January Morning Work for First Grade

January Morning Work for First Grade

Hey, y'all! There are a few things in teaching that you can always count on: summers are never long enough, a toothless smile and a lightbulb moment are the best, caffeine is a necessity on school days, and kids need a predictable routine when they come into school in the morning. That last truth is why we use morning work all year long in our classroom and January is no different. 

My students know when they come in, put their things away, grab some breakfast if they want it, and get started on their morning work. I don't "grade" it, but I do use it as a daily, informal assessment tool for grouping and reteaching. 

We go over our morning work just after announcements, when most of the kids are done eating, and we check our work. The kids use a colored pencil to make corrections so it's easy to tell where mistakes were made and what we need to spend more time on. 

January's morning work covers adding and subtraction, adding and subtracting multiples of 10, true/false equations, place value, balanced equations, place value, shapes, money, 1 more/1 less/10 more/10 less, grammar, correcting sentences, subject/verb agreement, syllables, characters and setting, articles "a" and "an," and more. Plus, everyday has handwriting practice. 'Cause IYKYK.

When we started using these, I didn't realize just how much they would help my kids. There are some skills we talk about on the morning work that we haven't gotten to yet in our curriculum. By the time we get to that unit, they have a strong foundation and we can go much quicker through our lessons. It also gives us plenty of practice to review things we already learned but may have forgot, or needed to try again. 

I was also afraid the kids would get bored and I'd start to see some behavior issues. But several students said they love these and the skills change frequently enough that it keeps them on their toes. 

There are skills to practice that everyone can be successful at, even if they have a hard time during your regular lessons. And it's great for getting academic conversations going first thing in the morning. 

You can check out January's morning work here, or save some $$ with the year-long bundle here. I'm always adding new resources to my TPT store so be sure to follow me on TPT for all the latest ideas, resources, and freebies. 

I hope these work for your classroom and your students like they do mine. Have a wonderful week and I'll talk to you soon. 

Stay cozy,