By Susan Grant-Suttie

Students love rituals, they adore knowing what’s going to happen and doing it again and again.  Has anyone ever noticed how often a child will re-read the same book or watch the same cartoon?  If this be so – then let us educators give them the best beginning to their day. The first item I want to mention is the door greeting. With every class change, every entrance to every student at the beginning of class, a teacher should be at the door greeting them. Somehow, the Walmart greeter got it right – a simple ‘Hello, glad you’re here,” makes a difference to the attitude weather of the class.

I admire one of my Wrigley, NT colleagues who teaches elementary school and begins with an emotional check in with her kids as they walk through the door.  We’ve all seen the ‘choose your high five entrance’ youtube, but this – to me – seems a little more of a check in that the teacher can reference at any time and possibly change their day for the better.  This is brilliant.

When I was in middle school, I put a list on the side board of what to expect every morning.  Meditation Monday.  Tuesday was reading day.  Wednesday was writing day / answer the question in your writing journal.  Thursday was homework day. Friday was the teacher’s choice which usually ended up being whatever our administration shared with us, such as activities for Pink T-Shirt Anti-Bullying Day or Hunger Drives. If not, I liked to put up Brain Gym physical activities pictures on the board.  The students walked into class, read the board, and knew exactly what to do with no teacher in the room.  

Monday is meditation day.  My absolute favourite for adults and children is an app called Calm (with a peacock blue background.)  For both during school and after school it has many sections for all age grounds.  It has everything from Masterclass short inspirational talks to mindfulness meditations for all ages and even sleep stories.  I have used the children’s meditations almost every Monday morning for my class.  What I found is that it expanded the student’s concentration and focus.  As well, it taught my students that when they thought they were in a dilemma, such as going blank during a test, they would stop and practise mindfulness before carrying on and found they did better than expected.  I found my class much calmer for the whole day.  But – this app costs, so consider your budget. 

Another colleague of mine in Wrigley, NT, uses the online 7/21 Days of Mindfulness Bootcamp – Mindful Listening : Practicing Meditation on Sounds., this is a mixture of mindfulness, meditation, and self regulation exercises.  It is perfect for elementary school. 

The impact of reading 20 mins each day starts on Tuesday with supervised morning reading time. Otherwise it is incorporated into our class lessons.

Did you know that if a student practises independent reading for 15 minutes every day their marks increase?  Can you imagine what would happen if they read for 30 minutes a day?  No one said that it has to be a high level book, it can be a graphic novel, a newspaper, or a magazine. Have the student fall in love with reading whatever is their favourite genre. 

Wednesday is writing day.   Handwriting without tears is one of my best secrets.  If the child can print their letters without looking as if they were being blown around the page, then they are welcome to answer the question on the board.  Otherwise, they do another page or two in their printing book. Anyone can google the best 100 questions for their elementary, middle school, or high school students.  Better still, the answers – if legible, may prove to be most amusing.  And – should you be marking this?  I would say at least a check mark or a sticker to say you reviewed it.  Maybe a comment about the content, but unless your curriculum strictly states that printing or marking of grammar is counted, make it a check mark. 

Thursday was homework day.  So many of the teachers pick either Friday or Monday to hand in assignments, what a perfect day to help them with their homework.  Hopefully there is a homework lunch club, but if not – you are giving your students a great opportunity for you to discover what other teachers are doing, if you were out of the loop.  Furthermore, if students say they have done their homework, they can improve their reading score and grab a book.  

Friday – If your administration does not give you forms to fill out or other ‘housekeeping issues’ to deal with there is always Brain Gym.  Asking your students if they could do particular activities is always fun.  I would usually start with “Only students with purple eye colour can do this pose.”  Or, “Only those born on a day with the letter Y can do this pose.”  They keep doing it until they figure out the corny sense of humour.  You can google brain gym for a thousand different poses. 

Morning routines are sacred to children. They appreciate them and we educators can use it to our advantage.