Want an alternative to Morning Work? Over Winter Break, I took time to reflect on what was working in my classroom and what still needed tweaking. Slowly throughout January, I’ve been taking little steps to fill the ‘holes’. I’ll definitely be sharing more about these holes in the coming weeks, and today I wanted to share about one change in our classroom -I decided to have a morning work alternative. So here we are! From morning work to morning tubs– how I made this happen in my classroom.
Throughout the post, you’ll find Amazon Affiliate links, which means Amazon tosses a few nickels my way if you purchase something through that link, at no extra cost to you, that help keep my corner of cyber-space running and helps fund giveaways!
Why A Morning Work Alternative?
I love this group of 1st graders but they are very different than my first group. Being the first time, I’ve been in a grade twice, it’s been fun to see the ‘personality’ of this group. My friends love building, drawing, creating, and moving. We sometimes forget to unstack our chairs (and don’t realize until our 6th grade chair stacker comes at 3:15); we really like being in charge of other people’s lives (i.e. we’re bossy), and we struggle to share. It has been a fun year, but exhausting at times. Unlike last year, I’ve had to explicitly model social skills – how to say excuse me, how to ask to join a group, how to play kindly at recess, how to walk by someone without touching them, etc.
With how much practice we’ve needed to interact with each other (especially in informal, social situations), I began reading The Power of Play (Amazon Affiliate Link). It’s a really easy read revolving around the idea that play sets the foundation for our later interactions with the world. It poses play not as an ‘extra’ but as a necessity and that play has been substituted for other things – iPads, TVs, toys, etc. It was a convincing read, a well-crafted narrative sharing the research of play. While reading Elkind, I looked at my schedule and asked – “Where can I incorporate more play into our already busy day?” Turning morning work into morning tubs was the answer.
What Are the Procedures of a Morning Work Alternative?
Our Reading Block starts at 8:40 AM and I respect (and NEED) the full time. Depending on how long our school-wide Morning Meeting lasts, we have 8-10 minutes of morning-tub time. Each Friday afternoon, I switch-out materials and place a tub on each table for Monday morning. After Monday, the tubs are stored in an extra cubby and someone from each table is responsible for grabbing a tub they have not yet used. (If groups fight over tubs, they cannot participate in morning tubs that day.)
As we walk in, I set our magnetic timer for as long as we have and students work together to create, build, imagine, and laugh. Students may use the materials at their table or they may independent/partner read. Unlike indoor recess, they may not choose any activity or any group. I place students very strategically at tables. I want them to learn and play with the friends around them. (Note – my tables all have 5-6 friends, so I try to place enough materials for 3 friends in each tub to encourage cooperative play.)
When the timer goes off, I set the timer again for 2 minutes. Students know they have to work together as a team to clean up and be on the carpet by the end of the 2 minutes. If a table has not synergized, they lose the privilege of participating in morning tubs the next day. Three weeks in, this has never happened. My friends really treasure Morning Tubs.
What is the Teacher Doing During Morning Tubs?
Great question! During morning tubs, I always take Attendance on Infinite Campus and check the turn-it-in tray. Earlier in January when first introducing morning tubs, I spent a lot of time playing with my friends modeling kind social interactions. Now, if specifically asked or needed, I will join our morning-tub time, which I love doing. BUT 8 minutes, is just the right amount of time I need to read with a friend. My friends LOVE getting to new reading levels and it’s been a wonderful structure to encourage me to read with a friend each morning.
What Have Been the Benefits of Doing Morning Work Alternatives?
Even in a small amount of time I have noticed a few, important shifts in out day.
My friends have started thinking outside the box with the materials. Base 10 pieces are logs and phonics dominoes are a card tower. All the ways they want to play with reading and math manipualtives during reading and math, they now have a devoted time to do so.
Student walk in the door excited to get started. Morning tubs have minimized our morning routine. Students don’t want to waste any time making lunch choices, putting away their folders, or stowing their backpacks because they know their time is already limited.
