I have had a lot of questions about my morning work drawer system that was seen in my classroom tour pictures so I decided to go a little bit more in depth on what I do!
Years ago for morning work I would have a worksheet on each student's desk for them to complete each morning as their morning work. It was very time consuming planning each morning's worksheet - not to mention having to make all those copies. I also found that for some of my students their morning work worksheets would begin to pile up in their desks as unfinished work.
That's when I decided to scrap the worksheet idea and do something different! I decided to try a morning work tub system. I didn't have much space in my classroom to place 24 tubs so that's when I came up with the idea of morning work drawers!
I purchased two of the 10 drawer carts. You can purchase these carts in multiple colors or in solid black or white.
The drawers also come in two different sizes.
I labeled each drawer with a different number. (Since I have over 20 students I had to add a few additional tubs on top of the drawers for the extra drawers I needed.)
Then I decided that I wanted to put activities (not worksheets) in each drawer that would be meaningful and would review math and language arts skills that we learn in first grade.
I love file folder games and thought they would work great in my morning work drawers! So I spent one summer making as many as I could. To make most of my games I purchased the Carson-Dellosa File Folder booklets online like the ones below.
It did take some time to color, cut, assemble, laminate, and put Velcro dots on the game boards - but once you have it made you can reuse these games year after year! (*Tip* You can also enlist the help of older children to help you color and assemble these file folder games!) I can't tell you how many years these games have been used and they still are in good shape.
I like to add the Velcro dots on the game boards because it helps the pieces stay in place while the students work on the activity. Even one small bump could shift all the game pieces if they weren't attached with the Velcro dots.
I like to use the sticky Velcro dots like these:
In addition to the Velcro dots I sometimes just cut out my own Velcro strips from a large roll of sticky Velcro like this:
Not only did I make file folder games for my morning work drawers, but I also found many other printable activities online to put in the drawers. The website File Folder Fun has so many great and FREE printable file folder games. All you have to do is print, cut, laminate, and assemble your game!
As always the website Teachers Pay Teachers has so many great activities you can put in your morning work tubs. There is even a great selection of FREE printable activities you can find on there for your morning work activities!
Finally, I also put activities in the drawers that I made or put together from other items I had in my classroom. Here are some examples:
Here I have a 120's chart cut into pieces to make a puzzle.
I printed out some coin combinations and put it together as a file folder game.
Here I took some old calendar pieces and made a months of the year activity.
Planning Out the Morning Work Drawers:
To start planning my morning work drawers I took my yearly school calendar and counted out 24 school days (for the 24 morning work drawers). I highlighted each set of 24 days a different color on the calendar. This helped me see how many different sets of morning work activities I had to make and what days I needed to change out the activities in the drawers. For example, for this school year I have to make 7 different sets of activities for my drawers.
I like to have 12 activities that review math skills and 12 activities that review language arts skills for each set of morning work drawers. I look for activities that review the skills we have already learned in class. This gives the students extra review and independent practice of those skills throughout the school year.
I record what activities I place in the drawers and what skill they cover on my recording sheet.
I like to keep track of what games and activities I have in each set of morning work drawers so I can refer back to it year after year!
Here is an example of 12 LANGUAGE ARTS activities for a set of morning work drawers.
Here is an example of 12 MATH activities for a set of morning work drawers.
So how does the system work each morning?
Each morning the students walk in and open their "Work in Progress Folder" that is located in their desk. In their folder I have a Morning Work Calendar stapled in it. The morning work calendar tells each student what drawer to get and complete for that morning's work.
I prepare each student's calendars ahead of time by writing in the number drawer they should have each day on their calendar. To figure out each student's drawer number for each day I start each set of morning work drawers with each student's class number drawer. For example, if Landon's student number is #11. Then he would get drawer #11 on day 1, drawer #12 on day 2, etc.
Each student takes their drawer (or tub) back to their desk and completes the activity.
When they have finished their activity I come around and check it. The students get immediate feedback on how they did. Any questions that a student misses on their file folder activity I usually have them redo.
Each student receives a small sticker on their calendar on the complete line once their activity is finished and has been checked by me. If a student does not finish their activity by the time our morning work time is over then they receive an X on the incomplete line on their calendar.
At the end of each month the calendars go home for their parents to see. The calendar is a great way for parents to see if their child is having a hard time getting their work completed each morning.
After every 24 school days each student has completed all 24 morning work drawers. The drawers are then ready for me to change them out to the next set of activities!
I have been doing this morning work drawer system for many years now and love it! The students also love doing these games and activities instead of paperwork each morning!
I was afraid that teaching my first graders how to find their drawer each morning would be so hard for them - but it wasn't! Each year they catch on so easily! Most of the students usually have it down by the second day. This morning work system saves me so much time planning and copying. I have all my morning work activities organized and stored in boxes and ready to use year after year!
This morning work system definitely has saved me so much time with planning, copying, and grading papers year after year!
Click HERE to download my Morning Work planning pages, calendars, and tub labels from my TpT store!
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