I can’t tell you how many times I walked into school and grabbed a worksheet for the students to work on when they walked in the door. The students would walk in the classroom and look on their desk only to find another writing prompt or a math worksheet. It was not a very exciting way to start the day for anyone! And, it resulted in a lot of extra grading and paperwork for me – not fun!
I had to find another way to engage students and get them excited about their day! I started to think about the importance of community, problem solving, and a love of learning! I wanted to create a morning time where students were responsible for their own learning and excited to come in the door in the morning. You can grab my general menus for FREE HERE. I have also been making new menus for each month!
Here are some of the options that I like to include on my menus:
- Podcasts – I like to find podcasts that are geared to 5th graders and what they are curious about; some are related to science, some are more geared to reading and story telling, the possibilities are endless! This is the website I use to find the podcasts that are age appropriate – KIDS LISTEN
- Coding – Though I am not a computer expert, I know that some of my students really want to learn more about coding! HOUR OF CODE is a great website to learn about coding.
- Drawing Tutorials – One of my favorite places to find tutorials is ART HUB FOR KIDS.
- Field Trips – Sometimes I send the students on a virtual field trip where they can travel and learn even more about an area or visit a museum.
- Writing – I like to include offline options too. I try to add a writing prompt or two that are seasonal for the students to write about in a journal.
- Engineering – I always include something that involves building. Sometimes it is a STEM challenge or creating something that is seasonal.
- Reading – I always want to include an option for my avid readers.
- Games – Just for fun, I like to include some seasonal games that they can play!
- And so many more! I keep finding new and exciting things to include in the menus!
Each month, my students get a new menu. I asked the students what they look forward to most about school and their answer was PROJECT MORNING! Morning work for the win 🙂 Check out all the Monthly Project Morning Menus to see if they are right for your classroom!