Discover easy kindergarten morning routines that help calm chaos, boost independence, and set the tone for a smooth, successful day.
Do your kindergarten mornings feel more like herding cats than starting the day right? You want to greet your little learners with a smile and hear about wiggly teeth or lost library books—but instead, you’re reminding kids (again) to do the lunch count, unpack backpacks, and please stop chasing each other around the room.
A simple, consistent morning routine can change everything. With the right structure in place, your mornings can feel calm, smooth, and full of connection—not chaos.
Are you looking for an easier way to handle first grade and kindergarten morning routines? Display the student daily routine chart with these FREE cards:
You can start with this student daily routine chart on the second day of school. (You can teach the bathroom and lunch sticks routines after everyone has arrived on the first day.) Here’s what each picture means:
Toilet:
Use the bathroom. (It can be helpful to get this one out of the way right away in the morning!)
Wash Hands:
Clearly, students should wash their hands after using the bathroom. But when you have extra germs floating around or severe food allergies, you might want all students to wash their hands when they arrive.
Mail Folder:
This one has multiple steps. Your students will get their folders out of their backpacks and check for papers inside. Then they put notes in a designated place (maybe a basket on a shelf near the door). After that, they put their mail folder in their cubby/mailbox for “safe-keeping.”
This step takes a lot of support at first. At the beginning of the year in kindergarten you will need to meet kids at the door and remind them of each step for a few weeks. First graders pick up the steps a bit faster.
Once most kids have the routine down, you can simply scan the mailboxes to see whose folder is missing. You will need to find those students and remind them of the steps, but soon it becomes routine. Eventually you will need to offer very few reminders.
Water Bottle:
If your room doesn’t have a drinking fountain, you might have each child bring a water bottle to school. They can get the water bottle (and maybe even snack) out of the backpack when they are getting their folders. Once they have the routine down, they carry in their water bottle, snack, and folder all at once!
Pencil Sharpener
Some routines can be layered on later. Sharpening pencils is a great one to add after several weeks (or months) of school. After lot of demonstration and guided practice, students can sharpen pencils on their own – they typically LOVE this job! You might have each child start with the day with two freshly sharpened pencils.
Attendance & Lunch Count:
Taking attendance is a critical part of the kindergarten morning routines. After all, you don’t want that dreaded call from the office!
You could combine attendance with a daily “check-in” question, using a Question of the Day. This routine gives students a predictable task as they enter the classroom—and it gives you a moment to take attendance, greet kids individually, and ease into the day.
Whether they’re answering on a sign-in sheet, moving their name card to a pocket chart question, students are practicing independence while you’re learning a little more about each one.
If you’re ready to try this simple, meaningful routine, this yearlong set of questions makes it easy to start right away.
Then there’s lunch count. You may choose to combine attendance with lunch count, like this:
Or you might use the interactive white board to have students move their name to indicate their choice, or simply ask each child what they want for lunch.
Puzzles/Books:
To allow a soft start for students, you may allow students to choose a quiet activity to engage in alone or with friends. For example, you might provide students the choice between a book or doing puzzles when they finish their quick morning routines.
A few final thoughts…
Student arrival time can feel rather chaotic because young students arrive with so much to tell you and there are so many small tasks to get ready for the day! Having solid morning routines helps tame the chaos and, at the same time, free up time for you to enjoy your little friends and their exciting stories. Making this small change to your day can really impact the overall tone and culture of your classroom. Give it a try by creating your own student daily routine chart with these free morning routine cards!
Ready to try the Question of the Day routine mentioned in this post? Get started today with this yearlong set of questions.
Read more about classroom routines that will develop a positive classroom community:
- Soft Starts to the School Day
- Morning Meeting Activities for Little Learners
- How to Use the Question of the Day Routine
