[SueHue]

I'm getting tired of my routine, and I need new ideas! Please share!

When I open the door to the classroom, the students have 10 minutes of free time (the only free choice time of the whole day) to do whatever they choose. During this time, I usually stand by the door and greet the students, remind them to unpack their backpacks, and communicate to parents. When the warning bell rings, the students freeze and clean up (as do I!). They go directly to the carpet to their seats, and I greet the whole class with a "good morning everyone!" We usually sing a song we can move to, usually "Rise and Shine" to get ourselves awake and moving. I made up motions to the song that are very cheerful, and I usually try to hug the whole class one at a time while the song is going. Then we sit for other opening routines (attendance, flag salute, calendar, etc).

Although I love this song tons, I'm getting bored of it. I want something quick, cheerful, and welcoming to do when the day starts. I don't really want it to be straight up academic. I like motions or actions to go with it.

What type of things do you do the moment you start the day to sort of say, "It's learning time!"? It needs to be less than 2 minutes while the stragglers come in, but something to do so parents can't keep trying to talk with me!

Thanks!
~Sue

[gokester4281]

To get the students ready for the morning I have a morning award that I give where the student who had the best behavior the previous day gets a special award to place on their desk (a golden Mickey Mouse statue) and then they come back and lead the classroom rules. The students love doing this! After this we have a small celebration such as shine your halo or firecracker. Lastly, we go over the daily schedule. If you are looking for a new song you also could use Dr. Jean's Hello Neighbor Song to greet each other.

[Sarah13]

When my students come in, they get to "whisper read" books for a few minutes while we are waiting for the rest of the class to come in. This gives me time to send attendance in and to check folders. We always start our day with a song, too. When the students hear the song, they know that it is time to put their books away and come to the group area. We use the same song for the first few months of school...Jack Hartmann's "Little Hands". After that, I change it up and teach the students some new songs. No matter what, when they hear the song start, they know to clean up and come to the group area. Jack Hartmann's song is a great one to get their bodies moving and to start the day. I have also used Dr. Jean's Twinkle Friends, Hello Neighbor, Shake a Hand, etc.

[MalibuBarbie]

It's a Dr. Jean Song. It's wonderful! She has so many....Macarena Months, Tooty Ta, Button Factory....great movements, lots of variety so you can switch it up through the year. They are active and learning!

[gertiex2]

I taught Kindergarten for years, and one of the things I usually did was not let kids know in advance who our VIP was for the day. Instead, after our morning announcements, we would "do" VIP. I would make a big deal of pulling out the next name, and then giving clues as to who it was. So basically it was the last student standing who was then the VIP for the day. I had a box of different crowns that they then got to choose form, and lots of different "wands"/pointers for them to choose from for leading Calendar activities. They loved the anticipation of the event, and I used to crack up hearing comments like, "I wore orange today, in case the VIP is wearing orange." The VIP would then take home a premade notice to let their parents know that they had been the VIP, and the following day they were allowed to bring in their Show and Tell. It always worked well, and it solved the problem of a student being away when they were to be VIP. If a pulled the name of an absent student, I could just slip it back in and pull the next one. It was lots of fun.