Morning Routine
"I encourage teachers to start every class with a welcome routine. If they dedicate the first 10 minutes of every class to a consistent welcome routine, they can eliminate many of the management issues that plague teachers and reduce lost minutes at the start of the class." -Tucker
3 Ideas to Start:
- Interact with students individually in a personal way
- Teach and practice morning routines and procedures.
- Write a morning message that builds children’s excitement about the school day ahead
Daily Routine
Establishing effective classroom routines helps keep your classroom running smoothly and ensures that no time is wasted while students wonder what they should be doing during times of transition. Classroom routines can be established for many activities.
3 Ideas to Start:
- Teach routines for entering, transitioning and exiting about the classroom.
- Practice routines in their environment.
- Movement; preparing for and leaving the classroom.
Closing Routine
Closing routines provide an opportunity to re-establish connection, summarize key concepts, reflect on emotions, and set academic and personal goals. Closing routines can take place in whole-class discussion, small groups, individual reflections or a combination of all.
3 Ideas to Start:
- Teach routines for entering, transitioning and exiting about the classroom.
- Practice routines in their environment.
- Movement; preparing for and leaving the classroom.
Mental Health Check-Ins
We want to give students permission to feel and can do this by creating a safe, caring virtual environment. Prompt discussions about the ups and downs of daily life. Be sure to share yours. Students can share their roses/thorns, peaks/pits, highs/lows, etc.
Interest Breakout Rooms
Based upon the data you collected on student interests, create several general discussion topics (such as sports or music) and give students 5-10 minutes to share about their interests in small-group breakout rooms using Zoom.