After playing and talking and laughing, my friends come to the carpet and are ready to learn. Our first Daily 5 choices have been out-of-the-world lately.
We’ve become a *little* more flexible. While I love morning tubs (and my 1st graders do too), sometimes it isn’t possible. We need to start early or there has been a change in the schedule. When that happens, we’ve learned to say – “Oh well!” It’s a special treat when morning tubs happen, but not expected.
Where Do I Get the Tubs?
Several years ago I feel in love with this clip top Sterilite tubs. They make the PERFECT storage container…so much so that I wrote a whole post about them here. I use these medium clip-top bins for morning tub bins. They are much smaller than the large bins and SUPER deep. They are perfect for storing lots of manipualtives, cards, or materials. You can snag the labels FREE here.
What’s In Our Morning Tubs?
Our morning tubs are filled with lots of manipualtives (reading and math). While students are ‘playing’, they are also engaging with academic tools in a non-threatening way. They have the chance to explore new words with our phonics dice, they can make silly sentences with our sentence puzzles, create words with our letter tiles, conjure difficult math problems with the base ten pieces, and create 16-sided shapes with our geoboards.
Through Donors Choose I requested this low shelf that stores our morning tubs and indoor recess items. I love having one space where the bins are so students can grab them and go!
We have A LOT of building resources in our tubs. While this can quickly branch into “indoor recess” type of material, students still don’t have full recess range of freedoms. Additionally, when students build, create, and collaborate they are active, talking, and building relationships. We love Tinker Toys because we can create spinning and moving machines!
Interlox are also a class favorite. At first my friends struggled with them because their natural reaction is to build up. Students quickly learn that if they only build up, their towers will topple. By building wide and creating a strong base, students learn that they can create intricate buildings with these tools!
MagnaTiles are THE favorite material in our morning tubs. These magnetic building blocks are amazing and students can create almost anything they want. From 2D shapes to mazes to 3D masterpieces, MagnaTiles are pretty awesome! With that said, they are incredibly expensive (thanks, Donors Choose!) and they are a beast to clean-up. Still, childhood joy and excitement wins, so the MagnaTiles stay!
My 1st graders also LOVE Story Cubes. Each set of cubes has a different theme (verbs, ways to move, places to visit). Students role 2-3 of the dice and combine them into a story. These dice are perfect for adding excitement to writing and build a nice bridge to work on writing!
Reuse, Reuse, Reuse
While our classroom has been blessed with lots of Morning Tub choices from Donors Choose, yard sales, and family donations, I routinely use materials I am also using for reading and math. Just starting with Morning Tubs? Check out some of my go-to tub items!
If you are looking for other ideas to keep your Morning Tubs fresh, check out this blog post where I share over 50 of our go-to morning tubs!
Friends, I do believe in the power of play and believe it has an important place in our classroom. I’m excited to see the opportunities and doors Morning Tubs open in our classroom. While we are just beginning, I can’t wait to see how far my 1st grade friends will come in the next weeks and months. So, how do you fill those morning moments? Have you ever tried morning tubs or exploratory tubs before? If so, I would love to hear your experience and ideas. If not, is this something your friends need or would respond positively to? I’d love to hear your thoughts!
Hooray for you for kicking the Morning Work habit! 🙂 Kids really need some settle in/social time. They do so much work during the day, don't they? That said, it doesn't mean that this time can't still be powerful. Your morning tubs look great! I rotate manipulatives, like Cuisenaire Rods, tangrams, small waffle blocks on M/W with book tubs (Todd Parr books, non-fiction, atlases and dictionaries (YUP!) on T/Th. Fridays are SciFri, with some kind of science inquiry/exploration that doesn't need any setup. They just jump in! (Ideas often come from The Curious Kid's Science Book by Asia Citro). Happy exploring!
I love your schedule, Mrs. Wyman. It sounds like your friends have a lot to look forward to!
