I don’t think it’s a big secret that we love morning work in our special education classroom. There are a lot of morning work options out there, but I’ve created morning work that works for my classroom. I wrote more about morning work for the special education classroom in this post, but here are some of the reasons I love the morning work sets I’ve created:
- Morning work is leveled for a variety of students
- It offers spiral review of basic skills
- The work is differentiated so students can work on different skills while their work looks like their peers
If you’re ready to use morning work, you might be overwhelmed by your choices. I want to share what’s you’ll be getting in the different levels of morning work so you can grab the ones that are the best fit for your classroom.
Beginning Morning Work
Beginning level work is used heavily in my classroom during the first few months of school. This set targets students who have limited fine motor skills. We focus on prewriting skills and matching in these sets. The three levels are a great start for developing routine in our classroom.
Level 1
In level 1, students practice matching their name, tracing shapes, and scribbling on the front side of their paper. On the back, they practice tracing straight lines and matching pictures.
Level 2
Level 2 builds on the skills from level 1. In this level, students begin to practice tracing their name. They continue to trace shapes and scribble on the front. On the back, they practice tracing more complex shapes. There is also have an errorless letter identification activity.
Level 3
Level 3 gives students an opportunity to practice writing their name independently. They continue to trace shapes and scribble or color on the front. On the back, they identify letters and numbers. I like to use bingo daubers on the back to make it engaging and it’s helpful for students who are building fine motor stamina.
Intermediate Morning Work
The next bump up is our intermediate morning work. This set is really designed for my students who have fine motor stamina and can do some beginning writing. As you’ll see in the levels, the complexity of writing and tasks builds throughout the intermediate morning work series.
One difference in these morning work sets is that there are 2 versions within each level. I’ll explain more about those differences within each level.
Level 1
This set of morning work comes in 2 versions. The difference in these versions is seen in how letters are introduced for writing. In version 1, letters are presented in a developmental progression. In level 2, letters are presented in alphabetical order.
As students start with level 1, they practice writing their name on the front of the paper. A lot of my students benefit from repetition, so we often practice writing our name 3 times. I’ve also used the lines to write personal information as we’re learning it. The front also includes shapes to trace as well as a picture to color. On the back of the morning, students draw lines to match letters and pictures. They also practice tracing letters and numbers 1-10.
Level 2
There are 2 versions of level 2 morning work. Both versions have students write words to label pictures. In version 1, students are provided no prompting. In version 2, they are given a visual prompt in the word bank so they can match the picture to write the word.
Level 2 builds on the skills from level 1 and looks almost identical on the front. Students are still writing their name and given 3 opportunities to practice. They also have the same coloring picture from level 1. The difference here is that students begin to write some calendar information on their page. This level has students writing the day of the week as well as the day that comes before and after.
On the back of this morning work set, students match sight words, count groups of objects within 10, and write words to label pictures.
Level 3
The two versions of this morning work set allow students to remain at the word writing level or progress to the sentence writing level.
Just like the other levels, the front of the morning work looks identical with some minor changes. Students are still writing their name or personal information on the front with three opportunities for practice. Their calendar information increases and they are now identifying the date and writing the date on their paper. They continue to color a picture on the front as well.
On the back, students are really expanding their skills. Here students begin to identify emotions, add and subtract, and continue to write. I’ve included word writing and sentence writing in this level so you can choose just what you need for your students.
Advanced Morning Work
Once my students are rocking their intermediate morning work, we start diving into the advance morning work set. You will notice that the skills students are demonstrating are definitely more advanced and the fine motor stamina they need increases a lot!
The front page of all the morning work is exactly the same in this level. I’ve noticed that students working at this level are more apt to notice the differences in their work and the work of their peers, so I made sure to keep the front page exactly the same.
On the front, students will answer questions about the calendar to provide information. They’ll also identify activities they will do throughout their day. On the bottom of the page, students will complete a read and draw activity where they practice beginning reading comprehension skills.
Level 1
On the back of level 1, students begin providing multiple sentences about a stimulus picture. They are asked to write 2 sentences about a picture. They also match CVC words to their picture and compose numbers by coming up with three ways to make a target number.
Level 2
The back page of level 2 continues to have students expanding their writing. Here students writing 3 sentences about a target picture. They are also provided with a word problem to solve. Students draw a picture and write an equation to represent the problem.
Level 3
Level 3 continues to build on writing and math skills. The back has a journal prompt for students to respond to. I have included a variety of prompts that range from writing a list to writing an opinion. There is also a word problem to solve in this level. The word problem is the same as the level 2 problem so you can have student work in groups for support as needed.
I know that was a ton of information about the morning work I use in the special education classroom. You’re probably thinking you want to check some of this out and give it a try in your classroom. I’ve got you covered! You can snag a FREE week of morning work for your special education classroom. Print the pages out and give them a try in your classroom. Here’s where you can check out some free samples:
