Morning Work Journals with Digital Prompts for First Grade

Thank goodness for morning work journals. For real.

Actually, let’s back up. What does the beginning of your school day look like? I’ve gone through a few morning routine renovations over the years. Some, when I was a newbie, are probably too embarrassing to mention. Others resulted in various degrees of chaos. And others looked like a series of worksheets I confess were probably busy work.

Did I collect them? Usually. Did I grade them? Rarely. So yeah… busy work.

Luckily, we tend to improve with age.

DIGITAL PROMPTS FOR MORNING WORK JOURNALS

I really don’t think morning work has to be tedious, time consuming, or meaningless. And anything I can do to limit my time at a copy machine is a win. So we traded out our tired worksheets for morning work journals with digital prompts.

Q: What do the kids write about?

A: That depends on the prompt.👇

The magic is that none of this requires mountains of monthly worksheets.

Each day, the kids come in, put their things away, and pull out their morning work journals. Once they’ve read the prompt, they get to work responding in their own notebook.

It’s important at the beginning of the year to model this routine, showing the children how to read the prompt first and explaining how that will look on their journal page. The right side of each slide shows a simple template that guides students as they begin to write.

HOW TO MAKE THE SWITCH

You might think a routine built around the open-endedness of morning work journals won’t work, but trust me… I think you’ll love it.

Many of the prompts allow for a variety of responses, but there is still enough structure in each one to help guide children so you’re less likely to hear, “But I don’t have anything to write about.”

We created a set of 220 digital morning work prompts… that’s enough for the whole year and then some.

And they cover a few different subject areas, so children routinely have the chance to show what they know about phonics, math, vocabulary, and science all while practicing writing skills.

Each month’s slides follow a predictable pattern so the kids become familiar with the prompts and can start working independently within your specific morning routine.

A FEW “WHAT IFS”

Q: What if I have a student who can’t read the prompt?

A: When you teach first grade, that’s a legit concern. Here’s the fix… if your students sit in teams, appoint a morning work captain for each group. This person can support anyone in the group who might need a little help reading and understanding the prompt that morning. Plus, remember, the prompts are consistent and repeat throughout the month. Most kids will get the hang of it in no time.

Q: What if I have students who finish early?

A: These prompts will take most children anywhere from 10-15 minutes to complete. And some (you already know who) will be done in 5. Morning procedures vary quite a bit from school to school, so your morning classroom routine may look different than ours. I recommend making these morning work journals part of that routine, but you’ll likely need a plan for kids who are done before you’re ready to start. Here are some ideas to try:

Have book bins at each team and encourage early finishers to read quietly while they wait.
Provide a sketch pad for each child and let them draw.
Suggest they look back through their morning work journals and add more content to an earlier prompt.
Set up a puzzle table where kids can go and work on adding a few more pieces before you call them back.
Give them time to work in a center or play quietly on a device.

There are many other ideas to try. Knowing what type of noise level you envision for this time of day will help you decide what you want to offer children when their morning work is complete.

Q: What if I’m already doing a morning meeting each day? How can I add in morning work journals?

A: Likely, you still need something for children to do when they come into the classroom, especially if your school has a staggered start or you need a little time to do things like take attendance, send in a lunch count, or talk to a parent. The content of the morning work journals can be really fun to share, so consider weaving it into your morning meetings. As you begin the meeting, ask 2-3 students to bring their journals with them to the meeting area. Giving them a little time to share what they wrote can give you a glimpse into their understanding of the topic. Plus, it can be a real self-esteem boost for that child and inspire a classroom conversation you may not have otherwise planned.

Interested in trying a new routine?👇