Morning Brain Warmers

In our Grade One class, a big part of September is learning and practicing the daily routines. This past week, we focussed on our morning Brain Warmer routine. After unpacking their Kanga Pouches, this is what students do when they arrive at school each day.

In the past, I have had students complete journal prompts, sentence corrections, and other worksheet-type activities. This year, I decided to move away from the typical paper-pencil warm up tasks. I found they were not particularly engaging, so I decided on an alternative that allows students to talk and share with each other in a unique, active format.

Here is our weekly schedule:

Magazine Monday

Students are encouraged to flip through a magazine of their choosing in pairs. Some of the magazines on hand are Chirp, Highlights, High Five, Clifford The Big Red Dog and Let's Find Out. All are geared towards a primary reader and offer a different format for reading than the typical fiction book.

 

Tune Up Tuesday

Each Tuesday, the students will “tune up” a skill chosen by the teacher. This week, the children enjoyed being challenged by a picture/word search!

What Is It? Wednesday

What could it be?

Each Wednesday, I project pictures onto the SMARTboard for students to identify. Do you know what these might be?

The students were fairly certain the first picture was a pumpkin. As for the second picture, guesses ranged from a toque, a blanket, a sweater, mittens, to a pair of colourful socks. Here are the complete pictures:

Think Outside the Box Thursday

On Thursdays, children receive an abstract shape. They are encouraged to turn the shape into something else by “thinking outside the box”. This past Thursday, they received this L-shaped picture:

Here are some of the students’ creative creations:



From L to R: Rollerskate, striped snake, foot in a sock,
hockey stick, the beach in Mexico, and a sock.



Fidget Friday

Fridays are filled with items to fidget with! This week we enjoyed play dough in partners. Pipe cleaners and beads, cloud dough, links, building blocks, and more will make an appearance on Fridays.

So far, I’m very pleased at the results of this new format of morning warm up task. Students are engaged in an activity that is enjoyable and different each day, and can connect with each other in a meaningful way. The children can hardly wait to come into class for the daily Brain Warmer!