facebook group or on Instagram at @2ndstorywindow and that is with a two.
Emily
Well, we are back this week with more talk about teacher morning routines. But this week, we're talking about what our students morning routines look like.
Heidi
And if you're keeping track, this makes the third morning routine that we have talked about. And that's because teachers are lucky enough to have three morning routines to manage. Besides the students morning routine, there's the routine that gets you up and out the door. We talked about that in episode 93. And we shared 10 tips for making that particular routine more effective.
Emily
Then in last week's episode, we talked about teacher morning routines at school, we suggested creating a well thought out checklist for your morning tasks.
Heidi
So I took our own advice and I made my own morning routine checklists. Good job. And I'm only seven days in but already I feel like my mornings are so much calmer. Your new woman feels like it. I had never written down my routine before because I was like it's a routine. I will remember what to do. Yeah, same.
Heidi
But something about having it on my pink sticky note is just really just made it so much easier to follow. And I've been trying to figure out why writing it down what makes such a difference. And we're gonna deep dive here into Heidi's brain. And I think it's because I have been treating my mornings like they're an emergency instead of like a scheduled event, if that makes any sense. So I would have a good idea of how I wanted my mornings to go, you know, in my mind, but I was always kind of weighing my routine tasks against my urgent tasks.
Emily
Yeah, this has to get done today. So I can't do that thing I usually like to do.
Heidi
Yeah, I want my mornings like this, but I've got all these deadlines. And so most of the time that urgency would win out. And I would just tell myself that once that urgent task was dealt with, I could have a calmer morning tomorrow.
Heidi
But hey, guess what guys? Every day has its own urgent tasks. So I was very rarely having the kind of morning I needed and even if I wasn't facing a lot of deadlines, I was finding like Well, that's not really routine because I can't do it. I didn't do it yesterday. I'm not gonna do it tomorrow. So why even try today?
Emily
Yeah. Well, I mean, I guess what two decades of putting out fires every morning developed some strong habits.
Heidi
Oh, yeah, apparently and until we started having this discussion, I had never really realized how much of my morning was being driven by the panic to deal with what felt urgent, instead of focusing on what was most important and what I wanted to get out of my morning. And what's most important and what is urgent are not always the same thing. So, if you haven't listened to last week's episode, go back and check it out. I highly recommend.
Emily
Yeah, and then come to our Facebook group and tell us what tasks are on your morning routine list.
Heidi
Yeah, we'd love to get some new ideas.
Emily
Well, once we have our teacher to do tasks narrow down, it's time to turn to the students morning routine. This is crucial, because what happens before the first bell even rings has a huge impact on the outcome of your entire day.
Heidi
If you can start your morning strong, and if you have efficient routines for both you and your students, you build a momentum that carries you through to the end of the day.
Emily
But if your mornings are a mad scramble, and your students are doing whatever they want until the bell rings, you spend the rest of your day playing catch up.
Heidi
And that is no way to live. So we want to craft an effective plan for starting our days. To do that, we're going to start by looking at the four characteristics of productive management. And they are: one, students know what is expected of them, and are generally successful doing it, I appreciate that they're generally successful. Two, there is relatively little wasted time, confusion, or disruption. Three, students are engaged in meaningful instructional activities. And four, the climate of the classroom is work oriented, but relaxed and pleasant.
Emily
If your morning routine is effective, these four characteristics are present. So let's look a little closer at what your students are doing in the morning. In our last episode, we suggested you list everything you do in the mornings from the time you arrive until it's time to start teaching. Now we're going to do the same thing for our students.
Heidi
Start a list of everything you need from your students in the morning. consider things like when can they enter the room? Where do their belongings go? How is breakfast handled? Where do papers get turned in? How do they respond to the morning message? What materials do they need for the day?
Emily
There's so much that happens before that first bell even rings. If you want some guiding questions that can help you think through all of this, check out our procedures and routines, planning guide and checklist. It's got all of these questions written down plus a few extras and has room for you to write down your responses.
Heidi
Once you have listed all of your students morning responsibilities. Let's turn back to those four characteristics of productive management. Look for places where those characteristics are reflected in the routine that you already have.
Emily
When they arrive in the morning, do students know what's expected of them? Are they generally successful at doing it? Do your mornings flow with little wasted time, confusion or disruption? Are your students engaged in meaningful instructional activities in the morning? And how is your classroom climate in the morning? Is it relaxed and pleasant? Or is it frantic and unruly?
