Mornings Matter: Daily News

One of the routines that happen every day in my classroom is Daily News.  This format of Daily News came from my dear friend, Traci.  I was in a slump with my morning messages, and she showed me how she does her morning message.  I haven’t looked back since!

I love so many aspects of our daily news time….

1. I love how it builds community in the classroom – we all work together to complete the daily news chart.

2. I love how I can reinforce SPECIFIC skills that the children need to work on.  If I find that Johnny and Jane are struggling with rhyming, I might add a rhyming section to my daily news the next day.

3. I love how it sets up our day – we often write about special events that are happening during the day. I love how it lets those anxious kiddos know what is in store for them.

4. I love how SIMPLE it is.  5 minutes at the end of the day (or sometimes in the morning before the kiddos come in) and it’s done. 

5. I love that it is interactive, and the children get up and down – participation and engagement is at a HIGH level.  We sing, clap, tap, and so on.  Sometimes, I even let the children have their own white boards to work right along with the child that is coming up to the chart.

6. I love that it is a PREDICTABLE part of our daily routine.  Kids know what to do, and they feel SUCCESSFUL!

Here are some examples of our Daily News charts and some of the skills that we may be working on:

Here are my tips for Daily News:

My biggest tip is to LISTEN to your students! Write your Daily News based on what YOUR students need!  If you are struggling in the beginning, set up a daily schedule as a guide to what to write.  I’m not gonna lie – sometimes I feel like banging my head against the wall because I can’t think of anything to write!  Sometimes it’s short, sometimes it’s long, that’s okay!  We all know we need to be flexible as teachers, right?!

I always try to include a little sampling from 2-3 subject areas.  I almost always include something language arts (in addition to the phonics, punctuation, etc. portion in the body of my message) and math. 

So, are you going to include Daily News this year in your classroom? What questions do you have? Tell me what works and what doesn’t work for you!

Beginnings Matter: Morning Routines

Ah, the first few minutes in the classroom.

Combine that with the first few minutes in the morning of the first few weeks of school, and it’s enough to drive a person crazy!  I wanted to share with you something that I do to help my kiddos learn the routines of the morning.

It’s super simple – if you know me, I’m all about simple, practical, and easy.

Enter the Morning Jobs I Can Cards. We don’t start the year with all of the job cards hanging up.  I start with the most important one.  In the fall – it’s simply hanging up our backpacks.  As the days go on, and I introduce the other jobs, I add the other I can cards.  The children always refer to these job cards to make sure that they are finishing all of their morning jobs.

Here are some of the morning jobs that I do…putting their folders in their mailboxes (after they check for notes).

Signing in…

Sometimes I will have them sign in on the IWB by answering a question.

They will choose their lunch.  The larger picture is mine, the other two were unfortunately dead-end pins.  If you know who those belong to, please let me know, so I can give them credit!

I love this interactive check in from Pink Cat Studio!

If you would like these morning job cards for your classroom, you can download them for free {here}.