I love the science ideas! When we did our solids/liquids unit earlier in the year, my students LOVED exploring small solids (rice, cornmeal, different types of beans) and bottles of liquids with varying viscosity. I appreciate the book recommendation too!
Catherine- This is great! When you posted about it on Facebook, I was immediately intrigued! I have a busy and very social group this year, and morning work isn't cutting it. I am both encouraged and inspired by this! Thanks for the post and expanding on the why of it!
I am going to try this! We have an 8:15 arrival and we have to be ready to switch for reading groups at 8:30. I've been looking for something meaningful to fill the time and this sounds perfect. Just so I understand correctly- each group chooses a new tub each day?
Hi Katherine! Thanks so much for the note. Like you, it's a quick turn around but after we practiced, it really does work. After the first day, groups do choose their own bins but can only do each bin once a week…so very structured choice. 🙂
Just to follow up, we have been doing "morning tubs" for two days now. My kids love it! They unpack very quickly now too- I had issues with some friends chatting by the cubbies instead of unpacking. They are now the first ones unpacked and ready to start the day. 😉 Choices this week are pattern blocks, dominoes, geoboards, alphabet lacing beads, etc. Thank you so much for sharing! We love this new start to our day.
I would love to try this in my classroom! How did you introduce this to the students? Did you just leave out a bin on each group's desk and tell them to have at it? Hah I can just picture my students walking in and wondering what to do. Any tips I would greatly appreciate! Thanks! Christy
Jumping in here because I just started morning tubs this week. I explained to students that each morning there would be a new tub at their table. I am just rotating tubs at this point. We went over expectations- staying at your table, sharing materials, cleaning up when the timer goes off, etc. and they caught on right away! In hindsight I would probably model clean-up a little more explicity- not tossing dominoes into the bin from three desks away, checking the floor, putting things away neatly, etc. 😉 I will probably model this tomorrow!
I have been doing this for two weeks now (since I saw your post on Instagram). I love it and so do my 3rd graders. I find it is a great way to start our day. Thank you for the great idea!
What kind of tubs do you have for 3rd graders?
Hi Audrey! I’ve never taught 3rd grade (only K and 1) but I would suggest looking at more STEM materials and challenge types of activities. Putting this focus on it, would be so much fun and developmentally appropriate for your older students.
Which size Sterilite tub did you use for these? I have your math centers and bought those same tubs you use… now I want these too! I never thought I'd be teaching first grade, but your blog has really helped guide me.
I’d love the affiliate link as well for the play tubs!!!!
Hi Yvette!! These are the tubs I use for morning tubs. 🙂
Thank you so much for this. I love this idea. Like you have a class that struggles with social skills. It is probably my toughest group ever. I am constantly needing to change up the way things are done. I am hoping that I can incorporate this into my classroom. I have been sharing your blog with my team and have finally gotten them to start thinking about things differently.Your post on Guided Math was the subject of discussion in one of our grade level meetings a few weeks ago. You have really been valuable in helping me to show my other first grade teachers the importance of small groups, and not just in reading. I will also be sharing this idea with them. Thanks so much for all of the hard work that you do and sharing with us.
Love this post! We always begin our day with share circle, which I love, but my kids can get a little chatty in the time before we start. This is a great idea to fill those few minutes of downtime! I appreciate the Amazon links and am hoping you could provide a few more for the other things we see in the pictures (particularly the other phonics materials).
I've been doing something similar in my k classroom. We call it Arrival Activities. I change up the tubs at each table each day so they always have something new to explore and create and do after checking in with me first thing. It gives me a valuable 5-10 minutes to take attendance, check folders, etc … the children LOVE it! They learn to share, to create, to try new things, to make connections, to manage impulsivity, and to clean up. Lots of STEM and maker products or art materials change up the routine. So much independent learning happens during this time!