Heidi
If you feel like those characteristics apply to your students morning routine, high five for you. Keep doing what you're doing.
Emily
But if you feel like there's some room for improvement, don't sweat we've got you covered.
Heidi
Let's start by asking what would my ideal morning look like in each of these categories?
Emily
What does your ideal morning look like if students know what's expected of them and are successful at doing it? You probably want your students to know where to go and what to do as soon as they arrive in your classroom. You want them making a smooth transition from home to school. You want them to be able to manage their belongings and get engaged in the day in a positive way instead of goofing around.
Heidi
If there is a minimal waste of time or confusion in your ideal morning, what does that look like? Do students know exactly where to go, when to be there? And how to get there? Do they have jobs they're responsible for in the morning? Do students know when and how to get the materials they need to start the day?
Emily
What is your ideal instructional task for starting the day? You need to know what your students are capable of doing independently while you finish up the tasks on your morning to do list? How can you use that time in meaningful ways without creating more work for yourself?
Heidi
And our last characteristic is about classroom climate. On an ideal morning, what is contributing to a positive feeling in your classroom? Maybe a music playing? Are you welcoming students? Do your students have time to connect with you and with each other?
Emily
After answering those questions, you probably have a pretty good idea of what needs to occur in your classroom each morning. So how do we put that into practice?
Heidi
The first thing we want to do is to put the steps in into an efficient order for our students to follow.
Emily
There's a lot to consider. So this sequence might take some tweaking. Should students hang up backpacks before making their lunch choices? Do they turn in homework and lunch money at the same place? Do they get a chair or a pencil first? At what point do they fill their water bottles? What should they do if they arrive before the bell rings? What do they do if they're late?
Heidi
There are a lot of moving pieces here. And the order of your routine depends on your goals, the layout of your room and your classes individual needs. Free yourself from the idea that there is a right or wrong answer here. Just do your best to streamline the steps as much as possible.
Emily
But don't worry, you are not married to this plan. If down the road, you realize you forgot an important step or you need to rearrange steps. It's okay. It's obviously easier to teach a certain order right from the start. But don't be afraid to course correct if your routine isn't working quite right.
Heidi
Once you have a sequence laid out, it's time to teach it to the kids. Basically, your morning routine is one long procedure with many, many steps.
Emily
So that likely means you'll want to break it into smaller procedures when you teach it.
Heidi
Yeah, you might want to have a procedure for entering the room, where you teach your students everything that needs to happen from the time they arrive at school until they hang up their backpack.
Emily
Or maybe unpacking a backpack needs to be a separate procedure. Ideally, a procedure doesn't have more than three or four steps. If you have a procedure with six or seven steps, you might want to see if it's possible to break it into two smaller procedures.
Heidi
Students are more likely to be successful if you teach two separate procedures that each have four steps, then one long procedure that has eight steps to remember.
Emily
So you could end up with a morning routine that has an entering the room procedure and unpacking your backpack procedure of filling your water bottle procedure, getting the materials you need procedure, a what to do if you're here before the bell procedure, and what to do when you hear the bell procedure.
Heidi
I think sometimes we take for granted the sheer number of things that have to get done in the morning. But when you take the time to really look at that list, it's easier to see why your morning routine matters. And why it's important to be very intentional about how you approach it.
Emily
That's why you really want to take your time here to make sure that you're teaching each of the separate morning procedures in a way that helps students master the steps.
Heidi
When it comes to teaching procedures, we always recommend the tell try tally talk method. Those four steps work together to provide an interactive way for students to practice procedures, get feedback, correct mistakes, and make a plan for moving forward in positive ways.
Emily
In Episode 75, we break down the tell try tally talk method. And we also have a resource of procedures and routine slides that you can edit with your own steps to teach any routine using this method.
Heidi
With so much to keep track of it will take days, maybe even weeks to get everything running smoothly in the morning. But tackle one procedure at a time until your students are able to complete the process independently and accurately.
Emily
But no matter how much time and training you put into your morning procedures, there will be mornings that don't start on the right now.
Heidi
Maybe a parent shows up at 8:45am for an IEP scheduled at 4pm. And you were hauled into that meeting at the last minute. I have had that happen.
Emily
Or maybe you just found out the reports you thought were due next week are due by noon today. And now you really need your kids working independently so you can frantically gather your data.
