Your morning routine in a special education classroom, what does it look like? The morning routine sets the tone for the day, creates the climate in the room and can either make or break the beginning of your day. As students come in with the invisible backpack of stressors, external factors and the inability to regulate the overwhelming environment they are living in we have to be ready to help them regulate and cope.
I've done a lot of different things over the years with my morning routine, but this past year just seemed to work. Students responded to the built in sensory supports, teacher check ins, social story time and structure, but necessary flexibility of choice. Oh by the way, only took me 5 years to figure out something that works... so don't stress if you aren't there yet. It takes time and every classroom and students respond differently.
In this blog post, I'm going to tell you the routine from the time my students get off the bus until we start our reading block (about a 45 minute arrival routine). You may think 'wow, that is so long. How crazy are you?' Trust me, there is a method to my morning routine madness.
Arrival off the bus (8:30): My co-teacher and I are there waiting to get students right off the bus! We found it important to us that we were the first faces they saw walking into the building in the morning. I have an instructional assistant in each classroom (we have 2 classrooms) guiding students with positive reinforcement for getting started on their morning routine quickly. Our other instructional assistant is helping to guide students with more intense needs or who may need more individualized attention or access to our sensory room.
Bins and Breakfast (8:30 - 8:45): Students have a choice when they arrive to either grab breakfast if they need, or use their sensory bins. I found this gives students the sense of control they need upon arrival and choice of options to meet their needs. On the board, there is a schedule of which bin each student has for the week. This visual schedule ensured they could be independent when getting their bins in the morning! See picture below of the schedule.
As students are either eating their breakfast or doing their sensory bin, I call each student up individually for a teacher check in! During the teacher check in, students identify their feelings and coping skills they will try and use for the day whenever they need. I also read through any social stories students may have targeting specific goals they are working on. I found this part of my morning to be THE most powerful part of our morning. Students thrive and need the attention of people they know care about them the most.
See here for the materials I use during the teacher check in! Both the 'emotional regulation check in' (left) and 'social stories bundle' (below) are available for purchase in my TPT store!
3.) Once morning announcements are over, I give students a 2 minute timer on the board. Once the timer goes off, they know to clean up their sensory bins and head to the table for morning meeting! I will say, this routine did not come easy! This was the hardest transition for many of my students. The visual timer helped with that and consistency of knowing the routine was the same everyday ensured a higher percentage of students complying with the transition. Once students cleaned up, we gave them positive reinforcement for transitioning to morning meeting appropriately. See below for what is in my sensory bins for my students! All of the information about where I got the sensory supports is in my 'fidgets' highlight tab on my Instagram page!
4.) Morning Meeting (8:45 - 9:00): Morning meeting was something new we added in this year! During morning meeting we work on applying non-academic demands and engagement in group work and team building skills. The morning meeting looked very similar each week with doing similar activities every Monday, similar ones every Tuesday, etc. Here is what we did:
-Monday: we sat in a circle and passed a talking stick responding to fun questions or sharing what we did over the weekend.
-Tuesday: We did coloring or an art activity!
-Wednesday: Puzzles! Students worked in small groups completing puzzles.
-Thursday: Team work activity!
-Friday: Game day!
5.) Story time and Goal Setting (9:00 - 9:10): Once we are done with morning meeting, students transition to their designated sit spot on the floor or desk for story time. Another way we offer power of choice in our morning routine. My instructional assistant reads a story as I set up reading stations. Once the story is over, each student has a chance to set a goal for the day! They get a chance to write it on the board and reflect back on it at the end of the day to see if they met their goal. Goal setting was also something new this year and students loved doing it!
Students need a vast array of supports in the morning. It really goes back to the idea of 'what is in that invisible backpack of stress when our students walk into our classroom?' We can be a point of love, trust and safety for our students by providing them the power of choice, flexibility and a family as soon as they walk through our door. What do you want to be for your students when they walk through your classroom door in the morning?
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