Time to ditch the morning work and start social time! My students are much happier now that they have an opportunity to socialize and do fun morning tub activities.
Hi Friend!
It’s crunch time!! I have 13 days of school to go and a list sooooo long I wonder how it will get done?!!
A few weeks back I posted on Instagram and Facebook a picture of my sweet kids during our morning “Social Time.”
Reading Together Partner Plays!
This guy was patient while his buddies outlined his body!
I love that these girls are playing with “Matchbox” cars!
Collaboration!!!
Part of the problem was the timing of kids filtering into the classroom, and the other problem was my students didn’t have a chance to “catch up” with each other from the day before.
I’m not sure if your school is like mine but my kids “filter in” to the classroom in the morning as they arrive. They are allowed to be dropped off by bus or carpool up to 30 minutes before school starts each morning!
This is much different than what happened when I taught in California. In every school I worked at previously, students met at the playground and “socialized” before the bell rang and they lined up to walk to the classroom and start their day.
When I started teaching in North Carolina, I was stumped. I asked so many teachers, “What do you have your kids do before school starts?” Most of them responded to some variation of morning work. So I tried it.
Every morning I put our some Printing Practice morning work for my students to work on as they “filtered in.”
Download Handwriting Practice worksheets here
And EVERY MORNING I said, “Get to work, stop talking, if you are finished do a quiet activity, find a book to read”….blah blah blah. #FRUSTRATION[spacer height=”20px”] The kids who arrived early were finishing quickly and had nothing to do while waiting for school to start.
The kids on the late bus were barely making it into the classroom before the bell. It would be unfair of me to hold them accountable for more extensive morning work.
They just wanted to talk about their soccer games or a movie they saw the night before.
Then it hit me!
As adults, we need time to socialize before the start of our day, meetings, bible study etc. We never get right to work!
It is so common that we start meetings with chit chat, or sip our coffee and catch up at the copy machine.
So I started “Social Time” in my classroom. I pretty much allow my students to choose any activity they’d like to do.[spacer height=”20px”]
Students play, talk, write, and read together. I just have one rule: BE SAFE!
I LOVE listening in on their conversations.
I LOVE seeing their collaboration efforts.
I LOVE that they are happier and having the time to share the things that are most important with their peers.
I LOVE that many of my students are choosing academic activities like Logic Puzzles and Picture Prompt Writing!
I also LOVE that I don’t have to spend my morning redirecting behaviors so we have a good start to the day. #WINNING [spacer height=”20px”]
Two unexpected benefits of Social Time:
Those students who have difficulty sticking to their task, now have more motivation to complete their work. They know if their assignments are not completed the day before they will have to do the work during the next morning’s Social Time.
In addition, after monitoring my students for a short time at the beginning of the year and seeing that they are adhering to the expectations, I am free to call individual or small groups of students to work with me on interventions, absent work, reteaching…all those things that I need more minutes in the day to catch up on!
Now when social time is over, my kids get right to work on a short morning review until the morning announcements are over and we start our morning meeting together!
Thanks for reading….I’d love for you to leave a comment below…How do you start your day? Do you have any ideas I could add to my social time?
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This is a great idea — you are so right!!! I miss our social time together every morning!!!
And I am so so so thankful that my kids meet me on the blacktop!! Ha!
The little boy whose body has been outlined like a crime scene? LOL! That's so cute. I love seeing how your children spend their social time in the mornings. And you're so right about how that's just like adults… I NEVER get straight to work. In fact, the day could not possibly begin without my social time at the teacher mailboxes and a quick trip upstairs to talk to my teaching-BFF. I always think that when I'm in school cafeterias that want children to be quiet while they're in there. I never go to a restaurant with friends and say nothing while we're there… talking is what we do and that's why restaurants are noisy. I love how respect and consideration are so evident in your room.
I’ve done the cups with older toddlers in my classroom and they love it too! What a great, inexpensive, “educational” activity! I think I’m going to give a pack or two to my niece on her 4th bday!
I love the blocks surrounding the little guy! I want to be in your class Christina! Enjoy these last few days with your little ones. xo
Vicky
Teaching and Much Moore
Love social time! A friend of mine just moved to NC last year and was stumped too!