Your ideas brighten my path and confirm my instincts. Thanks
Hi Catherine, I couldn't agree with you more! I started something similar last year in my 1st grade classroom and also noticed a big shift. 🙂 You can take a peek on my blog if you like http://mrswintersbliss.blogspot.com/2015/05/social-time.html Christina
Just started Morning Tubs with my 2nd graders this past week. They LOVE it! Do you switch out all of the bin materials every Friday or do some stay for 2 or more weeks?
Hello! I change them out every 2-3 ish weeks, although sometimes I just change out 1-2 tubs each week – whatever I have time or ideas for!
What do you change them out with? I do morning buckets as well, rotating buckets each day. I have 4 buckets for 4 groups, and I allow “Free Choice Friday’s” where they pick a bucket themselves. My other question, how often to you keep each manipulative in rotation?
Typically I change out materials on Monday mornings. I’ll keep something in for 1-3 weeks but at least 2-3 tubs are new each week. Things reappear in our morning tubs at least 2-3 times a year!
I have a very active group of hands on boys this year. I can't wait to try this with them next week. I am tired of the morning work pages and having to correct all of them. I think this is a great idea and more meaningful!
I LOVE this idea 🙂
Love this! Would like to try this when we return from spring break, but my kiddos choose their own seat each day. Trying to think how to manage this , w/o more work.
I came here for a different post but this caught my eye. Fantastic! I'm actually going to use this idea for getting my homeschooled kids to the table in the morning. One is always ready before the other and gets bored/cranky while waiting (even just a few minutes). I used to have some sort of seatwork ready while they were waiting – something fun that just got the mind working but this is even better! And I love the phonics blocks – I had never seen those before but perfect fun practice for my 1st grader. Thanks!
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66 Responses
Hooray for you for kicking the Morning Work habit! 🙂 Kids really need some settle in/social time. They do so much work during the day, don't they? That said, it doesn't mean that this time can't still be powerful. Your morning tubs look great! I rotate manipulatives, like Cuisenaire Rods, tangrams, small waffle blocks on M/W with book tubs (Todd Parr books, non-fiction, atlases and dictionaries (YUP!) on T/Th. Fridays are SciFri, with some kind of science inquiry/exploration that doesn't need any setup. They just jump in! (Ideas often come from The Curious Kid's Science Book by Asia Citro). Happy exploring!
I love your schedule, Mrs. Wyman. It sounds like your friends have a lot to look forward to!
I love the science ideas! When we did our solids/liquids unit earlier in the year, my students LOVED exploring small solids (rice, cornmeal, different types of beans) and bottles of liquids with varying viscosity. I appreciate the book recommendation too!
Catherine- This is great! When you posted about it on Facebook, I was immediately intrigued! I have a busy and very social group this year, and morning work isn't cutting it. I am both encouraged and inspired by this! Thanks for the post and expanding on the why of it!
I am going to try this! We have an 8:15 arrival and we have to be ready to switch for reading groups at 8:30. I've been looking for something meaningful to fill the time and this sounds perfect.
Just so I understand correctly- each group chooses a new tub each day?
Hi Katherine! Thanks so much for the note. Like you, it's a quick turn around but after we practiced, it really does work. After the first day, groups do choose their own bins but can only do each bin once a week…so very structured choice. 🙂
Just to follow up, we have been doing "morning tubs" for two days now. My kids love it! They unpack very quickly now too- I had issues with some friends chatting by the cubbies instead of unpacking. They are now the first ones unpacked and ready to start the day. 😉 Choices this week are pattern blocks, dominoes, geoboards, alphabet lacing beads, etc.
Thank you so much for sharing! We love this new start to our day.
I would love to try this in my classroom! How did you introduce this to the students? Did you just leave out a bin on each group's desk and tell them to have at it? Hah I can just picture my students walking in and wondering what to do. Any tips I would greatly appreciate!
Thanks!
Christy
Jumping in here because I just started morning tubs this week. I explained to students that each morning there would be a new tub at their table. I am just rotating tubs at this point. We went over expectations- staying at your table, sharing materials, cleaning up when the timer goes off, etc. and they caught on right away!
