Ahh…morning work…a classic way to start the day. This is a tried-and-true strategy, and in my humble opinion, it is a solid way to get the kids in school mode as soon as they walk in the door. Now, often that morning work consists of a worksheet or spiral review. Although that is a good option, it is not our only option. At a recent professional development workshop hosted by Stanford University, I discovered the power of play.
Now, this is not a new concept by any means. Many of you may have heard of or participated in Global Play Day, which is a national day for students to play in the classroom. It is a time for kids to simply be kids. Why not combine this concept to learning objectives? At that professional development workshop, we learned that one way to combat the ever shortening attention span of our students is to incorporate more play into the day.
I know what you’re thinking…how will we every complete the standards?! My answer is simple…turn learning, practice, and formative assessments into a game! This is my teacher goal moving into this school year. I want to incorporate more play into our learning. In this blog post, we will explore three types of play-based activities that can easily be used as morning work: literacy games, math games, and STEAM challenges.
Supplies
Learning games do not have to break the bank! I have a few key favorites that I base pretty much all of my games on. (Thanks, Amazon!) The good news for you is I have listed all of my favorites on Instagram. Check it out!
Over the years, I have collected a wide variety of supplies, but most of the Morning Work games I have created only need a few supplies. Whether you are just starting out or are looking to exapnd your game cupboard, I have a list of supplies to add to your cart. (Don’t worry though. I have included printable cards, dice, and dominoes if you prefer not to shop for supplies.)
Here are my go-to items to add to the shopping cart:
- Starter Kit: Variety Pack of Dice (6-sided, 10-sided, 12-sided, 20-sided), Dice Trays (you’ll thank me later), Wedding Favor Bags (to organize/separate supplies), Playing Cards, and Dominoes. If you can only choose a few items, I would start with the variety pack of dice, dice trays, and wedding favor bags. There are plenty of games that you can play with just those items.
- Items to Add-On: Large Foam Dice, Dry Erase Dice, Letter Dice, Fraction Dice, Place Value Dice, Dice-in-Dice, Colored Counters, and Game Pieces.
Literacy Games
Literacy should be sprinkled throughout the day rather than solely in your literacy block. Literacy is everywhere! We need literacy to communicate, read, and write our ideas in literally any subject. For that reason, literacy, especially in elementary school must be a priority. If your looking for a way to group focus literacy skills, I would look no further than the Science of Reading. In fact, I am actually going to group my literacy games into Science of Reading categories.
- Phonics / Morphology: Phonics skills should be reviewed on a regular basis in any elementary grade level. As students get older, however, the emphasis starts to shift from only phonics skills to morphology. Prefixes, suffixes, and root words become a focus starting in grades 3 and 4. Games can help students get comfortable with building multi-syllabic words using these common word parts.
- Vocabulary: A quick and easy game that can become part of your classroom routine combines vocabulary, a game, and art. Students roll a die and draw the associated image. Once finished, they can color and decorate their scene. For example, in science we learn how animals can adapt to their surroundings. For morning work, my students enter the classroom and on their desks, they find large dice and a worksheet per student. On their turn, they roll the die and draw an image. (1=predator, 2=prey, 3=herbivore, 4=carnivore, 5=plants, 6=wild) Once a student has at least one of each image, they win! This is a fun way to practice our science vocabulary. Plus, as I walk around, I can quickly assess which students have mastered the vocabulary and which students need more support.
- Comprehension: Can you summarize an article using only a few words? Can you choose a title for a book? I would argue that these tasks are challenging for most adults, and they definitely challenge our students! Why not roll a dice to determine how many words can be used in a title or summary? It is harder than you think!!!
- Grammar: I chose to include grammar games instead of fluency because I believe fluency should be practiced in every warm-up or lesson, rather than just at the beginning of the day. To learn how I incorporate fluency practice into every lesson, read this post. Over the year, I have discovered that more and more students are struggling with the difference between a complete sentence and a fragment. Explicitely teaching parts of speech can help combat this. However, we as upper grade teachers know that it is hard to fit grammar into our daily schedules because reading and writing will always take precedence. Therefore, I only teach grammar once a week and then assign games throughout the week to practice the skill I taught on Monday. (Don’t worry…I will include some of these games in my next new product.) Join my email list to stay informed on when that new product will post.
Math Games
Math practice can be (and should be) fun! Number sense, math fluency, and specific skills can all be practiced during morning work. Using the basic supplies listed earlier, your students can play an endless number of games.
- Number Sense: Counting, place value, rounding…all of these skills should be practiced on a regular basis, no matter the grade level. I whole-heartedly believe in spiral review, but why not make that review a game? My favorite skill to practice is place value. Whether you roll a dice, draw a card, or choose a domino, students can create their own multi-digit numbers and then compare to see who has the highest number. The best part? This type of game is easy to differentiate. Simply change the number of digits in the students’ multi-digit numbers. They can even practice rounding before they compare their numbers. Check out my Instagram to see more math game ideas like this one!
- Math Fluency: We as elementary teachers know that although math facts are critical, asking kids to memorize them using flash cards doesn’t always work. Some kids struggle with remote memorization. Therefore, instead of having students practice flash cards or taking timed tests, have them practice their facts with a math game. For example, my two go-to math fluency games are Area Roll and What’s My Number. For area roll, students roll two dice and draw a rectangle on grid paper. They then write two multiplication equations that can be used to find the area. The student with the highest score wins! (The goal is to have students try to figure out the area without counting.) What’s My Number is another fun way to have students practice their math facts. (This game tests their memorization but in a fun way.) Three students play this game. One student is the caller, and the other students take a card and put it on their foreheads. The caller says the product of the two numbers, and the other students try to guess which number they have by looking at their partner’s number. Want some good news? Both of these games are included in my newest resource: Math Morning Work Games for Upper-Graders.
- STEAM Challenges: This is another fun way to start the day and to practice teamwork skills. Whether it is a challenge to build the longest paper chain or the tallest LEGO tower, this option definitely gets the energy up! Whichever the challenge, I recommend having a teamwork focus for the week. I like to teach this skill on Monday and then award team points throughout the week for whichever team is demonstrating that skill during the team challenge. Some of the skills I teach include: how to respectfully disagree, how to compromise, how to help others feel included, how to ask clarifying questions… The list goes on and on… I typically include these types of activities during the first two weeks of school and again after any long break, such as Thanksgiving Break, Winter Break, and Spring Break.
Literacy and math games do not have to be expensive, time-consuming, or overwhelming. By getting a few basic supplies and changing them out from time to time, you can quickly differentiate to meet the needs of all learners in your classroom. Next time, we will explore fun brain breaks and transitions for when your students are a bit wiggly. Until then, remember to keep learning!