Walking into school at the last minute- totally me! Needing a little time to get myself together in the morning - totally me. You know who else may have been rushed into the school, fed breakfast quickly, told to hurry up and come on. Your students! There are days I do that to my own children. Some mornings are hectic. Okay, most mornings for me are hectic. I just can’t help it 🤦🏼♀️ . You know what I can help, having a soft start to the day for everyone! Morning tubs have been by far the best thing I have done in the mornings with my students.
There are no worksheets to copy. Or grade. Or hand out. Or to give assistance. Or to have them say “I’m done” with 10 minutes left!
Morning tubs are easy to set out. My students generally learn the procedure quickly and will come in right away and get started with their tubs. They take care of it all independently!
Then what do I do? Sip my coffee and lounge? Ha- I wish! Seriously, I can check folders. Listen to students tell me about “last night or last weekend” without having to rush them. Do attendance and lunch count. Do collection logs for field trips. Sure, I do get to sip my coffee. And sometimes I even get to finish it. It is worth it. If you have ever been on the fence about them, please try them!
So what are morning tubs? Well, it could be a variety of things! I’ll link some of my favorite items below. Legos, foam blocks, sticky blocks, wikki sticks, play-doh, deck of cards, colored pencils, foam dominoes, tens and ones sticks, Dixie cups and straws. Literally, kids will enjoy anything that is not having to follow directions and having some free time with manipulatives that they usually don’t get to “play” with.
How I start the year with Morning Tubs! First couple of days of school, they will get a coloring sheet on their desk. You can’t give kids toys without rules. I’m not crazy 👈! On the first or second day of school, begin introducing morning tubs. Explain your class rules for them.
Class rules for me:
1. Stay in your seat.
2. Work quietly at your table.
3. Share the materials with your group.
4. Clean up quickly and quietly.
(This will be on chart paper hanging near Morning Tub storage!)
On these first couple of weeks, I recommend you handing them out until they get used to the procedure. Hand them out and have them practice following the new set of rules.
You will need to find what works for you as far as rotations and how many tubs to have at once. I generally prep tubs every two weeks. I have 12 tubs ready to go. Labeled #1-12. (Free labels in my TPT store HERE!) I will have table 1 use tub 1 on Monday, then on Tuesday, they get tub 2, etc.
I almost forgot my WHY!? Why do I do morning tubs? Well, for lots of reasons besides my sipping coffee 🤣 Some students come in totally not ready to start the day. Having this freedom and time to talk to friends- it helps a lot! It helps with fine motor skills, using legos, or tweezers to practice picking upon plastic farm animals! Totally appropriate for primary grades. Not to mention all of the standards it covers! Speaking and language standards!! Children need to be able to talk and problem solve with their peers. Also, we could say it covers some science standards depending on what materials you give them! STEM, anyone?
Now this is not how I strategically and specifically teach speech and language or science standards. It’s just an extra bonus.
Also- did I mention?! You only need 10-12 minutes of your day to do this!
My students start coming in at 8:15. School officially starts at 8:30. We have places to be at 8:35. So we are done by 8:33. Clean up line up! Morning tubs encourage them to get to class on time! I have so many eager little faces just waiting to come in!
Don’t feel like you need to go buy a whole bunch of new items to start morning tubs. I have seen so many cheap things or things you already have in your classroom work! Try them out! Let me know how it goes!
Some of my favorite tubs:
Dixie Cups with Popsicle sticks
$1 Seasonal coloring books
Free Computer Time
Old Unused Basal Readers
Plus Plus Blocks
Brain Flakes
Foam Dominoes
LEGOS
Waffle Blocks
K'Nex
Spirograph
Playing Cards
Finger Crayons
*I am an Amazon affiliate and will receive a small fee if you use these links*
There are no worksheets to copy. Or grade. Or hand out. Or to give assistance. Or to have them say “I’m done” with 10 minutes left!
Morning tubs are easy to set out. My students generally learn the procedure quickly and will come in right away and get started with their tubs. They take care of it all independently!
Then what do I do? Sip my coffee and lounge? Ha- I wish! Seriously, I can check folders. Listen to students tell me about “last night or last weekend” without having to rush them. Do attendance and lunch count. Do collection logs for field trips. Sure, I do get to sip my coffee. And sometimes I even get to finish it. It is worth it. If you have ever been on the fence about them, please try them!
So what are morning tubs? Well, it could be a variety of things! I’ll link some of my favorite items below. Legos, foam blocks, sticky blocks, wikki sticks, play-doh, deck of cards, colored pencils, foam dominoes, tens and ones sticks, Dixie cups and straws. Literally, kids will enjoy anything that is not having to follow directions and having some free time with manipulatives that they usually don’t get to “play” with.
How I start the year with Morning Tubs! First couple of days of school, they will get a coloring sheet on their desk. You can’t give kids toys without rules. I’m not crazy 👈! On the first or second day of school, begin introducing morning tubs. Explain your class rules for them.
Class rules for me:
1. Stay in your seat.
2. Work quietly at your table.
3. Share the materials with your group.
4. Clean up quickly and quietly.
(This will be on chart paper hanging near Morning Tub storage!)
On these first couple of weeks, I recommend you handing them out until they get used to the procedure. Hand them out and have them practice following the new set of rules.
You will need to find what works for you as far as rotations and how many tubs to have at once. I generally prep tubs every two weeks. I have 12 tubs ready to go. Labeled #1-12. (Free labels in my TPT store HERE!) I will have table 1 use tub 1 on Monday, then on Tuesday, they get tub 2, etc.
I almost forgot my WHY!? Why do I do morning tubs? Well, for lots of reasons besides my sipping coffee 🤣 Some students come in totally not ready to start the day. Having this freedom and time to talk to friends- it helps a lot! It helps with fine motor skills, using legos, or tweezers to practice picking upon plastic farm animals! Totally appropriate for primary grades. Not to mention all of the standards it covers! Speaking and language standards!! Children need to be able to talk and problem solve with their peers. Also, we could say it covers some science standards depending on what materials you give them! STEM, anyone?
Now this is not how I strategically and specifically teach speech and language or science standards. It’s just an extra bonus.
Also- did I mention?! You only need 10-12 minutes of your day to do this!
My students start coming in at 8:15. School officially starts at 8:30. We have places to be at 8:35. So we are done by 8:33. Clean up line up! Morning tubs encourage them to get to class on time! I have so many eager little faces just waiting to come in!
Don’t feel like you need to go buy a whole bunch of new items to start morning tubs. I have seen so many cheap things or things you already have in your classroom work! Try them out! Let me know how it goes!
Some of my favorite tubs:
Dixie Cups with Popsicle sticks
$1 Seasonal coloring books
Free Computer Time
Old Unused Basal Readers
Plus Plus Blocks
Brain Flakes
Foam Dominoes
LEGOS
Waffle Blocks
K'Nex
Spirograph
Playing Cards
Finger Crayons
*I am an Amazon affiliate and will receive a small fee if you use these links*
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