In hindsight I would probably model clean-up a little more explicity- not tossing dominoes into the bin from three desks away, checking the floor, putting things away neatly, etc. 😉 I will probably model this tomorrow!
I have been doing this for two weeks now (since I saw your post on Instagram). I love it and so do my 3rd graders. I find it is a great way to start our day. Thank you for the great idea!
What kind of tubs do you have for 3rd graders?
Hi Audrey! I’ve never taught 3rd grade (only K and 1) but I would suggest looking at more STEM materials and challenge types of activities. Putting this focus on it, would be so much fun and developmentally appropriate for your older students.
Which size Sterilite tub did you use for these? I have your math centers and bought those same tubs you use… now I want these too! I never thought I'd be teaching first grade, but your blog has really helped guide me.
I’d love the affiliate link as well for the play tubs!!!!
Hi Yvette!! These are the tubs I use for morning tubs. 🙂
Hi Yvette!! These are the tubs I use for morning tubs. 🙂 http://amzn.to/2cHH0CZ
Thank you so much for this. I love this idea. Like you have a class that struggles with social skills. It is probably my toughest group ever. I am constantly needing to change up the way things are done. I am hoping that I can incorporate this into my classroom. I have been sharing your blog with my team and have finally gotten them to start thinking about things differently.Your post on Guided Math was the subject of discussion in one of our grade level meetings a few weeks ago. You have really been valuable in helping me to show my other first grade teachers the importance of small groups, and not just in reading. I will also be sharing this idea with them. Thanks so much for all of the hard work that you do and sharing with us.
Love this post! We always begin our day with share circle, which I love, but my kids can get a little chatty in the time before we start. This is a great idea to fill those few minutes of downtime! I appreciate the Amazon links and am hoping you could provide a few more for the other things we see in the pictures (particularly the other phonics materials).
I've been doing something similar in my k classroom. We call it Arrival Activities. I change up the tubs at each table each day so they always have something new to explore and create and do after checking in with me first thing. It gives me a valuable 5-10 minutes to take attendance, check folders, etc … the children LOVE it! They learn to share, to create, to try new things, to make connections, to manage impulsivity, and to clean up. Lots of STEM and maker products or art materials change up the routine. So much independent learning happens during this time!
Your ideas brighten my path and confirm my instincts. Thanks
Hi Catherine, I couldn't agree with you more! I started something similar last year in my 1st grade classroom and also noticed a big shift. 🙂 You can take a peek on my blog if you like http://mrswintersbliss.blogspot.com/2015/05/social-time.html Christina
Just started Morning Tubs with my 2nd graders this past week. They LOVE it! Do you switch out all of the bin materials every Friday or do some stay for 2 or more weeks?
Hello! I change them out every 2-3 ish weeks, although sometimes I just change out 1-2 tubs each week – whatever I have time or ideas for!
What do you change them out with? I do morning buckets as well, rotating buckets each day. I have 4 buckets for 4 groups, and I allow “Free Choice Friday’s” where they pick a bucket themselves. My other question, how often to you keep each manipulative in rotation?
Typically I change out materials on Monday mornings. I’ll keep something in for 1-3 weeks but at least 2-3 tubs are new each week. Things reappear in our morning tubs at least 2-3 times a year!
I have a very active group of hands on boys this year. I can't wait to try this with them next week. I am tired of the morning work pages and having to correct all of them. I think this is a great idea and more meaningful!
I LOVE this idea 🙂
Love this! Would like to try this when we return from spring break, but my kiddos choose their own seat each day. Trying to think how to manage this , w/o more work.
I came here for a different post but this caught my eye. Fantastic! I'm actually going to use this idea for getting my homeschooled kids to the table in the morning. One is always ready before the other and gets bored/cranky while waiting (even just a few minutes). I used to have some sort of seatwork ready while they were waiting – something fun that just got the mind working but this is even better! And I love the phonics blocks – I had never seen those before but perfect fun practice for my 1st grader. Thanks!