Let’s face it. School mornings can be tough. With distance learning, it may be even harder for your child to shift to “school mode” while at home. After the breakfast dishes are cleared, our kitchen table becomes my daughter’s classroom. I had to find creative ways to motivate her to begin her school day.
I’ve found a simple approach that has made a difference for our family: Set aside 10- to 15 minutes at the beginning of the day for you and your child to sit down together to do a “warm-up learning exercise.”
Warm-up Learning Exercises
Academic warm-up activities should be short and engaging to get your child’s brain flowing and center him or her in a learning environment. These warm-up activities will also improve your child’s productivity throughout their school day and give him or her some hands-on learning before beginning online work.
Watch this quick video by Evan-Moor for a brief, visual outline of some activities and how to use them. The activities and products included in the video are listed below!
Evan-Moor Flashcards: Evan-Moor flashcards are available in different subjects and grade levels so you can focus your morning warm-up on whatever your child needs practice in! Flashcards are great for getting the learning day started or for breaks throughout the day. They are hands-on and give students a break from online or digital work.
Daily Math Practice Workbook: This Evan-Moor workbook provides math practice in 10- to 15-minute segments, making it easy and accessible for learning warm-ups and extra practice. Available for grades 1–6, this workbook practices Common Core math skills and strategies like placement values, word problems, and more! (This book is a teacher’s edition but children can use it as a workbook at home.)
Writing Prompts: Short writing prompts are another easy way to start the school day! Writing prompts promote creativity, imagination, and improve writing fluency. Children can write about anything, for example:
- What they had for dessert last night
- What they want to be when they grow up
- Their favorite birthday party
For more writing prompt ideas, check out this Evan-Moor blog about October/Halloween Writing Prompts! Children can write about ghosts, pumpkins, and more!
Short activities that you and your child can do together will make the best academic warm-ups. Encourage activities that are hands-on and interactive to break up online work and transition your child to being an online student!
Additional Workbooks and Resources
Here are some other workbooks you can use for morning transitional work and for extra practice at home. These workbooks provide short unit-based activities and lessons for daily practice. These are teacher’s editions (which means they have an answer sheet in the back) but children can work directly in the workbook.
Daily Language Review: This workbook (available for grades 1–8) provides students with practice activities focused on language and vocabulary skills. Children can complete short activity sets before their online work to improve their language and writing skills.
Daily Reading Comprehension: Practice reading skills with this daily workbook. Reading skills like finding main ideas, plot sequence, compare and contrast, and more can be practiced with this book. Each unit supplies a text, nonfiction or fiction, and reading comprehension activities for students to practice.
Daily Word Problems: This workbook supplies practice with word problems using Common Core math standards. Practice concept application and problem solving with word problem sets that practice different skills for each grade level. Each weekly unit presents a theme that can be applied to everyday life.
Use time before each morning session of online distanced learning to prepare your child for the day! Short activities you can do together will ease the transition from a home environment to a school one and help you both get ready for the day of learning ahead of you.
For more lesson tips and ideas, subscribe to our weekly newsletter!
Heather Foudy is a certified elementary teacher with over 7 years’ experience as an educator and volunteer in the classroom. She enjoys creating lessons that are meaningful and creative for students. She is currently working for Evan-Moor’s marketing and communications team and enjoys building learning opportunities that are both meaningful and creative for students and teachers alike.