Moore to Learn
I agree 100% with Social Time. I cannot walk right into the classroom and begin teaching – and therefore I don't expect my students to do so either. There are definitely behavior expectations – but once they have completed the tasks they need to do to start the day (lunch choices, backpacks away, etc) they have some time to socialize.
This is amazing to see! I do the same thing for my students daily (whether grade 1 or 2 – even grade 3). We call ours Exploration. I start off with just a few activities so they learn expectations and then we quickly move to free exploration…which means if they see it in the room, they can ask if they can use it…and the answer is usually yes! Students may be building, using whiteboards, creating with art materials, working with clay or playdough, using found materials (rocks, shells, etc), working with math manipulatives, reading, building puzzles, etc. We've had paper airplanes flying through the room and cars being launched into a bucket. It's generally a loud and energetic time…BUT it's pure magic. Tons of oral language, social skills, problem solving and creativity. My role is to ask questions, listen in, challenge their thinking or pose a question on different ways and to join in if I feel it's the right thing in the moment. Each year looks and sounds different. And it's a practice that I will not change or give up.
I read this last year and loved the idea, so I I started this at the end of last year and loved it! This year I had 29 kindergarteners and the sped cluster. I did it on Fridays and the rest of the week we worked on writing practice only because I had a class that was very low and really needed that extra time. I’m hoping to do it everyday next year!
Awesome! Your students are lucky to have such a reflective teacher. Have a great summer! 🙂
I love this idea! Does anyone have suggestions to implement this in a 5th grade classroom?
I didn’t start it until a few weeks into the school year, once my kids had some basic procedures in place. Then just like anything else new in the class we discussed and MODELED MODELED MODELED procedures and expectations to make social time safe and enjoyable for everyone. Hope this is helpful Lora!
We have been doing this for the last 5 years and it has been one of the best times of the day. Not only can the kids interact, but the teacher can interact with the kids! This is invaluable. You can gauge how they are feeling that morning, find out about things that happened the night before and see their play interaction. We found so much success in it that many classrooms in our district now follow!
YAYYY!!!! I love that your district values their social well being!!! Thanks for sharing Lisa 🙂
We have been doing social centers at our school for about 5 years now and it’s been a huge success.
YAYYYY! thanks for sharing Jamie!
I love this idea and am already trying to figure out how to get it to work in my classroom. We have morning drop off on the playground, then quick announcements but I feel that I could jump right into a social time before getting down to business. It would be so beneficial to my very chatty first graders.
I think you would all would be happy to have even a short social time each morning!! 🙂
I love this! I do something similar but I’ve found that even though I’ve instructed and modeled expectations, my students fight over everything. They don’t want to share. I’ve tried growth mindset activities and bucket fillers as well. Any suggestions on how to make this work with the ones who bicker?
Hi Neryssa,
Hmmmmm, do you think it is just this group of students that are having a hard time? If so maybe set up some kind of schedule to share the activities? I would first try talking to students to be sure the expectations are clear and that bickering would not be tolerated and there would be a consequence (time out from the activity for the day?). Plus give them strategies of what they could do if conflict comes up in the future. Hope this helps 🙂
At the beginning, I tried to split up the students so they became familiar with some of the other students. I assigned stations by leaving a photo on their chair. (4-5 year olds) After 10-15 minutes I quietly told each one where to go next, and so on. For the last 10 minutes I let them go where ever they wanted. As the year went on I started each day with a place for them to start. Then allowed them to move as they chose. Fighting and arguing was not tolerated. I explained that this was fun time not a time for arguing and being angry with others. And that they
they were not having any fun. This was a learning process and took time but it worked for me.
This is such a wonderful/logical idea! How
do you implement it to be successful and not just chaos?
Hi Crissy,
Just like anything new I ALWAYS model procedures and expectations with my students BEFORE letting them be independent. If you haven’t read this post yet you might find the beginning useful on the work I do to implement something new in my classroom. https://mrswintersbliss.com/how-to-introduce-literacy-centers-and-build-independence/
Thanks for reading! Christina
I started allowing my students to socialize in the morning instead of doing morning work in the middle of the year. They were more engaged & ready to start our academic day than they were in the beginning of the year! I intend to start this at the beginning of school next year! I also teach in N.C.
