Morning Message Freebie

Hi all!  Welcome to our PA blogger blog hop!  I still have quite a few weeks left till I meet my littles.  (and a few to meet my newest personal little--but I'll get into that later).

I wanted to share with you something I did last year, BEFORE you all end up starting your year!  I'm usually a few weeks behind on everything because of our late start----and our late end!

As you know, we have a LOT of fun in my classroom, BUT.  I.HATE.CHAOS.  I cannot stand a classroom full of kids who are just talking and not doing something meaningful---from the minute the bell rings.  YES-we have lots of down time throughout the day where kids can be kids and talk and have fun.  You can see that in my posts.  This leads me to my "tool" AND "tip" for you!

Morning work.  Some love it, some don't.  I combine morning work with a letter to my kids.  Why not have them read authentic writing right from the start of your day?!  My letter to the kids is typed and EACH student gets a copy.  A lot of copies, yes.  BUT-consider this.  They are manipulating the text every day AND it can serve as a newsletter to parents about something we did that day!  {confession-I haven't done a "real" newsletter in years because of this!}  At the bottom of my messages, I include some kind of practice in LA or Math.  I also have an analogy---GREAT for the common core!

I wish I had a few pics of this in action, but sadly I do not.  I never think of it because it's something I've done now for the past 11 years---only now I have it SO much more streamlined.  (I used to type the letter, cut and paste the analogy and cut and paste a bottom activity!  ugh... NOW, it's all in one powerpoint file!)

Click on the picture below to grab yourself a week's worth of messages to check it out.  I have an entire year (with first grade Common Core Standards addressed at the bottom---I'll have to make some new ones for my new position in second grade) uploaded in my TPT shop.  It's broken into 4 packets and they get progressively harder.  {The third or fourth pack could be something that would be useful in the beginning of second grade as review}

When you click the picture, it will take you to my 3rd packet on TPT.  Click the download preview button there to get your week's worth!

What I love most about this tool is that after a few weeks of "training" in first grade, at least, my classroom is a well oiled machine.  My classroom is all but silent at the beginning of the day---and I ALWAYS have my handful of movers, shakers and nonstop talkers!  They LOVE coming in and working on their message.  It tells them about their day----and what child doesn't want to know about what is going to happen?!  My own kidlets at home drive me bonkers sometimes with their questions of where are we going?  What are we doing...  Maybe I should make THEM messages each day!  HA!

The tip part of this wordy blog post is that when students come into your classroom, make sure they have something to do---that's routine and you do not have to explain 20 different times.  Make it meaningful and fun.  When you do, your day will start off fabulous---and not to mention, it has given me many chances to deal with issues you don't plan for at the start of the day... crying kiddlets, parent phone calls, etc.

Before I go, I wanted to share-if you haven't read it already--that I'm expecting my third little bundle of joy in about 5 weeks!  So I've been quite MIA this summer (and since I'm moving grades--since spring, really!)  I've been frantically moving a classroom, taking grad classes (just finished 60 credits this summer in 4 years!!), learning a new curriculum and trying to put stuff together for a sub---that could possibly start my year instead of me spending my 11 days there before I'm out--as well as spending time with my family of 4 with some beach time.  I'll be out till January, but have a TON of things I'm working on!  I can't wait to finish and share these.  They will blow you away! =)

Thanks for hopping by!  Click on the picture below to head to the next stop!

You'll be heading to Nick's blog at Sweet Rhyme & Pure Reason!  Make sure you also check out his exciting news about his little family!

Morning Messages!

I am so stinkin' excited to share this with you today.  It's been a "work in progress" for the past 10 years!

I am a fan of the morning message, however, NOT a fan of writing on chart paper EVERY.SINGLE.DAY or every other, etc.  I don't know about you, but the past few years have been quite crazy with meetings after school and rushing to get things done before... I never knew when to fit it in to begin with!

When I first started teaching, we had a morning message for our kids-but it was typed and each child had their own.  Through the years I have evolved mine, however, up until recently---I could never really share it because it was in 3 different pieces to copy!  It was always a P.A.I.N. to get ready and copy, but it was invaluable.  At one point, I was able to copy a few weeks at a time!  (Then, the snow would hit and the messages would be off....  so I learned from that too!)

Well, what do I write?  I start the year off with the message being very similar from day to day, so that those hesitant readers begin to feel more confident.  It is only a message and an analogy for September.  (analogies are SO much fun!  My kids LOVE this from day 1, and they think they are SO smart---cause they are!) ;)

I always start the letter with Dear Boys and Girls, in the beginning.  Then I start adding other ways... Dear First grade, students, etc...

Next in the letter---I always say "Good Morning!  Today is...."  and I head into "it is day A.  We will have....." (we have cycle letter days for our specials)  Then I will type something about what we will be doing that day, or a few things.  I also might add in there that it's Picture Day, or a Field Trip, etc.  This REALLY helps parents know what is going on in the class on a daily basis, even if it's one thing.  That one thing can help them start a conversation with their parents that night!

Once they are used to the routines, I add in more work at the bottom.  I alternate things about Reading and Math.  Right now I have "Math Monday" "Word Wednesday" and "Fix it Friday."  Tuesday and Thursday are anything goes! ;)  Again, routines!  By the first full week of school, my students are trained to come in, put their stuff away, choose their lunch and sit and read their message!  I can't tell you enough about how orderly my mornings are!  They come in and get right to work!  You can hear the announcements.  They are in their seats!  It is BEAUTIFUL I tell ya!

ALSO-once mid-October hits, I start making mistakes in my letter for the kids to "discover" and fix!  Kinda like a Daily Oral Language bit, only MUCH more meaningful!  (and sometimes it's mistakes that I didn't mean to make!  oops!)  ;)

My exciting new creation!  I now have them created in an editable PowerPoint file for me (and you too!) so that all I have to do is type in the letter at the top----the rest of the bottoms are there for me (they cannot be changed)----so all I have to do is print it out, lay it in the top tray of the copier and hit 22.  No more getting my 3 sections, lifting up the copy top, making sure everything is lined up....  ahhhhhhhh....  I know most of you can't feel my pain on this, as I haven't come across too many people who do their morning messages quite like me.

What I have to share is a week's worth of messages for you to give it a try!  See how you like them!  I would love to hear what you think!

If you do like them, I will be putting them up on TPT to purchase.  I will have a combo of literacy bottoms and math bottoms, but I will also separate them so that you can have one or the other.  If you get the combo--it will be a Marking Period's worth.  My first set is actually going to be called Packet 3.  The separate sets will have 25 literacy and 25 math.  I tried to think of what we'll be covering this marking period, so it will still be a work in progress----but as I fix and/or add, I will re-upload and you can get any revisions I do make.  (That is one of the beauties of TPT!)

Here's an example of what my message will look like NOW (and this is actually one that will be next week--notice I also have kids filling in things in the message as well!):

{Click HERE to grab yourself a week's worth to try out!  You'll need to download the "PREVIEW" at my TPT store.}

What you will get is the analogy part on down.  The top part will be able to add in, with any font you like, your message!  You will need Power Point to use it.

****I ALSO HAVE PACKS 4 AND 1 AVAILABLE IN MY STORE NOW.  PACK 1 IS GREAT FOR BEGINNING FIRST GRADE, OR END OF KINDERGARTEN!  ALL have a week's worth of messages for you to try!  {I'm not 100% sure that pack 4 has a different one than pack 3.  I'll check into that later.  I DO know that Pack 1 has a week from Pack 1}

PACK1
PACK 4