Heidi
Or maybe one of your students saved a bird brought it to school and is now flying around your classroom. True story.
Emily
Another true story. When your routine goes out the window is actually when your routines matter most.
Heidi
That's because predictable routines are what allow you to get back on track and recover from even the most unlucky bird infested beginning.
Emily
Routine is a powerful tool in the classroom use it to your advantage. Let the peaceful start of the morning carry you into a smoothly running afternoon.
Heidi
By identifying your goals, making intentional decisions and clearly teaching your expectations, you set yourself and your students up for a successful day every day.
Emily
We'd love to hear your thoughts about your students morning routine. Come join the conversation in our teacher approved Facebook group.
Emily
Now let's talk about this week's teacher approved tip. Each week we leave you with a small actionable tip that you can apply in your classroom today. This week's teacher approved tip is post your morning expectations every single day.
Heidi
If you have intentionally thought through all the steps in your morning routine, and have taken the time to teach it to your students, the only thing left is to be consistent. That means that you have the same expectations every single morning, and that you post those expectations in the same place every single morning.
Heidi
Even if it's the 126th day of school, you still follow through with your part of the morning routine, as a signal that you expect your students to follow through with their part of the routine. Maybe the last day of school, you can skip it. But otherwise, it's an important component in keeping your mornings on track.
Emily
And you may even want to do it on the last day of school because you still have to keep those little nuggets contained for a few more hours and maintaining the schedule can help tame the chaos.
Heidi
Yes, sticking with a consistent morning routine is a great way to keep kids from spiraling out of control, even if the school day isn't going to end up being very routine in itself.
Emily
So it's worthwhile to set up a system that allows you to easily post your morning expectations. Slides are super easy to set up and change every day.
Heidi
Way back in the stone age. I wrote my morning routine on sentence strips, added some really like roughly drawn icons for my non readers. And then I just stuck magnets on the back. So all I had to do was just slap those sentence strips up on the board each morning. Yep,
Emily
Yep, I did the same thing. It's pretty inelegant, but it works. Hey, got the job done. You could even just print off a list and post it where the kids can easily reference it.
Heidi
Then once you have it posted, make sure that you direct students to it. This is the key. So if someone is getting a pencil before they unpack their backpack, prompt them to stop and check the list. Hey, why don't you check the list and see if you're doing that in the right order, right.
Heidi
Or if a student asks what page they need to turn to in their book, point to the list. We want our students to get in the habit of referencing the steps instead of their teacher holding their hand to be able to move through the morning successfully.
Emily
It's always nice to have one less thing to worry about as a teacher.
Heidi
To wrap up the show we are sharing what we're giving extra credit to this week Emily what gets your extra credit?
Emily
So I'm giving extra credit to the book Defy the Night by Brigid Kemmerer which was recommended to me by you Heidi.
Emily
It's a good one.
Emily
It's the first book in a YA romantic fantasy series about Tessa she's a young apothecary in the kingdom of Kendolla and Prince Couric, the hated younger brother of the prince who has made enemies in his role as the king's justice. Honestly, I don't even know what to say about this book because it's just such an amazing story.
Emily
But I have to say I am not a big fantasy reader in general. I did love her previous series A Curse So Dark and Lonely, which is an interesting reimagining of Beauty and the Beast so I knew it was worth giving this one a try. And I got sucked right into it. I'm very happy to second book is already out because I just finished the first but sadly the third book won't be out until January so that's a bummer.
Heidi
But I was hoping you were gonna say the third books out now because I've been dying to wait for.
Emily
I looked it up right before we recorded. What are you giving credit to?
Heidi
Well, I am giving extra credit to the song Damage Gets Done by Hozier and Brandy Carlisle.
Emily
I love them.
Heidi
I can see on Spotify that this song has just over like 6 million plays. And honestly, probably about half of them are all for me. It's such a good song. On the one hand it sounds like such a classic. It seems like this song must have always existed. And then on the other hand, it sounds like something totally new and fresh. And honestly I'm kind of surprised that this wasn't the first single off of Hozier's new album, because it's such a good song.
Emily
Brandy Carlisle makes everything better.
Heidi
Sounds so good together. I love her.
Heidi
That's it for today's episode. Streamline your students morning routines and don't forget our teacher approved tip to post your morning routine steps on the board every single day.