I LOVE hearing about your successes Shirley! Thanks for sharing!~Christina
What does your small daily review before your morning meeting look like? I absolutely love this social idea first thing in the morning!!!!
Hi Ashley, I actually use the printing practice with decodable text half sheets for morning work after social time. It was the only way I could fit those important fine motor skills while writing meaningful sentences. Here is the link if you are interested, thanks for reading! ~Christina https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Printing-Practice-Short-Vowels-711317
I’m a mom of a 5 year old who will be starting kindergarten in the fall. He’s been at a nursery school for 4 years and they always start with social time. The kids are always so excited to see each other and I see a difference between dropping off early when all the rooms are together versus after the classes are split up. The is also a difference if we arrive right before structured activities begin. Obviously the earlier we get their the more social time he has and he’s a very social child. I think this is a great way to start their day and I know the kids really enjoy that time.
I love this! I have always struggled with morning work. Some of my colleagues roll their eyes at what goes on in my room in the morning. I am going to implement ideas from this article. But, sometimes we just dance in the morning!
AH DANCING!!!!! What a positive way to start the day! Thanks for sharing Ruth!!! 🙂 Christina
I do the same thing with my special ed class because some of them arrive 35 minutes before school starts. We called it Free time, but they were socializing, increasing vocabulary, and learning social skills. I was wondering if I should do something “more academic” like the other teachers next year, but your post answered my question!
Donna, your friends NEED this time to work on so many important skills, thanks for being so reflective in your craft to give them exactly what they need! I love what you shared! ~Christina
This sounds like a great idea. In the past I’ve always had the morning “trickle in” routine be: copy the planner (write down the homework in their student planner/agenda; do the morning work (which is usually spelling or DOL; silent read … while I check homework and planners for parent signature. This routine has worked pretty well the last 2-3 years. After the Morning announcements we transition to Morning Meeting etc. However, next year the school day “starts” at 9:15 and we have Special right away at 9:30. I’m considering trying something like this, but I’m not sure if 20 minutes is enough time, if I still have them copy planners etc. Kids can “trickle in” from 8:55 – 9:15… and I guess I could squeeze MM into 10 minutes before we have to get on our way to Specials. It’s stressing me out to think about it. Do you have any advice?
Hi Laura!
I know new schedules can be so stressful! You are smart to think it thru ahead of time. I think you can have “social time” as they trickle in and morning meeting at 9:15 until specials. It might give them incentive to quickly do their housekeeping jobs like planners etc quickly so after specials you can get right to your teaching! Don’t be afraid to try it and adjust if it is not working. Just be clear on your procedures and expectations with students! Have a great summer! ~Christina
I love letting my kids socializefirst thing in the mornings. They can be so creative.
This is wonderful! I am not sure our schedule allows it first but if it will this truly is fabulous. My Paraprofessionals and I need this time too. Thanks
You are very welcome! 🙂
I really like this idea, especially knowing that the first graders coming in willl need some of this social time in order to be more successful. My question for you though is…
Do you have these social time activities set out around the room each morning for them to choose from or do you allow them to get them out on their own?
Thank you!
Hi Stacie, I think you can do it either way! As you are setting procedures and classroom routines, you might want to give table 1 the ____ and table 2 the ____, etc.then rotate each day. As you see students more independent you could loosen it and let them choose. I would just highly suggest having a class meeting and clearly explaining you expectations, then adhering to them. Social time was one of our favorite parts of the day and made a HUGE difference in everyone’s outlook for the day. Great for building connections too! Hope your summer break is off to a great start! -Christina 💕
I’ve often used a “soft start” approach to my mornings with quieter free choice activities, but I may try some new ones this year. I love the ideas.
Last year we ended our day with a social/free choice time using similar activities (mostly because my morning schedule didn’t allow enough time). It was my favourite! I loved watching the kids interact(once Covid restrictions were relaxed), solve problems, and have fun.
I agree Maria, it’s great to see them interact with each other! 🙂 -Christina