Update from Katie’s Homeroom Class: Morning Choices!

Posted on November 16, 2017

I wanted to take a moment to talk about a special part of our week: Morning Choices. As you know, three days a week, we have to hustle off to a special first thing in the morning (early morning specials make it possible to switch for reading and math). Knowing that this would be our schedule for the year, I spent some time thinking and researching what we could do for morning work on Wednesday and Thursday that would meaningful but not dependent on a daily routine. My search led me to Morning Choices.

Simply put, Morning Choices allow students to make choices that are important to them while also giving students opportunities to practice important interpersonal skills like collaboration, cooperation, and leadership. The Morning Choices in our room are:

• Collaboration with Legos: Students must work together to create and build structures. There are task cards that students can use to guide their creations.
• Game Time: Students play games like Connect 4, Trouble, Sorry, and Mancala. The goal of Game Time is to cooperating and problem solve.
• Leadership with Kindergarten: Up to 6 kids can visit the two Kinder classes and read with Kindergarteners. The aim is to have third graders see themselves as leaders and role models.
• Artistic Expression: Students create with different media like ink pens and water colors.
• Cursive Practice: This allows students who wish to learn cursive practice their skills. Students have a workbook that guides him or her in their work.
• Free Write: Students create poetry or stories
• Read: Students have free choice over what they read

Third graders can only visit one choice per week (i.e. if they read to self on Wednesday, they have to choose something else on Thursday) and some choices (like Legos and reading to Kindergarteners) fill up quickly, forcing kids to make choices they might not otherwise make.

After a couple of months of setting up expectations, problem solving, and checking in on how things are going, the third graders are fully independent and require minimal intervention from me. The gentle start to our morning provides a nice way to transition into our Class Meeting and Literacy Workshop.

The kids would say the best part of Morning Choices is getting to play/draw/read/etc. For me, the best part of Morning Choices is stepping back and watching them interact, create, and engage with each other all with out adult support. It is exactly what we want our students to be able to do and it is incredibly rewarding to see it in action. The skills practiced in Morning Choices are ones we work on throughout the day and translate to all areas of life. If you have a chance on a Wednesday or Thursday morning, I encourage you to come take a peek at Morning Choices and see what I’m talking about!

Katie

(I took these pictures on Pajama Day, which only added to the cuteness of these photos!)