Morning Tubs in Your Classroom
Morning tubs are such a fun way to allow students to have a soft start to their day. They serve as a great way for students to practice the skills they have learned in class.
If you have never used morning tubs, or don’t know how they should look in the classroom, you can start by reading this blog post about how to set up morning tubs.
Benefits of Using Morning Tubs
There are so many valuable benefits to using morning tubs in your classroom. Here are my favorite benefits:
- Allows for hands-on practice- There are NO worksheets used during morning tubs. Students will use many different types of manipulatives in many different ways. If they need to write a letter or number, they can use dry erase markers.
- Allows for social interaction- Depending on how you set up your morning tubs, students are encouraged to work together on each activity. This allows them to practice communication skills. I usually let my students work with a partner during morning tub time.
- Allows students to practice fine motor skills- This is essential in preschool and kindergarten. The activities in my pack have fine motor activities, such as lacing, stringing beads, playing with Play Doh, etc. My students always loved the fine motor activities because they they don’t feel like they are doing an academic activity.
- Spiral Review- Morning tubs should provide a wide variety of skills. I always try to include tubs that every single student in my class can do independently. Using morning tubs will allow students to practice past and current skills.
- Reuse every year- This may be my favorite benefit. It will take time to laminate and cut, but once it is done, you can reuse them every single year!
- Engaging and fun activities- I always find that students are more engaged when they can use a dry erase marker instead of a pencil. They also love using a variety of manipulatives.
- Student Choice- I always allowed my students to choose their partner, where they want to work, and their activity. This took a lot of practice and guidance in the beginning, but I found it worked best for our class.
- Encourages social skills development- Since students can work in partnerships or small groups, they must practice sharing and cooperation and voice level.
- Soft Start- School can be stressful for some students, so having an invitation to learn while working with students is extremely beneficial for many students.
- Allows you to work with students- Morning tubs are awesome because kids can complete activities while you work with other students on remediation or enrichment activities.
Literacy
Math
Literacy and fine motor
Literacy
How Are Morning Tubs Different Than Math or Literacy Centers?
literacy
(fine motor and literacy)
(fine motor and math)
By now, you may be wondering how morning bins are different than centers. I totally get it. I have worked with many teachers who have asked me the same thing. My answer: Morning tubs allow kids to learn in a more unique way with less pressure.
When your students complete their center activities, they are usually completing similar activities. The main difference, there aren’t accountability sheets like in centers. Morning tubs take a little bit of the pressure off of the students because they don’t need to turn anything in and they aren’t using a pencil and paper.
Overall, morning tubs made a huge difference in my morning. My kids seemed more ready to start our lessons and I was able to work with students while my kids worked. I hope you use them in your classroom because I know you will love them too!
If you are curious how to start morning tubs, you can read this blog post to get a break down of how I structure morning tubs in my classroom. All of the pictures in this blog post are from my November Morning Tubs that are available in my TPT store. You can also see a closer look at the activities included on my Instagram.
